My wife was clear that she wanted the child to know Chinese. In matters of life planning, the Chinese are eminently practical. Probably my wife was also motivated by some element of natural attachment to the culture of her ancestors. And so, the same year Nellie started kindergarten, we enrolled her for Friday-evening sessions at the local Chinese school. This is held in the buildings of a town middle school, let out on Friday evenings to a group of Chinese from our district who have organized for this purpose.
Lessons last three hours, with recesses of course.
When Ollie began kindergarten last month, we enrolled him, too. At the same time we resolved to keep up some spoken Chinese around the house. On the evidence so far, it is all a waste of time. Now in her third year of Chinese school, Nellie speaks Chinese only under severe duress, responds to questions in Chinese with answers in English, and has a speaking vocabulary of less than 100 words. My wife is a very dogged person.