Teaching Heritage Language Learners
Translated by Qiong Xia
Like most of the Chinese weekend schools across the U.S., the Chinese weekend
school in Howard County in Maryland offers Chinese classes on weekends. The
enrolled students in the school are mostly Chinese heritage language learners
(CHLLs), who are the children of Chinese immigrant families. The Chinese teachers
in the school are from China, and they finished their college education in China and
pursued their advanced degrees in the U.S. Most of them have their full-time jobs on
weekdays. There are also some community volunteers who teach the students.
Because of their Chinese educational and cultural backgrounds, the teachers tend to
use more traditional teaching methods with which they were taught in China to teach
the CHLLs. Although these teachers work very hard and try their best to help the
students with Chinese learning, there exists a conflict between their teaching styles
and the American teachers who the CHLLs have on weekdays in the public schools.
These CHLLs were sent to the Chinese weekend school at a young age. However,
with their ages increase, their motivation and interests in Chinese learning decrease. It
has been a puzzling issue for both the Chinese teachers and parents for a long time.
To discuss and address the issue, Howard Chinese School invited Ms. Alice Zhang,
the co-director of the Center for Chinese Language Teacher Certification and
Development in the College of Education at the University of Maryland, to give a
professional workshop for the Chinese teachers in the School. Ms. Zhang discussed
the issue from the following four aspects:
I. The Chinese schools; the research on CHLLs; family, children and
adolescence development and identity development.
II. Teaching methodology adaptation; the commonalities between the East and
West.
III. The Teaching standards for heritage language learners in the U. S.; textbook,
lesson planning and classroom activities.
IV. The design of effective Chinese lessons to teach CHLLs.
Ms. Zhang also researched the age distribution of CHLLs in the Howard Chinese
School. She demonstrated the student population decreasing trend with their
increasing ages: K-2nd grade: 286 (38.5%); 3rd-4th grade: 179; 5-6th grade: 126; 7-10th
grade: 152 (20.5%). It is obvious that as the students’ age increases, they become
more self-aware and it also becomes hard to force them to learn Chinese in a class
environment which they don’t really enjoy.
Ms. Zhang further analyzed the unique characteristics of CHLLs. Most of them are
exposed to Oral Chinese language, which mostly are the conversations among family
members. CHLLs can usually understand Chinese speaking, but it is difficult for them
to speak the language and communicate with the language. In addition, they usually
have limited vocabulary due to lack of input, especially lack of reading and writing
exposure. They have relatively superficial mastery of Chinese idioms without
knowing the underlying cultural and figurative meanings of the idioms. Another
challenge for them is the interference from English grammar.
Basing on these characteristics of the CHLLs, Ms. Zhang introduced the
corresponding teaching strategies. She also discussed the relationship between
heritage language teaching objectives, textbooks, lesson planning and teaching
activities. Moreover, she introduced the 5Cs standards for foreign language teaching,
which can be employed in Chinese teaching: Communication, Cultures, Connections,
Comparisons, and Communities.
Ms. Zhang shared her own teaching experiences and case studies. The interaction
between her and the audience was intimate and the atmosphere was very warm. She
had constructive conversations and discussions with the teachers, and her workshop
was enlightening and provocative for the audience.
As Chinese teachers, after listening to Ms. Zhang’s workshop, we cannot help asking
ourselves: What are the purposes and objectives of teaching Chinese to our students?
How can we better teach our students? We believe such questions will help us set up a
clearer goal for our students as well as for ourselves. Such reflections will also lead to
more effective Chinese teaching classes and allow our students to enjoy the Chinese
classes more and more!
