Page Title
Hmong Language and Culture Summer
Enrichment Program
Learning Hmong origins
Enrichment Program
Learning Hmong origins
Heidi M. Pascual*
Publisher & Editor
* 2006 Journalist of the Year
for the State of Wisconsin
(U.S.-SBA)
Publisher & Editor
* 2006 Journalist of the Year
for the State of Wisconsin
(U.S.-SBA)
Another said, ‘My kids are too old now, but I will provide all of the snacks for all of the kids everyday.’ Every week, she
checks in and buys a lot of stuff and brings them. That’s how this whole thing started. It’s been totally grassroots, the
traditional Hmong way of doing things. Each one pitches in. ‘I’ve got this. I’ll bring this. Hey can you bring that? Who’s got
this? Who can do this piece of it?’ People have just been stepping forward. We’ve also been fortunate to get some local
support from MG&E, UW Health and UW Credit Union to pitch in some financial support. And then we also wanted
parents to have a little skin in the game. So we charged an admission for the kids to come. Obviously this is a start-up
and as a start-up, it’s more costly than on-going programming. Parents were so excited. They were happy to pay a small
fee for their children to come.”
Part 1
By Heidi M. Pascual and Jon Gramling
Hmong families in the Madison area have slowly integrated into the American way of life,
but the challenges they face continue on, especially in the area of education. The concern
is evident in the collective expression by Hmong parents whose kids need more support in
order to succeed in school. And a few Hmong leaders in the community are initiating the
move to help them.
Peng Her, South Madison Promise Zone Director, explained why the Hmong language and
culture enrichment program came into being.
“Two things led to the creation of the camp,” Her said. “One was a lot of the Hmong
parents were trying to find a way to really be creative in supporting their children because
they recognize that some of the kids weren’t doing as well as they wanted to in school. And
I think that was reflected in their WKCE test scores and how their kids were doing
academically and how they were relating to their peers.”
By Heidi M. Pascual and Jon Gramling
Hmong families in the Madison area have slowly integrated into the American way of life,
but the challenges they face continue on, especially in the area of education. The concern
is evident in the collective expression by Hmong parents whose kids need more support in
order to succeed in school. And a few Hmong leaders in the community are initiating the
move to help them.
Peng Her, South Madison Promise Zone Director, explained why the Hmong language and
culture enrichment program came into being.
“Two things led to the creation of the camp,” Her said. “One was a lot of the Hmong
parents were trying to find a way to really be creative in supporting their children because
they recognize that some of the kids weren’t doing as well as they wanted to in school. And
I think that was reflected in their WKCE test scores and how their kids were doing
academically and how they were relating to their peers.”
According to Her, the current WKCE scores for 2012 showed that 93.3 percent of Hmong children are reading below
grade level. I think it was close to 80 percent in math.
Furthermore, Hmong parents were also concerned about their children not knowing about the Hmong culture and the
language of their parents— an important and basic awareness of one’s identity..
grade level. I think it was close to 80 percent in math.
Furthermore, Hmong parents were also concerned about their children not knowing about the Hmong culture and the
language of their parents— an important and basic awareness of one’s identity..
“Some parents shared that their children were also losing
their identity, language and culture,” Her added. “They felt
there must be a correlation about how a child feels about
themselves, their self-identity, who they are in terms of their
culture and their pride in themselves and how well they do in
school academically and as they get older in the workforce.”
Her also shared his concerns among Hmong parents in the
community, and in no time at all, they got interested.
“We decided to meet every Friday starting at the end of
February,” Her recalled, where parents met from 6 to 10 p.m.
to see if they could create a school and how to do it. “After
several months, we hatched the Hmong Language and
Culture Summer Enrichment Program where we would
their identity, language and culture,” Her added. “They felt
there must be a correlation about how a child feels about
themselves, their self-identity, who they are in terms of their
culture and their pride in themselves and how well they do in
school academically and as they get older in the workforce.”
Her also shared his concerns among Hmong parents in the
community, and in no time at all, they got interested.
“We decided to meet every Friday starting at the end of
February,” Her recalled, where parents met from 6 to 10 p.m.
to see if they could create a school and how to do it. “After
several months, we hatched the Hmong Language and
Culture Summer Enrichment Program where we would
| Peng Her is excited to have initiated the Hmong Language and Culture Summer enrichment Program. |
spend the mornings teaching the kids how to read and write in Hmong and speak in Hmong. And in the afternoons, they
would focus on a core curriculum of math, science and reading. We would also tap into our large resource of Hmong
elders in the community. We would have a Hmong elder come and teach the children how to play traditional Hmong
music and instruments like the qeej, the flute and the jaw harp. We would have a Hmong nurse come in and teach them
about health literacy. And we would have a Hmong police officer come and talk about the different professions that are
out there. An elder would come in and talk about history and life in Laos because those are things that we can’t find a
textbook to teach our kids because no one has written about those things. It’s only passed orally.”
would focus on a core curriculum of math, science and reading. We would also tap into our large resource of Hmong
elders in the community. We would have a Hmong elder come and teach the children how to play traditional Hmong
music and instruments like the qeej, the flute and the jaw harp. We would have a Hmong nurse come in and teach them
about health literacy. And we would have a Hmong police officer come and talk about the different professions that are
out there. An elder would come in and talk about history and life in Laos because those are things that we can’t find a
textbook to teach our kids because no one has written about those things. It’s only passed orally.”
The plan has materialized as a partnership between the South
Madison Promise Zone and Hmong parents, and Her was
excited to find a lot of enthusiasm from participants and
volunteers.
“We hired and got a lot of volunteers from UW-Madison,” Her
said of the Hmong students who came forward to help. “It was
amazing how these students stepped up and some of them
said, ‘You know, we wish we had this when we were growing up.
We didn’t, so I had to learn how to speak Hmong in college,
paying someone to teach me how to speak it.’ There is a Hmong
language course here at UW. They (the UW students) wanted to
pay it forward by helping the young kids so that they would know
how to speak Hmong and so, when they got to college, they
wouldn’t have to pay for a class.”
To start the program, Her hired three staff members – two
teachers and one coordinator—and the rest came forward as
volunteers.
“The parents would volunteer and cook,” Her said proudly about
a couple of moms who come everyday to cook a hot meal for the
kids. “One mom said, ‘You know, I have a big garden that I sell at
the Farmer’s Market. I’ll bring all of the produce for you guys.’