3 月 | 2015 | 敖老師部落格----------------粵五反斗星 C5 Blog

3 月 16th Learning Chinese, My perspective (English)

Learning Chinese—My perspective by Alice Chan (C5A Teacher)

When I was still young, I had the opportunity to visit the early Ottawa Chinese Language School held in a house. OCLS has been serving the Community faithfully for the past 40 years. In the early days, a group of enthusiastic and dedicated parents would like their children to continue to learn and speak the Chinese Language after immigration to Ottawa, and also to maintain their Chinese traditional culture.

When it’s time for my children to enter school, I have no hesitation to send them to this prestigious Ottawa Chinese Language School. My 3 children are educated with English and French during weekdays same as most school aged children. As parent, we are likely to face the same problem: the children think learning Chinese is too difficult, useless, and it’s so hard, why bother? The complaint turned to become power struggle between parent and children which affects the parent-child relationship.

We have set some guidelines for our children for attending Chinese School:

Advice: explain to them –

(1) China is one of the four ancient civilizations, embodies the essence of the five thousand years of civilization through the process of development. The ancients formed the Chinese characters from shape, sound, and logic to express the meaning, and to integrate ethical standard into the font for its formation. That is why each Chinese Character has rich cultural connotations. Chinese characters are the only remaining texts still using in modern days since its creation. When we are willing to learn Chinese characters and Chinese culture, we are taking the baton to pass on the five thousand years of Chinese Culture to the next generation.

(2) Scientific discovery, we are using both sides of the brain when we are learning to read and write Chinese, which help the brain’s cognitive ability, improve the individual’s IQ, and strengthen the learning ability, thus enhancing the learning of other disciplines too.

(3) Through learning to write and speak Chinese, my children would be able to communicate with grandparents.

(4) When grown up, my children would be able to arm with a 3rd language, English, French, and Chinese. In the future, one would not only limit to work in North America, but may have an opportunity to work in Southeast Asia with the language advantage.

Rewards: Should they attend Chinese school and complete their homework willingly, they will be rewarded with extra trip to visit their beloved McDonald for lunch.

House Rule: Anyone of our children must be seriously to study Chinese up to sixth grade, before they are allowed the opportunity to choose not to continue to learn Chinese. In fact, the reason behind this rule is to help the children to develop perseverance and seriousness towards learning and work ethics, so that when they encounter difficulties, they don’t give up easily. Poet Li Bai had thought of giving up learning while he was young. One day he saw an old lady bending down on the ground trying to turn an iron rod into a needle by rubbing it against a rock. This old lady’s action inspired Li Bai to continue studying with perseverance. In the end, Li Bai became a great poet of the dynasty.

Doing well for the marks is not the most important thing on my agenda. But I required my children to try their best and completed all the homework that the teacher entrusted them.

On the day of my eldest son’s graduation from the sixth grade, I said to him: “Congratulations! You have been working hard in the past, and graduate today. Dad and Mom are proud of you. Now you have a choice to continue in the seventh grade or not to continue learning Chinese. ” He thought for a moment and told me that Chinese is not that difficult after all, he wanted to continue for one more year. Since then, year after year, and finally completed the tenth grade curriculum. All three children completed tenth grade curriculum, but they had to stop due to heavy workload of day school homework. They continue to practice Chinese at their leisure. Even though they speak Chinese with a slight foreign accent, they are able to communicate with others in Chinese without much problem. It is because they were willing to learn Chinese which laid a foundation for them. Because of that, they didn’t encounter as much difficulties as they taught English in China, and work on summer jobs to gain work experiences in Hong Kong during their university years. Every time they communicate with the grandparents in Chinese, the grandparents are excited.

Parents, you have an important responsibility, do not give up, perseverance, and encourage your children to learn the language and the 5000 years of Chinese heritage. Your children will thank you some day

Students, continue to work hard, have perseverance, do not give up but make efforts to learn Chinese, the traditional Chinese characters, and the 5,000 years of culture. Hope you can pass on the Chinese heritage to the next generation and let the Chinese culture flourish.

