Fu, Danling. (2003). An Island of English: Teaching ESL in Chinatown. Reviewed by Ko-Yin Sung, University of Texas at San Antonio

Fu, Danling. (2003). An Island of English: Teaching ESL in Chinatown. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Pp. 165         ISBN 978-0325004815 Reviewed by Ko-Yin Sung University of Texas at San Antonio April 2, 2007 An Island of English: Teaching ESL in Chinatown is a seven chapter, 165 page book which describes the academic struggles and progress made by newly arrived Chinese immigrants at the Sun Yat Sen Middle School in Chinatown, New York. Asians are often stereotyped as brilliant students who excel academically. This stereotype is not only false but is grossly exaggerated. In this book, readers will find an invisible and underrepresented group of Chinese ESL learners who have limited proficiency in both Chinese and English. These students are in poverty, cultural shock, and are homesick. The author, Danling Fu, is an educator and researcher of literacy and language. She was invited to work as a literacy consultant from 1997 to 2002. Her main objective was to help improve the teaching and learning environment in a low achieving middle school. The school had an 85% Chinese population during the time of her stay. In this work she documents her work experiences with the administrators and the schoolteachers, and most importantly the academic growth of the students both in English and content knowledge. Being a consultant for the school, Fu looked far beyond the standard ESL teaching strategies to take the students’ cultural background and economic status into account. She looked for a better way to teach English as a second language as well as the core curriculum subjects to the newly arrived Chinese children. With input from the administrators and teachers, as well as careful observation of the students, Fu suggested several teaching strategies and models that reflected the needs of the newly arrived immigrant children. In the conclusion to the book, Fu mentions that she was criticized for not being an expert in ESL/Bilingual education and that she does not sound like an ESL/Bilingual person. “I even received a call once from a university, nicely telling me that they were impressed with my vitae but didn’t think I was trained enough in the ESL and bilingual fields, so they were sending my application to the literacy program for consideration” (p. 154). Although scholars in the ESL and bilingual fields questioned Fu's expertise, I found that her book thoroughly explained the subject of teaching ESL in Chinatown. It was easy to read and relate to, and her ideas were strongly supported by current ESL/Bilingual theories and research. According to Ogbu’s (1992) minority education theory, the Chinese ethnic group is identified as voluntary immigrants who are supposed to do well in the United States. What was the reason that the group Fu began to work with was not performing well in school? Weren’t they supposed to be determined to overcome any obstacles to reach their maximum potential? The matter seemed more complicated than it was on the surface, but cultural background and socio-economic status were always the hidden factors. Fu discovered two key considerations through interviews with the Chinese parents and letters from the students to friends and relatives in China. First, Literacy Levels vs. Language Transfer: The Chinese children in the school came mostly from poverty and barely had any literacy instruction in their first language when they arrived in America. Fu understood the language transfer theory. If the children did not have the language skills of their first language, the knowledge and skills would not transfer to their second language. This made it harder for the children to learn the second language. Second, Culture Shock and Homesickness: The children had envisioned America before they arrived as something different from what it turned out to be for them. They could not accept the current conditions of their living environment. In addition, they missed their families and friends in China. Their parents were so busy trying to make a living that the children felt alone and helpless. Finally, the children did not have a chance to speak English in Chinatown. Based on her new found understanding of these children's circumstances, Fu formulated a vision for reforming the Chinese Language Arts (CLA) Program and changing strategies in ESL classes. Instead of teaching Chinese poetry, history, and geography, subjects that were related to the curriculum of social studies were taught in CLA. The reasoning behind this choice was that it helped students “gain the content knowledge they needed for their American education and for their transition to their new lives in the new country” (p. 37). I do believe when the ESL students are falling behind in standard curricula, learning American social studies by using their first language will enhance their understanding of the subject. “What we learn in one language transfers into the new language” (Jiang & Kuehn, p. 420). In other words, the knowledge the ESL students learned in their first language is transferable to their second language. However, after they catch up in the subject, the students should have time to spend on learning about their own heritage and culture, which is the only way to support their cultural identity. Fu also understood the importance of students learning their own culture and in using their first language. She wrote, “It is important to use the students’ primary language to build content knowledge and boost self-esteem for the students’ mother tongue and home culture."(p. 153) Therefore, in the ESL classes, the students were allowed to use Chinese to express themselves in listening, speaking, reading, and writing when they did not know the English words. The students were able to transition gradually from writing only a few words in English within a Chinese sentence to a complete and coherent English text. Many other strategies were also used to pique students’ interests and attention while improving their second language skills and content knowledge. For example, students practiced speaking and listening to English through popular songs, reading aloud pattern books, small group discussion, puppet shows, and listening or recording tapes. Students also practiced reading and writing by reading and writing different genres and poetry. Fu also taught the teachers how to see each student’s progress positively instead of focusing on the errors each student makes. As a middle-class and highly literate Chinese immigrant herself, Fu often compared and contrasted the situation of her and her son with those of the Chinese children she had been working with. She explained to her readers why it was much harder for the illiterate and low socio-economic class immigrant children to succeed in school. Her book also raised a very critical issue in the education policies of the U.S. The children needed to take state-mandated Chinese language tests and other standardized tests along with American students yet no one knew what their needs were or how to help them succeed in a completely new and unfamiliar education system. The children became the victims of inconsiderate education policies and of those who advocate monolingualism. Fu does a thorough job of explaining difficulties such as homesickness and cultural shock that the students faced and of demonstrating new teaching strategies using many relevant examples. More importantly, she makes the readers aware of the bigger issues beyond the school. References Jiang, B., & Kuehn, P. (2001). Transfer in the Academic Language Development of Post-secondary ESL Students. Bilingual Research Journal, 25(4), 417-436. Ogbu, J. (1992). Understanding cultural diversity and learning. Educational Researcher, 21(8), 5-14. About the Reviewer Ko-Yin Sung is a Ph.D. student in Culture, Literacy and Language at the University of Texas at San Antonio.