In an activity room decorated with paper lanterns, origami cranes and other kid art, the Friday morning Play and Learn group is drawing fish. Parents and grandparents bend over the children to help little hands hold big crayons or get the caps off the markers.

The project is the culmination of a busy morning at the International Family Center in Seattle’s International District. From the time they arrive at 9:30 a.m. to the time they leave at 11, the kids are occupied—first with puzzles and stacking toys, then with story time, music and movement, and finally arts and crafts.

It’s called Play and Learn for a reason. The children, ages 2 to 5, may not realize it, but they’re learning letters, numbers, colors and language (including some Chinese and Sign) while they have fun. Their caregivers are learning from group leader Sue Jiang and from each other about how to engage, teach and bond with their children through play.

The Play and Learn program is one of the many ways this Center helps strengthen families. Operated by the Chinese Information and Service Center (CISC), the Center and its satellite in Kent is open to all, but gears its programs and services to the needs of immigrant and refugee families, particularly Chinese and Vietnamese. 

In 2008, the Center received a $10,000 grant from the Children’s Trust Foundation to support two six-week classes for the Chinese and Vietnamese-speaking parents of preschool and school-age children, as well as three weekly play groups.

The new services are aimed at increasing parents’ knowledge and skills, improving parent-child relationships, and providing practical solutions to the challenges of raising bilingual/bicultural children in America.

“The more quickly their children get Americanized, the more some parents will hold onto their traditional values, which makes for a lot of conflict,” says Hueiling Chan, CISC clinical director. “We help parents understand American culture and modify their way of parenting. We say, ‘You’re not losing your kids. You’re providing them with the best of two cultures.’”

At the Center, immigrant and refugee parents learn from each other and feel supported, Chan adds. “A lot of them are still in survival mode, struggling not just to make ends meet, but also to make sense of everything from ATM machines and bus schedules to sleepovers and middle-school dances.”

Parent Anh Tang started coming to the Center with the
eldest of her three children. Now she takes the youngest, 4½-year-old Jennifer, to the Play and Learn group. Even Anh’s sister has gotten involved.

“The teachers and the staff here are great,” says Anh.
“The whole family has learned a lot. That’s why I keep bringing them here.”