Blending Asian culture and communications here at home

Saturday afternoon in Deming Park was bustling with thousands of people. Pre-prom activities, horse and buggy rides, exercise enthusiasts, and more, filled the narrow one-mile lane that runs through one of Terre Haute’s prominent east side attractions. Amidst the numerous shelters, one in particular was truly celebrating something unique.

The Chinese School of the Wabash Valley (CSWV) was celebrating the successful completion of their third school year, and it was quite the party. Parents and children, both of whom attend classes as students, enjoyed a smorgasbord of food, cake and laughter. However, food aside, student proficiency and progress awards were the main event of this gathering.

Dr. Tom Johnson, and his wife Bing, are one of the CSWV’s founding families. Their son, Michael, who has attended the school for three years, began the program when he was four years old. His mother said he speaks Mandarin and can now recognize approximately 250 characters.

Dr. Johnson, who jokingly couldn’t remember if he was the current vice president of the board or just grandfathered into a role of lifetime service, met his wife locally through a blind date nine years ago.

Since Bing’s heritage is Chinese, Michael is classified as a heritage student. Heritage students have at least one parent in the home that is Mandarin-speaking, and generally, as is the case with the Johnson’s, the family wants to continue the traditions of Mandarin Chinese and Chinese culture with their children.

The CSWV offers another option for students where Mandarin is not a daily part of their home. Non-heritage students are generally children who are Chinese born and adopted into an American home, or those who simply cannot speak, read, or write Mandarin Chinese upon beginning the class. Even though these families may not have any Asian ancestry, they often feel a need to introduce the Asian heritage to their children.

But not all non-heritage student participants are children adopted from China into American homes.

Crystal Reynolds has served as the CSWV’s secretary of the board for the past two-and-a-half years. Reynolds said she decided to enroll as a student following her daughter’s involvement in the program.

Her daughter, Isabelle, had several Asian friends and she often felt left out of conversations because she couldn’t understand what they were saying. The natural solution was to enroll as a student and try to fit in. Reynolds said the only problem was that all of a sudden she couldn’t understand what her daughter always found so funny!

“The CSWV is a group thing – we can’t do it by ourselves,” Reynolds said. While there were certainly several parents present, there were probably as many volunteers, too.

That’s because 100% of the CSWV faculty is volunteer – perhaps the main aspect that makes finding teachers so difficult. I spoke to one teacher, Shu-Chun Tseng, otherwise known as Ginger by her American colleagues, who serves as principle for the school. She was excited at the fact that this February the school began offering adult classes and their enrollment was already at nine.

What is the total scope of the CSWV?

The school was established to teach the language and culture to those in the Wabash Valley. The initial focus was teaching Mandarin Chinese to children ages four and above, with an initial goal of adding adult classes,

Although parents and faculty were celebrating the completion of their third year, I learned that Chinese education actually began here in the Wabash Valley over ten years ago.

Dr. Karen Liu, professor at Indiana State, actually introduced Mandarin Chinese classes approximately ten years ago and had seven or eight students. Liu, who was born in Taiwan, is very happy with the school’s progress to date. Furthermore, she is excited at how they have successfully incorporated the Chinese culture with the language education, as culture plays a major role in the entire process.

Where did the idea of the CSWV actually originate?

Curt DeBaun, president of the board of directors and student of the school, was onhand and shared with me the foundations of the school.

He came up with the idea on a flight home following a visit to Asia. DeBaun has four adopted children, two from China and two from Korea, and is no stranger to Asian customs. Knowing that the Terre Haute community itself was not well-versed in the Chinese culture, he recognized that it made nurturing business relationships with the Asian community rather difficult; at times, uninviting. As such, he saw an opportunity to make a difference.

While reading and writing Mandarin are more difficult to learn than speaking, the cultural experience of art, music, customs, philosophies and even behaviors, help to fully-encompass the experience that students glean at the school.

Marlene Lu is someone who is not unfamiliar with foreign language and customs. An American native, she adopted the last name via marriage and actually lived fifteen years in Southeast Asia – in Taiwan. Lu, who serves on the board, learned most of her Mandarin from friends while immersed in the culture itself. But don’t let her fool you. Even though she admits she has lost some of it, she was quick to jump from English to Mandarin with students and parents as we spoke.

Lu explained how students will spend the first hour-and-a-half in language instruction, and then after a short break for snacks, they spend about thirty minutes in cultural learning. And as Dr. Karen Liu added, “Learning is really fun as a group.”

Curt DeBaun’s vision for the school is intense. He would like to see more aspects of the Chinese culture offered. As well, he would like to see the school expand to include more aspects of the Asian culture; perhaps Terre Haute could even host a Chinese or Asian film festival someday.

The CSWV is located on the campus of Indiana State University in the Bayh School of Education. For more information on tuition, class schedules, or how to contact the school, you can visit their website at www.cswv.org.