To integrate into Irish primary schools, a familiarity with Irish culture is essential. Irish language is a big component of Irish culture. In the interviews, not many Chinese par- ents showed significant interest in Irish language. One Chinese parent thought that Irish language was not a modern language, and that it was not very useful to learn Irish.
Irish schools teach English, as English is very popular in the world. It is a very important subject. They also teach Irish language, however, Irish is not a modern language and it is a very old language. Not many people speak it. Only some very old Irish people can speak Irish, young Irish normally don’t speak Irish. In my opinion, it is just totally a waste of time to learn Irish, but I can’t do anything about it, as the children in Ireland have to learn Irish, and it is in the curriculum.
Three out of four Chinese children interviewed in this research said that their least favourite subject in Irish schools was Irish language. The reasons they gave are that sometimes they don’t understand and “there are f´adas in Irish, lots of the words just don’t make any sense and it is very easy to spell it incorrectly”. Many parents also said that they couldn’t help much with their children’s Irish.
One of the Chinese principals completely disagreed with the position of some of the Chinese parents who think Irish language is useless. She thinks that parents’ attitude toward Irish culture would influence their children’s attitude, and respecting Irish culture is the first step to have the Chinese children integrated into Irish society.
First thing is to respect the Irish culture and don’t judge it negatively and don’t always tell your child that Irish language is useless. Lots of parents do so. They don’t respect the Irish culture themselves but they ask their children to love Ireland! Is it only to love the Irish passport? That is not right! This kind of thinking that you give to the children is wrong. To love Ireland, you need to know its culture, you need to learn its language, and support all their activities. I think this is the basic duty of a citizen.
– Chinese Principal 1
She also emphasised that Chinese parents need to learn Irish culture themselves and to be a good model for their children. Participation in Irish activities is a great way to get to know Irish culture.
I think it is quite difficult to be a Chinese parent here. We need to leave the good aspects of Chinese culture to our child but at the same time we can’t ignore the Irish culture. The parents need to learn for themselves as well. For example, I’m not Irish, how did I learn? I taught myself. It is not possible that you would understand everything by talking to a random Irish person. You need to read books to know more about it. The most important thing is to par- ticipate in their activities. If you don’t participate you will never know their culture.
Another Chinese principal also stressed the importance for Chinese children to know about Irish culture. She pointed out that religion is a very important part of Irish culture. If children want to integrate into Irish schools, they have to know about religion in Ireland.
I encourage my children to attend all the religious classes and activities. I think it is very good, as religion is too important in this country. The history and culture cannot be separated from religion here. If you don’t know religion, then you will miss a big chunk of historical and cultural aspects.
– Chinese Principal 2
Two of Chinese school principals stressed how important it is for Chinese children to learn Irish culture, and that it is their first step towards integrating into Irish society.
One Irish teacher also mentioned that to help the migrant children to integrate culturally, it is essential for parents to encourage their children to learn Irish culture and to feel Irish, but maintain their own culture at the same time.
Well, I suppose, with all of these things it comes very much from the par- ents, and if the parents encourage the children. I suppose, if you are talk- ing about children who are going to settle permanently in this country, then it would be helpful for those children to embrace the Irish culture, whilst at the same time maintaining their own cultural identity. So, you know, if Chi- nese parents were able to encourage their child to get involved in things like the local St. Patrick’s day parade, or maybe learn Irish dancing, or join, you know local . . . Gaelic football club in every area. To allow the child to feel Irish, whilst at the same time ... I would never suggest that the child should be discarding their own cultural identity. But so that they could have this dual identity, so that they feel part of the Irish world that they are living in, and they also feel part of the world that they have perhaps left behind. Even if it is, per- haps, temporarily. So that is, I think, going to come mostly from the parents. If the parents are not expressing an interest or are not displaying an interest in occasions that arise within the Irish cultural calendar, then the children are not going to be interested.