By Jeff Baron, Staff Writer, America.gov
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Shahan Deyhimi says she has spent decades teaching the language and
history of her native Iran "to make a bridge, not a wall, between
two cultures."
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Washington - The first-graders are practicing their song about the days of the
week. The older children, with a pretend microphone, are learning their lines
for a Mullah Nasreddin folktale. The littlest boy is ready to ask, in clear
Persian, for a gold coin from Uncle Nowruz.As the
children at the Iranian Community School in the Washington suburb of Vienna,
Virginia, prepare for the traditional program to celebrate Nowruz, the Persian
new year, they also embody a new generation of Iranian Americans. It's not just
that nearly all were born in the United States: Some are two generations removed
from Iran, and many have only one parent of Iranian descent. In a larger society
unfamiliar with Nowruz, let alone the Persian language, successful schools such
as this one at the back of a small office building on the town's main street are
a major force in perpetuating Persian culture.
Shahan Deyhimi said that was her primary goal in founding what
became the school not long after arriving in the United States from Iran 31
years ago. "I started my organization with two students, which were my
grandchildren," Deyhimi said. Those grandchildren are now 33 and 36, both
married; Deyhimi's school has grown to more than 200 students, and although she
has trouble getting up stairs, she still oversees the school at age 85.
"I liked Iranian language and culture - that's what I grew up
with - so I decided to try what I can do for my country," she said.
Children who grow up in the United States "have to know their
roots," Deyhimi said. Despite the politics in Iran and its troubled relationship
with the United States, the children "shouldn't be ashamed that they are
Iranian; they should be proud that they are Iranian."
Al Canata says his Iranian-born girlfriend jokes that "my Farsi's
going to be better than hers and ... she's not going to be able to
keep secrets from me anymore." |
The school is "nonpolitical, nonreligious and non-money," she
said, laughing. It survives on tuition and donations.
Students begin as young as 3; the topics include Iran's history, geography,
literature and music. "We're reading about the history of Iran and interesting
stories and poems, and funny jokes," said Nazlee Sahraeyan, 13, who counts
herself as fairly fluent in Persian after learning to speak it with her
Iranian-born parents and taking three years of classes. She narrates the older
children's Mullah Nasreddin play.
Deyhimi said one of her goals is "to make a bridge, not a
wall, between two cultures." She noted that many of the school's adult students
have no Iranian roots.
Al Canata, 31, is one of them. His family emigrated from Italy
about a century ago, and he recalled his grandmother trying to teach him Italian
when he was a little boy and being not the least bit interested. In college,
though, he was interested in Iran and began to study its language. The interest
blossomed after love intervened.
"Once I moved here, about seven years ago, I actually posted
on a Persian message board looking for a Persian restaurant, and that's how I
found my Persian love," Canata said. He pushed himself to learn the language
more and can practice with his Iranian-born girlfriend - and with her mother
when she visits from Iran. He also practices in online Persian chat rooms, where
he said people sometimes don't believe that he is "a gringo on the other side
trying to learn Farsi."
The cross-cultural bridges extend even further: Canata said he
and his girlfriend also are studying Italian together - with an Iranian-American
teacher - and when they visited his family in their ancestral home town of
Genoa, Italy, they all went to a Persian restaurant.
Tina Azimi said she started bringing her sons, 6-year-old Emil
and 10-year-old Artin, to the school after a less-than-satisfying trip to Iran
in 2008. "They were having a difficult time over there. They were bored. They
didn't understand what people were saying," Azimi said. "So I decided to come to
this school. So next time we have a trip over there, they'll be fine. And when
we go here, my older one, Artin, he fall in love with this school."
Deyhimi said it's only natural that her students today feel
less of a connection to Iran than students did 25 years ago. Some say they don't
want to learn Persian because they are American, she said, but the school tries
to make the process fun, and little by little, they come to enjoy it. And those
who have the chance to visit Iran, she said, "they love it."
(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information
Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)
... Payvand News - 03/17/11 ... --
