A Caucasian teaching Chinese Students to teach Cantonese to Refugees as a Second Language.
The vast majority (92%) of the population of Hong Kong are ethnic Chinese, speaking either Cantonese or Mandarin (Putonghua). There remains a comparatively small but still quite sizeable number of people who may not speak Chinese, which makes life difficult for them. These include expatriates, ethnic minorities, foreign domestic workers and refugees / asylum seekers. Expatriates are typically professionals, well educated and can generally the care of themselves. Many ethnic minorities who grow up in Hong Kong do speak Cantonese, or at least have a lot of opportunities to learn it.
Foreign domestic workers are often not well educated and typically paid a low wage; but they at least have a job. Refugees and asylum seekers are in the most dire situations. They are not allowed to work, and for a long time, the children were not even allowed to receive education. Hence a colleague from the Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies designed a SL subject to help to make their stay in Hong Kong more tolerable, by helping them to speak Cantonese. Why is there such a need in the first place? Who are these people? Why are these people here in Hong Kong? What difficulties do they encounter? How does the lack of proficiency in Cantonese affect them? How does one help them overcome these difficulties? How can we understand them better, and make their lives more tolerable? What can we learn about social justice through this experience? These are obvious objectives that the subject can help to address.
The fact that this subject is proposed and taught by a Caucasian, Dr. John Wakefield, is an indication of the complexity of globalisation. Most Americans are not surprised when they encounter a Chinese-looking person speaking perfect English in America - they may assume that this person is ethnic Chinese but born in America, which is increasingly common. However, they may be surprised when they find out that this Chinese-looking person came recently from Hong Kong On the other hand, many people anywhere in the world, including Hong Kong, would probably be surprised to find a Caucasian-looking person speaking prefect Cantonese. Even if they know that this person has been living in Hong Kong for a long time. Why is there such a big difference in expectations? Why is it that a Chinese in America is expected to learn English, but a Caucasian in Hong Kong is not expected to learn Cantonese? What is the cause of this discrepance? And how does that affect the way we deal with such and similar situations? These are exactly some of the issues that we hope to tackle through international, cross-cultural service-learning subjects and projects.
The students have to go through lectures and workshops to prepare themselves, including the learning of the formal notations and methods for the pronunciation of Cantonese. Even though most of them are native speakers of Cantonese, most have not been trained to teach Cantonese. Hence the needed training in formal methods, Then they have to design their own lessons and activities to teach the refugees Cantonese. The classes were set up through partnership with an NGO, Christian Action. In particular their centre at Chungking Mansions in Tsim Sha Tsui. During the lectures and workshops the students were noticeably passive and lacking in enthusiasm. This worried us quite a lot. However, as soon as our students started interacting with the refugees, they came alive. They ended up doing more than was originally planned, devising additional activities to engage with the refugees. The highlight was a presentation by the refugees to a group of students in one of the elite secondary schools in Hong Kong. The refugees were greatly moved by their reception at the secondary school, and the efforts that our students made to make the event happen. Our students were also obviously touched by the interaction with the refugees.
This phenomenon is going to repeat again and again in many service-learning subjects. No matter how hard the teachers try, to help the students understand that the preparations are needed so that they can carry out the services they are looking forward to, students find it difficult to be motivated during the learning session. The teachers try different methods, showing photographs and movies of the target communities, providing much data on their plight, having community representatives sand experts speak at the classes, etc. But nothing can be as powerful as in real, authentic contact, through which the students make a real impact on people in genuine need. Such is the power of experiential education, and particularly that of service-learning when it is properly done.
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