Professional Resources on Working with

Chinese-Speaking Families

Working with Chinese-American families and other Asian-American families:

• Questions and Answers: What Research Says about the Education of Chinese American Children This publication summarizes knowledge from new research about Chinese American young children and their families and suggests strategies that can be pursued by families and educators to build a more fruitful partnership to promote Chinese American children's success in school.
• Enhancing The Communication skills of newly-arrived Asian American Students (in PDF) by Dr. Li-Rong Lilly Cheng on (a) the challenges for Asian/Pacific American children and their families; (b) strategies for overcoming cultural differences between educators and students; (c) classroom strategies for improving APA student discourse skills; and (d) strategies for making connections with newcomer families.
• Asian American Children: What Teachers should know (Chinese version) Asian-Americans constitute a significant minority in the U.S. and are one of the fastest growing ethnic groups in this country, yet little is known about their particular educational needs, especially at the early childhood and elementary levels. This digest provides information to help teachers gain a better understanding of Asian-American children, particularly those from East and Southeast Asian cultures, and identify culturally appropriate educational practices to use with those children.

Teaching children who are learning English as their second language:

• MYTHS AND MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING: WHAT EVERY TEACHER NEEDS TO UNLEARN by Barry MCLAUGHLIN
• ASSESSING LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT IN BILINGUAL PRESCHOOL CHILDREN by Barry McLaughlin; Antoinette Gesi Blanchard; Yuka Osanai

Information on the Chinese language:

• Chinese Language and Writing
• The Chinese Language Group
• Members of the Chinese Language Group
• General Linguistic Characteristics
• Dialects
• Where the Chinese Dialects are Spoken

Chinese Language Tools

• English-Chinese dictionary
• Chinese Character Dictionary