今年纽约橙郡华人协会和中文学校成立三十周年了。吴会长号召中文学校的毕业生写回忆文章。虽然女儿能听会说中文，但是写中文文章还有困难。所以她用英文写了一篇回忆。我把它翻译成中文，请欣赏。
《我在中文学校里的最美好的记忆》
“对你有好处” ，这是我妈妈喜欢说的话。上个学期，在纽约大学的课堂上，我忽然想起了这句话。我们有一个教授，每次上课，他至少花5分钟讲几个题目，并且他还告诉我们：这些题目将不会被考试。有些同学就对他“翻白眼”，不听了，另一些同学还抱怨他浪费时间。但是这个荷兰智者真的热爱他所教授的内容。开讲前，他总是对我们说：建议你们要认真听讲，对你有好处。
虽然中文学校是学习第二语言的绝好机会，但是中文成绩既不会列在正规学校的成绩单上，也不会提高大学录取机会。所以我们都认为学习中文的价值不大。让我告诉你吧，当年，每个星期六的早晨爬起来，去中文学校是一件多么困难的事情。比这个更困难的是：到了学校之后，老师还要让我们集中精力上中文课。在我5年级，9岁的时候，我们中文班里有10个孩子。只有几个孩子能完成中文作业，而且每周听写生字的成绩也不能反映出我们真实的学习能力，因为我们在各自正规学校里的成绩都很好。为了调动我们，老师开始实行发奖券的措施，并且自费买来书签，橡皮，闪光的铅笔…做奖品。老师宣布完成作业得多少奖券，听写生字得多少奖券…。当我们得到足够的奖券后，就可以到老师的奖品盒里挑一件自己喜欢的奖品。奖品盒是一个Totino's 披萨卷的包装盒，现在我还记得它的样子。同预期的一样，我们开始完成作业，认真背写生字，因为我们都感觉到自己的努力学习得到了回报。
在9岁的时候，我们搞不清楚短期奖励和长远受益的区别。因为我们不想只为学中文而学中文，我们的老师给了我们一个学习中文的理由。她自费买奖品，她设计有趣味的教学方法。每个星期五下班回家，做完晚饭，她都认真批改我们的作业，再准备第二天活泼有趣的上课方式。
现在回头看中文学校的日子，我多么想能更好的利用那样的学习机会。但是，现在，在实习生面试的时候，我还是可以自豪地说：我能听会说流利的中文。在纽约大学，我还可以听懂中国留学生八卦美国同学的话，然后瞪他一眼，他还以为我听不懂呢！
总而言之，我很感谢我的中文老师。在我明白学习中文的长远受益之前，她就对我说：对你有好处。很幸运，我的中文老师就是我的妈妈。她就是我在中文学校里的最美好的记忆。
附上原文：
《My Favorite Chinese School Memory》
对你有好处. English Pronunciation: Doy ni yo how choo.
It’s a simple phrase my mom likes to say, meaning “it’s good for you.”
I was reminded of it during my past semester at NYU. I had a professor who would spend at least five minutes of each class going over topics he warned us wouldn’t be tested on. Some students would roll their eyes and stop listening; others probably complained about a waste of time and tuition. But this wise Dutchman, truly passionate about the material he was teaching, would look at us before he began and say, “I suggest you pay attention and learn this anyway—it’s good for your health.”
Chinese School is an incredible opportunity to learn a second language, but grades don’t appear on a transcript, records aren’t sent to college admissions, and 100%’s are therefore seen as somehow less valuable. I can vouch that it’s extremely difficult to wake up on Saturday mornings and go to Chinese School. That being said, I guarantee it’s harder to get the kids to care once they’re there.
When I was in fifth grade, there were about ten of us in my Chinese School class. Few of us did our homework assignments to the best of our abilities and our weekly spelling quizzes were not a reflection of the work ethic we displayed in regular school. So our teacher decided to start issuing slips of paper that she called “bonuses” and, using her own money, she bought bookmarks, erasers, sparkly pens, etc. Completing your homework earned you this-many bonuses; getting a certain number of questions correct on a spelling quiz earned you that-many. When you collected enough, you could cash them in and pick a prize out of this giant Totino’s Pizza Rolls box that I can still picture today. As predicted, we started completing our homework and studying for our spelling quizzes, because through bonuses and prizes, we felt that we were being rewarded for our actions.
At nine years old, we weren’t expected to understand the difference between short-term rewards and long-term benefits. We didn’t care about learning Chinese just for the sake of learning it, so our teacher gave us a reason to care. She bought us prizes with her own money, she made entertaining lesson plans, and she spent every Friday night diligently correcting our homework after coming home from work and making dinner for her family.
Looking back on my time at Chinese School, I wish I had better taken advantage of the opportunity and resources it had given me. But I feel proud when I’m able to tell my job interviewer that I’m fluent in Mandarin. I like being able to glare at Chinese international students who think they can gossip without anyone understanding what they’re saying. And you should’ve seen the embarrassing smile on my face when I wrote that Chinese phrase above out of memory. For all that, I’m grateful to my teacher. She understood before I did the long-term benefit of attending Chinese School and learning a second language—it’s good for your health.
Or as she would say: 对你有好处.
Luckily for me, that teacher was my mother, and she is my favorite Chinese School memory.
