二十五年的实验3
全英语幼稚园

陈碧华　执笔

我的小而美的教室原先学生一周只上两次课，虽然课堂上全程使用英语，我观察学习到的只是皮毛，与理想有很大的差距。1990年尔嘉在上了一年中文幼稚园之后，我认为不能再拖延他学习的最好时机，因为所有的母语学习都在婴幼儿时期，虽然英语不是母语，但若仿照母语学习的方式，成功机率应该会比较大，我认为我必须为他打造ㄧ个全英语的环境，利用外国老师教授全部的幼稚园课程，如此他就如同哥哥尔康在美国读幼稚园一样，虽然人在台湾。

我这项壮举当时没人敢尝试，家长质疑这么小学习英文，是不是会影响中文学习？而且大家担心的只是升学考试，家长认为幼稚园离升学还很遥远，恐怕学了也是不了了之，何况当时台湾外国人有限，师资来源就是一大问题。不过我心中很清楚的知道，我的孩子将来不但要能在台湾应付升学，而且要在国外念研究所，甚至长大成人后能够在国际舞台上自由发挥。尔康刚回台湾时，我试著拿了高中联考的英文试题给他尝试，虽然他那时才幼稚园年纪，但居然成绩可以达到九十多分，我的想法是如果幼稚园就轻松自然可以学会的东西，为什么要等到十年后才痛苦勉强的学习？至于学习英文会干扰学习中文，我认为是没有理论基础，言过其实。我在美国看过许多的孩子，他们的语言能力几乎完全取决于家长的态度，孩子本身是随时可以切换不同语言，至少在台湾会说台语的孩子，也没听说中文就不好。

心意既定，我就不顾一切勇往直前，除了自己教学，还寻找最好的老师共襄盛举，为了自己的孩子，我当然希望能有最棒的老师，才能在最短时间内达到最大效果。很幸运当时我自己也在静宜外文系教书有些外国同事，外加认识一些外国传教士，以及担任制造F14战斗机美国顾问的妻子，我们小小学校卧虎藏龙，他们被我这做母亲的心愿感动，一起来帮我执行当时视同天方夜谭的工作。

或许真情真的可以感动天，我自己摸索出来的课程竟然用在别人家的孩子身上也还真行得通。当时我只有一个信念，用学习母语的方式学习英文，换言之，就是制造一个全英语的情境，由听开始，慢慢引导口说，利用大量的图画故事，透过自然发音的规则，培养孩子阅读，当他们具备基本的听、说、读的能力之后，再引导他们开始写，由单字到句子到短文，由身边的事物到复杂的论述。

而且我深信故事书最能引起孩子的兴趣，也培养孩子独立学习的能力。当时全台湾只有台北一、二家进口书店为了外侨贩售童书，每逢假日我不辞辛劳带著襁褓中的尔嘉，牵著幼稚园的尔康，一趟趟的来回台北台中选购适合他们的童书，直到整个书店的故事书几乎都被我收购一空。美国Yve Zinaman太太知道我的需求，也源源不断的自美国将她从二手书店，以及车库拍卖买来的童书寄来当做补充教材，而我自己就是这么孤独的，一点一滴打造这个没人认同的实验。

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A Twenty-Five Year Experiment – 3
A Pioneering Program For Chia

By Bih-Hua Chen

In the first few years, my small school offered a program which required the students to come twice a week for a two-hour lesson each time.  Even though the only language used in class was English, I found it ineffective and I was afraid that it could never reach my goals.  In 1989, Chia was at kindergarten age, and I was worried that he would miss his critical time to learn English if he was not able to study in an English environment.  Without any hesitation, I made a radical change at the school which was to help the young kids to follow the same method as if learning their mother tongue language.  Therefore, I hired foreign teachers to carry out an American curriculum.  I tried to create an environment for Chia in Taiwan which was the same as what Kang had in the States.

My pioneering work didn’t get too much support in the beginning.  Parents had doubts and thought that the immersion program would interfere Chinese learning.  In addition, their main concerns were how to help their children pass the college entrance exams and qualified for the best ones.  They also doubted that the young kids could remember when they grow up what they had learned at such a young age.  The rarity of foreigners in Taiwan was another problem, not to mention qualified foreign teachers.  However, I was determined to knock down all the obstacles.  I believed that I could make the impossible possible for my own boys. 

The first thing I did to gain the parents’ support was to let Kang try an English test designed for prospective college students.  I tried to find out where Kang stood compared with those students who were in their late teens.  The result was very positive.  Kang could easily answer 90% of the questions and he was only seven years old at the time.  This reassured me that it could definitely work on young kids if we let them learn English in an immersion program.  My observation on young kids learning in America also strengthened my belief that learning English would not hinder Chinese learning.  When we lived in the States, many friends’ young kids could switch back and forth between different languages if they wanted to.  It was the same in Taiwan that most kids learned a Taiwanese dialect at home but spoke Mandarin fluently at school.  My conclusion was that the second language would not hinder the first one as long as both languages were used constantly.

Since this new kindergarten program was specially designed for Chia, I tried to find the best native English speaking teachers.  I believed that good teachers made a tremendous difference for students and I really hoped that this pilot project wouldn’t fail.  Fortunately, I found all the teachers I needed immediately.  Some of them were my colleagues from the English Department of Providence University; some were my friends who came with their husbands through a state-run project of building fighter planes; some were missionaries whom I was acquainted with through the church.  They helped me carry out this unprecedented work without any hesitation after listening to my big plans for my own boys.

Amazingly, this new immersion program worked beautifully on Chia, and it also worked well on other kids.  The secret was very simple that I just followed the way of learning a mother tongue.  Slowly but steadily they pick up the language.

The other strategy I relied heavily upon was to use stories to stimulate their interests in learning.  However, English children’s books were not easy to get in Taiwan.  In fact, they could only be found in two bookstores in Taipei.  In order to get them, I had to take Kang and Chia to shop there often.  Shopping was my love but it was quite a challenge to bring a heavy load of books home along with two young boys.  The other resource was from my good friend, Yve.  When she heard about the difficulty finding books in Taiwan, she searched for books from garage sales or second-hand shops for me.

This was how I started my school, slowly and lonely, but firmly I was heading for my goals.  I knew one day I will GET there!

 

儿童双语幼稚园：
康乃尔&康尔嘉英语【官方网站】http://www.ecornel.com.tw
康乃尔&康尔嘉英语【facebook粉丝团】http://www.facebook.com.tw/cornelfans
康乃尔&康尔嘉英语【Youtube影音网】http://www.youtube.com/user/corneltai

英文有声书杂志：
彩虹时间儿童英语故事有声月刊【部落格】http://www.wretch.cc/blog/CRainbowTime
彩虹时间儿童英语故事有声月刊【facebook粉丝团】http://www.facebook.com.tw/rtfans