By Gwendolyn Ng

Pent-up desire drives them on

LANGUAGE learning has become a two-way struggle with Chinese Singaporeans battling to master Mandarin, while China nationals here strive to get their tongue around English.

At last week's launch of the Speak Mandarin Campaign's 30th anniversary celebrations, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew appealed to Chinese Singaporeans to speak Mandarin at home. He assured them their children would pick up English at school and at work.

It is specifically the predominantly English-speaking environment here that draws countless China nationals eager to learn what has become the global language.

Such demand prompted Kum Yan Methodist Church in Queen Street, which has a 550-strong English, Cantonese and Mandarin speaking congregation, to start weekly English conversational classes to cater to Chinese 'study mamas' hoping to better integrate into Singapore.

But before the first weekly class began in January last year, the church received more than 80 inquiries from China nationals from all walks of life. Enrolment has since rocketed from 16 students in one class to about 50 in two classes now. From next month, the church will also start a new conversational English class catering to China nationals.

Church volunteer B.Y. Kan, 44, who coordinates the classes, noted that so pent-up is the yearning to master English that few ever miss a class and many even arrive early for extra coaching.

'We have China national PE instructors, receptionists and, of course, study mamas. They are all very hard-working and always do their homework.'

Mr Wayne Wen, 50, of Talk English Cafe, who offers private English coaching for $50 to $140 a month to China nationals, said: 'Many of their mothers are actually well educated, but are willing to take up menial work here and spend about $140 a month on one-to-one tuition for their children. Their children's education is their top priority.'

In addition to these cram classes, the study mamas also do their own English drills at home, passing on whatever they know to their children.

When Nanjing native Chen Yuzhen, 46, and her daughter Zhang Yi, 16, arrived in Singapore five years ago, they were both lost for words.

'Everything was taught in English. It was difficult not understanding what the teacher was saying then,' said Zhang Yi.

Primary school was a struggle for her with F grades for English but hard work has seen the Secondary 2 student score mostly Bs and the occasional A at Xinmin Secondary these days. Determined to help her daughter master English, Madam Chen made her write out six words on cards to memorise every morning on her way to Anderson Primary.

'It's easier to memorise words on a daily basis than to cram them all at one go,' Zhang Yi said.

Madam Chen also mixes leisure with work to make the English lessons go down a bit easier, although that means Zhang Yi cannot slump in front of the TV set to watch a Hollywood blockbuster like other children. Her mother uses white paper and tape to cover the Chinese subtitles on the screen to improve her English listening skills.

When they watch Channel 8 dramas, Madam Chen hits the mute button, forcing her to pick up the plot by reading the English subtitles.

Even meal times are a prime opportunity to serve up digestible English with braised fish and steamed chicken. Zhang Yi is quizzed on the English terms for the food on the table. 'If I don't know the answer, I have to put my food aside and check the dictionary,' she said.

Xi'an native Yan Hong takes a similar hands-on approach with her 12-year-old son. She gets the Primary 5 pupil to speak English at home by teaching her. 'To make things more interesting, he role-plays a teacher, while I'm the student learning. It bolsters his confidence,' said the 40-year-old, who runs a medical equipment franchise here.

No opportunity is wasted to brush up on English, even during extra-curricular time.

Madam Wang Xiao Hui, 41, from Shandong province, noticed her son was passionate about drama, so she urged him to transfer from his school's Chinese drama society to its English drama society.

'I felt he was wasting his time in the Chinese drama society. He might as well use the time to learn English,' said Madam Wang, a Chinese tuition teacher here.

It worked. Her son Sui Yi Liang, 16, a Sec 3 student, said: 'English drama emphasises the correct pronunciation. It helps improve my oral skills.'

Reading the newspaper every day also helps.

Engineer Frank Chia, 27, picked up his English vocabulary by diligently reading The Straits Times daily when he came here to study at Nanyang Technological University in 2003.

'I chose five words to learn in detail every day. I would write them in a booklet, look them up in the dictionary, and remember the word in a sentence so that the context would not be lost,' he said.

His discipline paid off. After he graduated in 2007, he landed a job with a multinational company in Norway.

'All the hard work I put in these years in learning English has paid off,' he said.

'It offered me greater learning and professional opportunities. I can now easily communicate with my colleagues and the clients I deal with all over the world, something I wouldn't have been able to do without knowing English.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times.