There are currently millions of Chinese people living in countries outside their homeland. My parents are two of the 2.2 million Chinese residing in the United States. This raises the question: How do the children of these Chinese emigrants learn to speak the native language of their parents?

    The solution is simple, school. Recently, countless Chinese schools have sprung up throughout the Western countries, particularly in the Americas. Chinese schools often rent college buildings or high schools on the weekends, wherein children attend classes taught by native Chinese speakers, and parents get together to meet with other Chinese parents. Many Chinese schools offer Chinese culture classes, such as Chinese folk dance, painting and sketching.

    I graduated from a Chinese school, Great Wall Chinese School, just last May. I started in the first level of Chinese class at 5 and steadily advanced, sometimes studying over the summer in order to skip a grade or two, until I was finally enrolled in the graduating class at level 11/12. Nearly every Sunday over the past 10 years, through reading books or learning from others, I learned about Chinese history, tourist resorts, famous people, children’s stories and poetry. We were assigned homework every week and quizes every other week. We took midterms and finals just like we did in our regular American school.

    Attending a Chinese school was never easy for me, considering the complexity of the Chinese language. I would sit at the breakfast table on Saturday before school with tears in my eyes, copying Chinese characters repeatedly, reciting ancient Chinese poems, and reading my textbook. Why couldn’t I be outside playing basketball with my neighbors or shopping with my friends? Why did I have to stay home and study for hours?

    I now know that all this effort did pay off. What an unpleasant experience it would be if I were in China with my grandparents but unable to communicate with them! My mother always told me that since I have a Chinese face and a Chinese surname, it would be only natural for me to be able to speak the language as well. My father always reminded me that having experienced two vastly different cultures would be infinitely helpful in college and beyond, especially for my future career.

    Thus, my classmates and I absorbed the culture and language of our ethnicity as best we could at Chinese school, and we have come to appreciate the presence of Chinese schools in our neighborhood.

    Merry Gu (辜子蕊)

    is a Grade 9 student at the Academy of Notre Dame de Namur in Villanova, Pennsylvania. She lives in West Chester, Pennsylvania, a suburb near Philadelphia in the United States.