All the Stories Stay Together
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In grade 1, Lisa Thang started the Chinese bilingual program in Edmonton's Kildare Elementary. According to her, being in the program "really framed my life. Everything that I've learned there helped me shape my career and what I wanted to do in university and everything."
Her grade 1 teacher inspired her, because "she was so passionate about what she was teaching." Partway through grade 1, Lisa knew she wanted to be a teacher, and that she wanted to teach at Kildare. Still excited, Lisa recalls getting the job, "I was seriously jumping up and down. I just called everyone, 'I got the job! I got the job!' And all the friends I met in Kildare are the friends I still have now ... So when I called them and told then I got a job at Kildare, they felt just as excited. And on the first day of school when I had to set up my classroom, they came into my classroom and were like, 'This is our grade 3 classroom. We should all come back and sit in the desks and take a picture.'"
For Lisa, the program has been an important link to her heritage. All through school, teachers made an effort to celebrate cultural festivals and events. One of her favourite memories involves chopstick day, and she was really excited to find out that it still existed when she returned to Kildare to teach. "I was like, 'Hey, you guys still have chopstick day. That's pretty cool.'" It's a fun event – everyone in school gets Chinese food and Chinese students teach other students how to use chopsticks.
Lisa did a Bachelor of Education at the U of A, and feels that she's really grown up now that she has finished school and started her career. She says, "When I started teaching, I went, 'Okay, I think I finally found my place'... Now it's kind of like I've got the roots. It's settling in." She's looking forward to getting married next year, and says, “All of my bridesmaids are my classmates from Kindergarten to now. Whenever there's a wedding, it's like a Kildare reunion. You see everyone there again, because everyone stays in touch."
Looking at her grade 3 and 4 students, Lisa hopes they have the same tight-knit community experience she’s had. When she watches her students walk down the hall, she sees them developing friendships that will last all their lives. "When I see them, I see myself," she says. Even though the Chinese bilingual program in Edmonton Public Schools is the largest of its kind anywhere in Canada and the fastest-growing second language program in any public school system, it still connects the community in a way only a shared language can.
Lisa teaches alongside her former teachers now, and has gotten to know them as colleagues. Her grade 12 teacher transferred to Kildare to become the grade 1 teacher. When Lisa got the Kildare job, her teacher joked, "Oh, I thought I got rid of you."
And sometimes, when there's too much work to get done at school, Lisa carries home her marking in the same backpack she used in grade 12. For Lisa's grade 12 teacher, it's a déjà vu moment. "She sees me going down the hall with it on my back and says, 'It's just like you're still in high school.'"
As Lisa says, "All the stories stay together."
Play the audio file below to hear Lisa Thang's story in Mandarin.
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Lisa Thang
Aside from teaching in the Mandarin program, Lisa Thang teaches Chinese traditional dance to her students. For Lisa, the dancing really expresses the culture. She also designs and sells toys and hair accessories for little kids and makes handmade cards. This year, she, her mom, and her uncle decided to get a booth at Edmonton’s annual Art Walk on Whyte Ave. They had a blast making and selling art.
