[EDLING:2014] SFGate: OAKLAND/THE MOTHER TONGUE/Cambodian children studying Khmer to bridge language gap, preserve their culture

[Francis Hult]

 Cambodian children studying Khmer to bridge language gap, preserve their
culture
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Monday, October 30, 2006 (SF Chronicle)
OAKLAND/THE MOTHER TONGUE/Cambodian children studying Khmer to bridge language gap, preserve their culture
Vanessa Hua, Chronicle Staff Writer


   Cambodian children in Oakland chanting the alphabet in the ancient
language of their ancestors one recent afternoon were helping build their
community -- and their own futures.
   To preserve their culture and help children communicate with their
families, Cambodian Community Development Inc., a nonprofit service
provider, began offering a free Khmer language class this month to a dozen
students, ages 4 to 13.
   "Cambodian youth are already struggling to communicate with their
parents," said director Ratha Chuon. "One of the ways to tackle this issue
is for them to learn the language."
   Chuon, 26, was born in a refugee camp in Thailand and grew up in the
Tenderloin. As a child, she studied Khmer for two years before her San
Francisco school closed. "It would help so much for kids of the next
generation."
   If the program takes off, she plans to offer classes for adults on reading
and writing the language, spoken by up to 21 million people in Cambodia
and communities abroad. From 1975 to 1979, during the reign of the Khmer
Rouge -- the bloody government that killed an estimated 1.5 million people
-- officials destroyed much of the Cambodian literary heritage, burning
books and closing schools and libraries.
   Alameda County is home to about 4,300 Cambodians, part of a larger Bay
Area community of 13,098, according to a report by the Asian Pacific Legal
Center in Los Angeles that analyzed U.S. census data from 2000.
   Many Cambodians living here escaped the Khmer Rouge or left their homeland
during the earlier years of the U.S. military intervention in Southeast
Asia. More than a third of Bay Area Cambodians live in poverty, and most
did not graduate from high school.
   The class meets at Oak Park, an affordable housing development that houses
many Cambodian families. Lemongrass and other Asian herbs and vegetables
grow in the community garden.
   When class began, the seven students stood with palms together, bowed
their heads and gave Buddhist monk Him San, 27, the traditional greeting
for elders.
   The boys wore baggy jeans and oversize shirts and football jerseys, the
girls wore pink jackets and dangly earrings, but for an hour, they were
immersed in Cambodian education.
   Clad in a saffron robe, the monk wrote the first few vowels, with swoops
and feathers and curls, on the chalkboard and asked the class to copy and
to repeat after him. The Khmer alphabet has 24 vowels and 32 consonants in
total.
   "That's good, you remembered," he said in Khmer to the class.
   Him San pointed at his lip when he wanted them to enunciate each sound.
   The class clapped when Brian Tan, 7, read the vowels confidently and then
grinned.
   The children read pages photocopied from a children's textbook Him San, a
recent immigrant, brought from Cambodia. The young monk, ordained at 12,
has a lot of teaching experience and was available to volunteer.
   Three staff members moved among the students, making sure they understood.
   When Alena Kim's turn came around, she buried her head in her arms,
giggling.
   "I don't get it. It's too hard," said Alena, 11, before she got through
the vowels with the prompting of the monk.
   Jasmine Nhep, 12, of Oakland said she likes everything about the class,
from writing to speaking.
   Kob Kong, 12, said he has learned more about Cambodia. Before, he imagined
the houses were tiny, but he has learned that some are very large.
   "I want my daughter to grow up and know her culture, instead of losing
it," said Saroun Ek, 30, who enrolled her 4-year-old daughter, Emily. Ek
does not know how to read or write the language herself. "I want my
daughter to know it better than me."

   E-mail Vanessa Hua at vahua at sfchronicle.com. ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2006 SF Chronicle