Times flies, I have been teaching in Chinese schools for fifteen years already. Every time I see the students’ eagerness to learn, my heart is excited. In fact, teaching students to know everything from the textbooks is not difficult at all, the difficulty is how they apply it from their learning. It’s even more difficult for us who are living in this democratic society, everyone advocates about their own human rights and personal interests. How can we help our students to understand to live their life with balance and truthfulness.

If you pay attention to the OCLS school crest, there are 4 words in the middle—(樂群) enjoy being with others, (尚學) eager to Learn. Here’s the meaning from the web:

“Eager to learn” is derived from the Old Tang book saying: “The people do not learn, do not know.” “Learning” can be interpreted as knowledge and learning. “Eager to Learn” advocates one should love to learn, respect knowledge, the pursuit of knowledge for understanding, and thus to contribute to society. Today, “Eager to Learn” requires us to pay attention to learning, learning to learn, but also to learn to live, learn to be a good and noble people of character in this modern society.

“Enjoy being with others” Enjoy learning, working and living in harmony with people. It is a viewpoint in life of social ethics focus on peace and kindness. Teachers are members of the civilized society groups, be gracious to others, respect others, have integrity and to establish three images:

(1) “Be literate”– to consciously study and learning, and constantly improve your own literacy, to be intellectuals in modern times;

(2) “Noble person”– open-minded, willing to work together, act the best in our role, deal with all kinds of social relations, to show our good qualities.

(3) “Unity-keeper”– to treat the school as your family, to love the school, to maintain a good education system, and actively promote school reputation. Advocated love and unity, work truthfully together, encourage others, teamwork, humble, kind, and demonstrate teachers’ Good Deeds and Words

Hope that OCLS students enjoy being with others and eager to learn the Chinese Language through the encouragement from the teachers and parents. May the students be able to learn diligently, mature in making decisions, work well with others and be a contributor to the society. l have a wish hoping one day to be able to see one or two students be back to OCLS to teach the next generation of students the Chinese Language and the five thousand years of Chinese culture!

Wish a Happy 40 years of anniversary to the Ottawa Chinese Language School and every success in the future!

Posted in For Parents 給家長的話, For Students 給學生的話 by lotus2015 with comments disabled.

3 月 16th Learning Chinese, My perspective (Chinese)

學習中文之我見 敖趣蓮老師

猶記得在年青時，曾有機會參觀過早期在住宅舉辦的渥太華中文學校。不經不覺中文學校在這個社區忠心服務四十個年頭了。起初是由一群熱心又熱愛中國文化的家長發起成立，以造就華人學子認識中國傳統文化、學習寫中文字、說漢語為基礎。

當兒女們步入學齡階段時，我也毫不猶疑的把他們送進這所深負盛名的渥太華中文學校。兒女們平常所受的教育是英、法文，對我們家長來說，都可能面對同樣的問題：孩子們覺得學中文太難、學了沒有什麼用，那為何這麼辛苦要學呢？父母與子女便很容易陷入權力鬥爭的漩渦之中，以致影響親子關係。

我們三個孩子也經過連番勸教，獎勵及定規之下，才願意就範。

勸教方面：向他們講解－－

（一）中國是四大文明古國之一，發展過程中凝聚了五千年文明的精華，古人在造繁體字的時候，是表意字，是形、音、義的結合，以形達意，也就是見形而知意；並把道德標準融入字體當中，所以每個字的產生，都有豐富的文化內涵。中國漢字也是唯一從古時至現今仍然流通使用的文字。當我們願意學習漢字及中國文化，就是把中國五千年文化延續下去了。

（二）科學研究發現，學習中文讀寫，需要左右腦運用，有助大腦的認知等多方面的發展，提高個人的智商，並強化學習能力，進而增進其他學科的學習。

（三）要學寫及講中文才能與祖父母，外祖父母溝通。

（四）將來長大之後，能說英語，法語及漢語，多一技之長，日後除了北美之外，還可能有機會到東南亞工作。

獎勵方面：若果他們甘心樂意到中文學校上課及完成功課，每月多獎一次享受麥當勞午餐的機會。

定規方面：家裏任何一個小孩，必須要認真地學中文至小學六年級程度，才可以有機會選擇不繼續學中文。其實背後的原因是希望栽培他們養成做事要認真及有恆心，不要遇到困難就隨便放棄。詩人李白小時候也曾想過放棄學習，但因見到老婆婆嘗試用鐵柱磨成針而激發他讀書的恆心。後來，李白還成為唐代傑出的詩人。

