“Chinese, bohot mushkil hai!” In Urdu: "Chinese, it's so difficult!"
The number of ethnic minorities in Hong Kong is approximately 62,000, a figure that has increased by 37% compared to ten years ago (according to the 2021 census). For these ethnic minorities born in Hong Kong, learning Chinese or Cantonese remains a significant challenge.
Mohammad Nayeam is a mixed-race individual born in Hong Kong. He lived in Pakistan for over a decade from the age of six, before resettling in Hong Kong. Fortunately, Nayeam is fluent in Cantonese and is indistinguishable from other Hong Kong residents in phone conversations.
However, Nayeam 's young son, Mohammad Hussain, known as Hussain, lived in Chongqing as an infant for two years. Even after the family returned to Hong Kong, effective communication was impossible between Nayeam and Hussain, who only spoke the Chongqing dialect. They had to rely on body language, which affected their father-son relationship.
By the time Hussain was of kindergarten age, he had made no progress in listening and speaking in a Cantonese environment. He was unable to adapt to school life and was tearful every day. Over time, Hussain became more introverted and developed a resistance to learning Cantonese.
During this difficult period, Hussain's school began participating in the "Jockey Club Fun to Learn Chinese" programme, organised by the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust. The programme aims to assist and support ethnic minority children to learn Chinese at the kindergarten stage, with a focus on "family, school, community", allowing the children to use the Chinese they learn at school in the community with the assistance of their families.
Through home visits by the programme team, Nayeam learned how to create an environment at home that encourages Hussain to learn Chinese. They also participated in community activities together, exploring community facilities, enabling Hussain to learn Chinese in an interesting and natural environment. This teaching method rapidly improved Hussain's listening and speaking abilities, and he no longer cried when going to school, often sharing snippets of school life with his family.
Nayeam said that the programme not only improved Hussain's ability to learn Chinese but also enhanced their father-son relationship. He hopes that the programme can be extended to more schools, allowing other ethnic minority students attending mainstream schools and their families to benefit as well.
About "C-for-Chinese@JC" Project