Immersion learning
Five months ago, Cherry Wu, a 28-year-old woman from Taiwan, went to the UK to work as a nanny. She signed up with The Mandarin Nanny, a London-based agency that provides native Chinese-speaking nannies and tutors. She has a bachelor's degree in early childhood education from the National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan and years of teaching experience in Taiwan, Australia and Turkey.
Wu thinks that the major advantages of Chinese-speaking nannies are that they have a good understanding of Chinese culture and can let the children in their care learn through life.
"I think elite families here [in the UK] want a nanny who can make learning Chinese language and culture fun and interesting for their children," she said.
Wu now works with a family where each parent is the president of a real estate company. She speaks to their child in Chinese and teaches the child Chinese characters, new words and songs whenever they do things together.
"The child learns Chinese quicker and more effectively by picking up the language through everyday use, not by cramming," said Wu.
The founder of The Mandarin Nanny, Xia Weipeng told Metropolitan that half of their clients are ethnic Chinese and half are British parents, including football stars, celebrities, business owners and politicians. She said some parents even hire a Chinese-speaking nanny for their six-month-old child so that the child can learn Chinese alongside their native English.
She cited a recent example where a family of doctors wanted to hire a second nanny for their six-month-old child. Xia said the parents have had a nanny for their four-year daughter since she was one and wanted their second child to have a nanny of her own.
Nancy Xu (pseudonym), 25, taught Chinese to second-grade students in the U.S. for 10 months. She obtained master's degree in teaching Chinese to speakers of other languages (MTCSOL) at Beijing Language and Culture University.
Xu said that the school uses a Chinese immersion technique that includes total physical response and communicative language teaching, and it works well. She also thinks that Chinese culture is a good element that can be easily integrated into daily teaching.
"The kids are very interested in Chinese cultures. What impressed me most was the Chinese paper-cutting class. The students were very happy. Some even wanted to bring it home and frame it," said Xu.
Ending the stigma
Although there is an increasing need for Chinese nannies, the development of the industry is still somewhat hampered by a stigma that sees domestic workers as "less than."
Cliff noted that the biggest challenge his company faces is destigmatizing the notion in the Chinese community that there is something wrong about caring for another family's children.
"I'm told that domestic workers in China are looked down on and are embarrassed about the type of work they do. I explain to prospective Chinese-speaking nannies that in the U.S. nannies are partners with the parents and not servants," he said.
He said that by educating the Chinese community about how mainstream being a nanny is in the U.S. is probably the solution. The nanny industry attracts numerous well-educated American nannies who are proud of their chosen career, and many have Ivy League degrees and can earn over $200,000 a year, Cliff said.
Xia said that the UK is facing a shortage of Chinese-speaking nannies. She said the problem is with obtaining a work visa. It is very difficult for a nanny to get a British work visa unless it is under special circumstances. So, many good candidates cannot work legally in the UK. Chinese who can legally work as a nanny in Britain are British passport holders, those who are married to Britons or young people who hold a Tier-5 work visa from Hong Kong or Taiwan, and few of them want to be nannies, Xia said.
Another reason, she said, is that many Chinese disdain the profession, which is quite different from the British mindset.
"In the UK, a nanny is treated the same as nurses or kindergarten teachers. To be a nanny, one needs to take classes including first aid and early childhood psychology. A good nanny can earn 1,000 pounds weekly, which is twice that of the average Briton."
Xia thinks that the stigma needs to be done away with. As more Chinese learn that being a nanny is a respectable job, more would like to do the formal training and become nannies, she said.
Going online
To cater to the increasing demand for Chinese language skills in foreign countries, online learning platform VIPKID launched Lingo Bus to give kids aged five to 12 access to one-on-one Chinese language services. Over 1,000 people have registered on the app since August, and the number is still growing. The company expects to gain over 50,000 registered users within the next three years, which will require over 10,000 Chinese teachers.
Lei returned to Beijing last year, but she continues to teach foreign kids Chinese through both offline and online platforms. She is currently preparing to open her own Chinese language training company for K-12 students.
"Teaching Chinese in the U.S., you have to deal with issues such as the visa issue and social integration. While back in China teaching K-12 foreign children, I do not have those concerns," said Lei.
