week 4 assignment #1-2 Cultural Immersion Experience

      Even I speak Mandarin as Chinese, my experiences embodies that culture could be different within the same language, but the same language enables me to communicate with them smoothly and help them eliminate their vigilance naturally. And since this video related to Chinese descendant, I decide to pick up the target who is the Chinese family in this area.

  (1) Research the cultural background of students' families,

       My Chinese friends came from mainland China, they suffered the political persecution and applied for asylum a decade ago. The family first moved to Holland and had their only child over there.  Later on, they got some assistance and eventually fulfilled their dream moving to the U.S. In the beginning, it's difficult for them to fit the mainstream with the zero English level, they chose to dwell in Flushing which most residents are from China. They worked hard and didn't have much time to take care of their son's academic development.  On top of the language barrier, they felt helpless because the democracy was way different from communism, which meant the way people thinking, doing, communicating were all new territory to them.   On the other, their boy also strove hard in terms of living and schooling. His parent relied on him to translate and low expectation toward him from school didn't motivate him to achieve a higher standard.

  

 (2) Visit local community centers to find out about the cultural activities and beliefs of the students,

     Now, they move from Flushing to Orange County where they don't really have many Chinese countrymen in the local community. But my friends still make connections with other Chinese, they not only support the celebration of  Chinese traditional holidays but also organize a lion dance group to performance for parades or other local activities, let alone go visiting and shopping in the Chinese-run stores and continue presenting a petition for their belief.   

  (3) Tour students' neighborhoods to identify local resources and "funds of knowledge." 

      My friends' house is around 15-minute driving distance from mine. In their neighborhood, there is as few Chinese family as mine. They usually need to drive half an hour to buy Chinese grocery, get more information about Chinese newcomers, or get Chinese version newspaper at Chinese-run supermarket in another bigger town. Recently there is a new open tea shop in the same town and as I know, they often have gatherings there. And since there are 77% white people make up in this area, they even work harder to pay the tuition for their son to study in the English-Chinese bilingual private school.  And luckily, they figure out the way if they really need the necessary, they can drive back to Flushing or buy it online!