Parent Workshops Support Ethnic Minority Parents and Children to Learn Chinese

Ethnic minority (EM) parents often find it challenging to support their children's studies and growth because of language barriers and cultural differences. EM children may require more than just a few hours of class time in schools to practice and learn the local language. How can EM parents support their children?

Parenting Challenges of EM Mothers

Gurung Nanda Kumari is a Nepalese mother who has been living in Hong Kong for 12 years. She has two children. Her youngest daughter is attending a local kindergarten. Kumari would love to support her daughter's studies, but she often feels she cannot be more helpful with her limited understanding of Chinese. Kumari has tried to find resources such as Chinese learning apps or mobile games for her children. Unfortunately, she couldn’t find many, leaving Kumari helpless.

Parent Workshops to Equip the EM Parents

After Kumari discovered C-for-Chinese@JC, she joined the project’s Parent Academy which is a series of workshops equipping EM parents like Kumari to support their young children better. In addition to sharing parenting tips on ways to handle their children's schoolwork, the workshop also introduces apps and mobile games specially designed for young children to learn Chinese.

Apply and Share the Knowledge to Help Other Parents

Kumari is glad to be more confident in applying her knowledge and helping her children cope with their studies. She even promotes the parent workshops to other EM parents so that people in similar situation can benefit from that. Kumari's son has started primary school, but her Chinese ability is insufficient to meet his learning needs. She hopes to gain more home-teaching skills so that she can support both her children.