2 min read
Samrah says, "Ammi, I can speak Cantonese, let me translate for you!"
Samrah is a Pakistani primary school student in Hong Kong. A confident Chinese speaker, she is popular with her neighbours and is a proud interpreter for her parents when they go out.
Samrah’s language confidence has been years in the making. Before primary school, Samrah received Chinese language education that was tailored for ethnic minority children through the C-for-Chinese@JC project in her kindergarten. Launched in 2016, the five-year project consists of three universities and two NGOs working in 20 kindergartens across Hong Kong. To create bigger impact, the project was extended in 2021 for another 5 years.
The project trains teachers, gives ethnic minority youths the opportunity to assist teaching in kindergartens, brings the home cultures of ethnic minority students into teaching materials, promotes innovative teaching, and helps parents support their children after school.
Samrah’s language confidence has been years in the making. Before primary school, Samrah received Chinese language education that was tailored for ethnic minority children through the C-for-Chinese@JC project in her kindergarten. Launched in 2016, the five-year project consists of three universities and two NGOs working in 20 kindergartens across Hong Kong. To create bigger impact, the project was extended in 2021 for another 5 years.
The project trains teachers, gives ethnic minority youths the opportunity to assist teaching in kindergartens, brings the home cultures of ethnic minority students into teaching materials, promotes innovative teaching, and helps parents support their children after school.
To date, with the HK$504 million funded by The Hong Kong Jockey Club, the project has supported 1,890 ethnic minority students and their families, 6,000 local Chinese students, over 500 kindergarten teachers and professionals, 140 Multicultural Teaching Assistants and 300 ethnic minority parent participants.
It has made Chinese a more familiar language for the ethnic minority community – a vital first step towards inclusion.
Did you know?
Chinese language learning has been a long-standing challenge for ethnic minorities in Hong Kong. With the integrated education policy, more and more ethnic minority children are studying in mainstream schools. Yet they are finding it hard to catch up with their Chinese counterparts in learning Chinese.
Learn more about C-for-Chinese@JC.
Learn more about C-for-Chinese@JC.
3 min read
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