[老外直言]:何时留学我之见(2)

    阅读是避免很多这类扭曲的关键。担心被带出国的孩子逐渐失去中国特质的父母应该鼓励孩子多读为青少年写的中文趣味图书；重要的是，孩子也应该看到父母在家中看书。中国应该成为一个自然而然的、经常谈论的话题。孩子不应该一下子就沉入到———比如说，沉入到宾至如归的 美国新环境中，而他的父母却把注意力转向别处，要知道，对于孩子们来说，一种表层文化上的美国化在数月之内就能发生。美国应该成为一个可看可摸的观察对象（而不是不加思考的模仿），而中国则应成为时时关心与回忆的话题。看电影会有助于此，一周看一次中国电影，看完DVD影碟后，全家一起讨论，将有助于孩子把自己看作是在美国旅居的人，而不是定居的移民。孩子们需要有人帮助他们来形成这样的观念：即把自己看成是来自海外的独立访客，而要达到这个目的的最好办法，是鼓励他们拥有自己的观点，而不是仅仅去适应周围的新环境。思考，交谈，判断，会阻止社会对孩子的重新塑造。
    那么，把孩子带回国以后呢？把上面的做法反过来，即让孩子坚持阅读英文读物———目的是为了获得乐趣，而不是为了要教他什么。看英文电影，对内容进行讨论。当孩子到了青春期时，鼓励他从网上阅读国外主要报纸的文章并讲述出来，然后在饭桌上进行讨论。另外，对孩子极其有益的做法是，与他在国外学校的朋友和老师们保持联系（显然，是通过电子邮件）。
　　Reading is the key to avoiding many of these distortions. Parents worried about the fading Chineseness of a child taken abroad should encourage him to read interesting books for young readers in Chinese; importantly, the child should also see his parents reading at home. China should be a constant topic of unforced conversation. The child should not simply sink into, say, his welcoming new American environment while his parents turn their attention elsewhere: among children a superficial cultural americanization can take place within just months. America should become an object of explicit observation (not thoughtless imitation) while China remains a topic of concern and memory. Films can help; a weekly Chinese film, watched on DVD and then discussed by the family, will help to keep the child thinking of himself as a sojourner in America and not as an immigrant. Children need to be helped to form a picture of themselves as independent visitors from abroad, and the best way to do that is to encourage them tohave opinions of their own instead of just fitting into the world around them. Thinking, talking and assessing are obstacles to social remolding.
　　　And when a Chinese child is brought back from overseas? Reverse the process: keep the child reading English -- forfun,notforinstruction. Watch films in English and discuss the content. When the child reaches adolescence, encourage him to read articles from major foreign newspapers on line and relate the contents for discussion over the dinner table. And it is extremely useful for the child to stay in touch (most obviously via e-mail) with friends and teachers from his foreign school.