‘Has Cantonese and traditional education in the UK come to an end?’
Running a Sunday Chinese school is difficult, “but we will continue even if only 2 students applied”
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The Greenwich Chinese Community and Mandarin School was established in 1981, at that time it only taught Cantonese and traditional Chinese characters. This local Sunday school started to provide Mandarin（Putonghua）classesin 1991. The school celebrated its 36th anniversary this May. Although earlier this year there were rumors spread on social media saying that the Cantonese section was to close in 2 years, suggesting to parents not to make applications for their children. This rumour created much anger in the school. Mrs Josephine Chan (MBE), the headmistress, feels the future has been clouded by this attack and other concerns; but she confirms the teachers dedicate themselves to run the school regardless of class size and will continue as long as there is need for this educational enhancement.
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Historical context:In the 1980s, many Hong Kong people immigrated to the UK who speak Cantonese and read and write traditional Chinese characters. In 1981, Mrs Josephine Chan established the ‘not for profit’ Sunday Chinese school. They rent classrooms from a local primary school in Greenwich every Sunday, relying on donations from parents and different fundraisings.
The biggest difficulty in running school is shortage of funds
"The biggest difficulty our school facing is the lack of funding,” says Mrs Chan. In 2007 Greenwich Council cut the funding allocated to voluntary groups in the borough, which covers the school’s annual rent for the premises. “What makes the situation worse is that we have to pay the rent at the market price starting from April this year, which means that the rent will fluctuate year to year.” According to Mrs Chan, parents' donations are just enough for them to rent classrooms and a storeroom for the books and teaching equipment.
Students number drops as mainstream schools provide Chinese course
With the support of Hanban/Confucius Institute Headquarters, a public institution affiliated with the Chinese Ministry of Education which aimed to provide Chinese language and cultural teaching resources and services worldwide, Chinese education and promotions booms in many countries after the millennium. Chinese is one of the GCSE elective courses in the UK. Mrs Chan says, starting from September 2016 the British government and the Hanban work together to provide Chinese (Hanyu, Mandarin and simplified Chinese characters) course in some of the primary schools in London.
Since children can learn Chinese in schools, some parents think there is no need to send them to Chinese Sunday school. And some of them agree that learning Mandarin and simplified Chinese characters are the trend. The number of students dropped greatly as the importance of Cantonese and traditional characters declined. But Mrs Chan says that the mainstream school curriculum is a "foreign language" one, “Greenwich Chinese Community School teaches Chinese as a ‘mother tongue’. The contents, the ideas and values which our students can gain are different.”
"We had only 5 students when the school started. In the end of 1980s, we reached the peak that looks after over 700 students. At that time we only ran a Cantonese school. Now we enrolled more than 300 students including Cantonese and Mandarin schools.” Mrs Chan says. “There were 28 Cantonese Chinese schools in southeast and east London about 15 years ago, with only 6 schools now remaining. I would say our school is lucky to still able to open individual classes for different grades so we don’t have to put students with different language knowledge levels into the same class because of limited recourses.”
Vicious competition from rivals
In the past 15 years, Chinese schools teaching Mandarin and simplified Chinese characters have mushroomed. Mrs Chan states “It might be a little bit exaggerated, but you can see a new school every 3 months in the past few years in London, and not including private tutors”. This is due to the increased migration from mainland China and the global market eagerness for talented individuals who speak Mandarin and read Chinese in order to do business with China.
Chinese schools begin to compete with each other in order to have higher admission rates. About 2 months ago, there is a false rumor spread on Facebook stating that Greenwich Chinese Community School and Mandarin School is going to close the Cantonese section in 2 years. The school needed to make an urgent clarifying announcement on the school website and on a local Chinese newspaper urging “check their sources” as they have been incorrect.
Mrs Chan and the volunteer teachers are so angry with the rumor as it has not only mislead parents and students in the Chinese community but also does severe damage to the school’s reputation. “The rumor can also be used inappropriately by others as an unethical tool to compete unfairly and illicitly” as cited in the announcement. The rumor appears to have been spread by rivals. Mrs Chan recalled that in 2013 there was a new Mandarin school nearby, “They came leafleting at our school. We were astonished by this sort of practice of ‘grabbing students’.”
We are more than a Sunday school
Mrs Chan considered retirement 8 years ago, but she was so moved by the enthusiastic volunteer teachers and the need to provide the opportunity for Chinese education for the grassroots families children, she decided to remain. She believes that the children of British-Chinese should be exposed to Chinese culture and its language. For many, the school fees of Confucius Institute are not cheap, and that wealthier parents can hire a private tutor to teach their child Chinese, although of course “not every parent can afford the money. Sunday Chinese schools exist for a reason,” says Mrs Chan. “We also build up a platform for parents to communicate and share knowledge. Many of our parents are doctors, lawyers and professionals in different fields whom all willing to help each other.”