山穷水尽疑无路 柳暗花明又一村
—记哈维中文学校的《继承语教学》讲座
史静梅
哈维中文学校，也和许许多多美国华人自己筹办的中文学
校一样，每周末上课，不盈利。服务对像多是来自华人家庭学习
继承语的孩子。所以学校的教师多为来自中国，他们多在中国完
成了基础教育，来美国深造后，留下来有一份很好的全职工作。
又有志服务社区的人员。因为他们多在中国完成了基础教育，他
们熟悉中国的老师是怎么带他们度过童年的, 甚至有一部分是
在中国教过书的老师。所以他们在中文学校的中文教学过程中，
自觉不自觉地闪烁着他们以前中国教师的影子，或干脆就用以前
在中国的教学方法。又因为他们有服务社区的意识，他们不计报
酬，乐于奉献。勤勤肯肯地工作。无怨无悔地付出。
因此，随之而来的是，老师呕心沥血，绞尽脑汁地工作。而这些已经走进美国公立学
校的华人 ABC 学生，却感到中文学校的老师很奇怪，怎么学中文与美国老师教学的方法格
格不入。他们幼小的时候，被父母送到中文学校。随着中文学习的难度不断加深，他们的兴
趣逐渐减少。不断随着年级的提高，他们离开中文学校，放弃中文学习的孩子逐渐增多。长
期以来，这个问题一直困惑着中文学校的家长和老师们。
五月二十六日，春风煦煦，阳光明媚。哈维中文学校专程请来了马里兰大学教育学院
中文教师培训中心联合主任张瑛女士，为中文教师和双语教师进行《继承语教学》的专门培
训。
张瑛老师从
(一) 中文学校; 对中文继承语学习者的研究; 家庭、青春期和自我身份认同
(二) 金字塔教学方法浅析; 中西教育共同点 - 因人施教
(三) 全美继承语教学标准; 教材教案和教学活动
(四) 寓教于乐 - 设计学生喜欢的中文课
等四个方面深入浅出，从理论到实践一步步地分析，讲解了《继承语教学》的特点和规律。
特别强调了以教为学，因人而异，多元智能理论的教学方法。她语重心长，真诚的亲和力感
染着大家。让大家耳目一新。
张瑛老师首先对哈维中文学校中文班，在校的学生人数，进行了认真的调查统计。发现
K~2 年级人数:：286 人，占全校学生总人数的 38.5% ， 3~4 年级人数：179 人，5~6 年级
人数：126 人 ，共占全校学生总人数的 41% ，7~10 年级人数:：152 人，占全校学生总人
数的 20.5% 。精确的统计，我们明显看出，学龄人数和年级呈金字塔形。年级越高，学生
人数越减少。这就是因为随着孩子们的成长，他们的自主意识不断增强，父母已经无法强制
他们走进他们不认同的教学环境里了。
张瑛老师通过对中文继承语学习者的研究，告诉大家继承语学习者的特点：他们接触的
口语，大部分是从父母家人的交谈中听到的，他们的听力更强一些，但交流就远远不足了，
他们多局限在简单的日常用语。他们词汇量有限，熟悉日常生活中的非正式信息，但正式社
交，书面语和学术语让他们感到有难度。他们掌握的实词相对来说多一些，但虚词的掌握和
正确使用就不那么容易了。因为孩子们还要排除英语语法的干扰，相对困难些。特别是涉及
到一些中国孩子们熟悉的成语，历史典故他们常常知道字词的基本意义，但不能进一步熟谙
文化历史背景及其修辞性含意。
针对这种现象，张瑛老师认真地从家庭、青春期和自我身份的认同等方面，通过一个
个鲜活的个案实例，和大家一起分析了继承语学生成长阶段的心路历程，成长特点。及不同
的人，不同的应对策略。让大家认识和了解到听觉思维，视觉思维和动觉思维等不同的孩子
要因人而异，因才施教，多元智能理论的教学方法。
同时，张瑛老师给大家介绍了继承语教学标准目标，与教材、教案和教学活动之间的
相互关系。张瑛老师还语重心长地用自己的教学实践，给大家详细而生动地介绍了如何把美
国外语教学标准运用到中文教学中：
Communication 运用中文沟通
Cultures 多元文化
Connections 贯连其它学科
Comparisons 比较
Communities 应用于国内和国际多元社区
她的一个个教学案例吸引着与会人员，她的一个个睿智的设问激励着热情好学的年轻教师。
会场气氛亲切而热烈，听者专心致志，如饥似渴；讲者平易近人，娓娓道来。让我们哈维中
文教师在这惆怅困惑的关头，如遇一缕春风，有一种“山穷水尽疑无路 柳暗花明又一村”
的感觉。张瑛老师,本来也是哈维的有缘人,几年前她也和我们一样是愿意为社区做点事的
人，她是当时我们哈维中文学校的副校长。今天她能重回故里，把自己的教学理论和实践，
与自己的新老朋友们一起分享，也感到由衷地喜悦。因此更让她倾其所有，畅所欲言。颇有
把酒话桑麻的感觉，其乐融融。
张瑛老师还特别肯定了年轻教师们积极上进，不断完善自我的表现。鼓励大家与时俱
进，以教为学是最有效的学习方法。
最后，张瑛老师就大家众说纷纭的教材问题谈了作为施教者，如何因“材”
（教材）施
教的具体方法。还给大家留下了珍贵的教学实践的资料，供大家参考。她深深感染着大家，
时间不知不觉已经到了结束时刻，然而大家都围着张老师问这问那，不舍离开。大家都感到
受益匪浅，眼界大开。
作为一名中文教师，我们教汉语的目的是什么？
我们不仅仅是为了给孩子们一个求生的工具？
我们教汉语，更要让汉语学习，作为一个增强孩子修养，升华孩子人格的手段？
对华裔来说，汉语本身的文化基因和道德传承决定了，如果你只是为了前者，那就是对汉语
资源的浪费。汉语的美育：汉字造字，书法的美；句子的韵律美；和历代名著的语言美，都
要求我们汉语传播者，更高地提升自身素养，更准确地传承诠释她的内涵。
继承语教学，任重而道远。通过和张瑛老师一起学习，我们深深地认识到，我们
不是简简单单的周末来中文学校志愿一下而已，我们还要摸清美国教学原则的脉搏范围，号
准继承语学习者脉搏的正常值，把美国老师的教学方法拿来教我们的“孟母三迁”，教我们的
《标准中文》
，教我们的《马立平》
。我们的孩子们一定会感到别有一番滋味！