兒女們學習中文的成績，對我來說，並不是最重要，乃抱著平常心態。只要求他們盡力而為就可以了，但必須要盡心完成老師所託付的功課。

在大兒子六年級畢業的那天，我對他說：「恭喜您！過往努力的成果，今天畢業了。爸媽為您自豪。現在您可以選擇繼續報讀七年級或不再繼續讀中文了。」他想了一會告訴我，中文也不是這麼難，他想多讀一年試試看。就是這樣，一年復一年的，最後完成了十年級的課程。而三個兒女都分別完成十年級的課程，後因日校功課繁重，無暇兼顧而停下來了。經過這麼多年學習，雖然他們講中文略帶外文口音，在願意練習的情況下，與人溝通也沒有多大問題。若不是當日願意學中文，奠定了中文基礎的話。相信大學時期，他們到中國教英文，便會遇到更多困難；也無法前赴香港做暑期工汲取工作經驗了。每次他們用漢語與祖父母溝通，都逗得老人家開心不已。

家長們，您們身負重任，不要氣綏，恆心誘導兒女們學習唯一五千年仍然流通的文化。您們的付出，將來有一天您的兒女會謝謝您！

同學們，繼續努力，不要隨便放棄，要有恆心努力學習中文，您們所學的繁體字，已有五千多年的文化，盼望您們能將這文化承傳下一代，讓中國文化發揚光大。

不經不覺在中文學校任教已經有十五年了。每次見到學生們雀躍的上課，心裏面非常興奮。其實教學生學懂書本上的中文不難，難在他們學懂後如何應用。更難者是身處於這個自由民主，主張爭取個人利益的國家裏面，怎樣幫助學生們明白做人的道理。

中文學校的校徽裏面，有「樂群尚學」四個字。在網頁找到以下兩段解釋分享:

「尚學」源於《舊唐書》「崇儒尚学，以正風教，乃王化之本也」。《禮記 · 學記》曰： ” 人不學，不知道。 ” 「學」可解釋為學問、學習。尚學主張人應喜愛和注重學習，尊重知識，追求學問以明白事理，從而貢獻社會。在倡導建立學習型社會的今天，「尚學」要求我們既注重學習，學會學習，更要學會生活，學會做人，學做現代社會品格的高尚人。

「樂群」這兩個字是出於《禮記 · 學記》：「三年視敬業樂群。」「樂」，樂於。「群」，合群。樂「群」，謂群居朋友善者，願而樂之。「樂群者，樂於取益，以輔其仁。」「尊賢而容眾，嘉善而矜不能。」即樂於在學習、工作和生活中與人和諧相處。樂群是一種社會公德，一種貴和、仁愛的為人處世觀，是中國「和」文化的具體表現。教師是文明的社會群體，要嚴己寬人，明禮敬人，誠信和人，樹立三種形象：

「讀書人」形象，要自覺讀書學習，不斷提升自身素養，做新時代的文化人；

「高尚人」形象，胸襟坦蕩，樂群合作，扮演好各種人生角色，處理好各種社會關係，展示教師良好修養；

「團結人」形象，把教育系统當作一個大家庭，愛校如家，維護好教育系統的團結，積極創造教育工作亮點，不斷提升教育系统美譽度。倡導團結友愛、精誠共事、立人達人、和衷共濟的團隊精神，彰顯教師嘉言懿行、謙遜和善、温文爾雅、同和樂業的儀表風尚。

盼望從老師及父母的循循善誘下，鼓勵同學們樂群尚學，願大家努力學習，明白事理，學會照顧自己，與人和睦相處，並幫助他人以及貢獻社會。我還有一個心願，盼望有一天能見到同學們當中有一、兩位回到中文學校與我們老師並肩在渥太華中文學校一起教中文，培育下一代學習五千年中國文化！

祝賀渥太華中文學校四十年校慶，百尺竿頭，更進一步！

Posted in For Parents 給家長的話, For Students 給學生的話 by lotus2015 with comments disabled.

3 月 16th 猜謎語 (1)

一片一片又一片,

兩片三片四五片,

六片七片八九片,

落入水中看不見.