With previous concerns for the Chinese ethnic minority status in the UK, a former committee member of the Commission for Racial Equality, the headteacher deeply understands and is aware that it is good for the Greenwich Chinese community to have a representative group or community centre. In doing so “In the name of an organisation we will have more ‘power’, and the government would listen to us and value our opinions more. For instance, concerning the interests of local Chinese community, we (the school) represent hundreds of students and teachers.” She stressed that it will do more harm than good if all Chinese volunteering groups and organisations close down.
Volunteering teachers named “Unsung Heroes” by the Queen
There are plenty of profit-making Chinese schools in the market. Mrs Chan emphasises that Greenwich Chinese Community School and Mandarin School is non-profit making. “We rely on parents’ donations and these funds are only for the school itself. Our teachers are all volunteers only receives disbursements for transportation and lunch.”
At present, there are 39 teachers, including Mrs Chan. “Some of them have been teaching for more than 15 years. They are devoted to teaching and greatly enjoy their practice in our school. The happiness cannot be measured in terms of money.” To honour the school’s longstanding community service in education, in 2003 it was awarded the winner of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Award, naming all the volunteer teachers “Unsung Heroes”. “We were the only Chinese Sunday school in the country to receive the honour that year.”
However, there was a time that society did not pay so much respect to teachers in the Sunday Chinese school and criticized them for a lack of professionalism and low standards. “Some people even mocked us offensively ‘Weekday cook, weekend teacher; put down the fish slice then pick up chalk’’ due to the common mis-conception of Chinese people working predominantly as restaurant workers.” Yet the headteacher, Mrs Chan, stresses that all the teachers have high qualification and standard of practice, with many volunteer teachers obtaining an MA and even PhD’s degree from prestigious universities in Hong Kong and mainland China. “All our students graduate with a grade A* in GCSE Chinese every year!” She says proudly.
Being interested in the overall welfare of the children, Mrs Chan has over the past two years searched extensively to find additional funding to enable her staff to receive national Safeguarding Training. The aim of this training is to raise the awareness of child protection. “Both doctors and nurses in Britain are required to have this high standard training. All of our teachers now have this certified level of awareness.”
She hopes students are proficient in “Chinese”
Mrs Chan pointed out that tens of millions of people around the world are native Cantonese speakers. She believes that traditional Chinese characters retain Chinese culture much better than the simplified form. Once students learn how to read and write traditional Chinese characters it is easier for them to learn the simplified one, but that’s not the other way around.
“It doesn’t mean that simplified Chinese characters are inferior to the traditional ones.” Mrs Chan says. Her Sunday Chinese school value both. “Cantonese and Mandarin have the same values. Our aim for students is that they can speak both and read both characters, so that our students are well prepared in facing our rapidly changing world.”
Greenwich Chinese Community School also hopes students can enjoy and exposure to traditional Chinese cultures. They have established many interesting courses such as Chinese painting, dancing and paper-cutting art in recent years.
Teenage students cherish their time at the school
The Chinese lessons in mainstream schools teach student Mandarin and simplified Chinese characters. “Many primary school students confused when they come to our Sunday school and find we teach them ‘different’ Chinese. For example, orchid in traditional form is 蘭, in simplified form is 兰.” Mrs Chan laughs, “If you ask 100 lower grade students whether they like coming to Sunday school, 95 of them would say it is terrible and boring. Some of them even don’t want to come. But they like studying Chinese in school.”
She explains that compared to her school, the teaching and learning style in mainstream schools is more free, with less homework and teachers tending to praise students rather than push them on the learning outcome. “But if you ask a senior form student the same question you would get a different answer, especially when they are preparing for their GCSE exams. They gradually realise the benefits of their lessons in the Sunday school and appreciate its teachings.”
End of Cantonese and traditional character education in Britain?
The number of students attending the Sunday school to learn Cantonese and traditional Chinese characters reduces year by year. Mrs Chan is not without feeling sad. But there are still parents encouraging the school to keep going for the young generation. “I think whether Cantonese and traditional Chinese character education comes to an end in the UK is a question of demand and supply. If, as parents we think there is a beneficial need for our school, then there is room for us to survive”.
Mrs Chan hopes that people do not attack the teaching of Cantonese and traditional forms by saying “it’s wasting time to learn” or “the whole world is learning Mandarin”. “To many Chinese people regardless of where they live, Cantonese is still their mother tongue. So we do need to respect the mother tongue of this large global community.”
It is very difficult to run a Sunday Chinese school, with Cantonese classes being even harder. “We will keep going as long as we can, even if only 2 students were to apply,” says Mrs Chan. She hopes the community will acknowledge the work of the Sunday Chinese school and make an effort continue this education for the younger generation. “Send your children to our school.”
This year, Mrs Chan and the teachers were very encouraged that 7 families and a total of 15 children came to the school and applied for the new semester on the graduation ceremony day in mid-July.