Many students at Calvary Lutheran School in Perry Township speak a Chin language.
Mariah McIntyre, a social worker at the school, said the language barrier can make it difficult to communicate with students who are learning English, and sometimes she struggles to connect with parents who might not understand any English at all.
That’s why she attended a Chin Languages Workshop on July 8 put on by members of Indiana University Bloomington’s East Asian Studies Center, Southeast Asian and ASEAN Studies Program and the Chin Languages Research Project. The roughly six-hour training sought to teach local educators about Chin speech sounds, spelling systems and common names.
Among the things McIntyre wanted to learn was how to have sensitive conversations with families, instead of relying on students to be translators for their parents. On top of that, McIntyre said cultural differences can isolate students from talking to their own parents.
“I’ll have students share with me mental health things, like anxiety and depression, that they feel like their parents don’t quite understand,” McIntyre said.
The workshop paved a way for McIntyre to learn how to connect families with resources.
Dispelling myths about Chin cultures
In 2023, around 22,000 Chin residents lived in Indianapolis, according to data compiled by the Burmese American Community Institute. IU Bloomington research shows that most Chin families immigrated to the south side between 2013 and 2015 to escape extreme military regimes that have swept the east Asian country of Myanmar. Militant groups have attacked thousands with arson, forced displacement and murder, which has also wiped out Chin languages and cultures.
It’s likely that most Chin students now living on the south side were born in the United States, and some speak Chin languages at home. Still, workshop facilitators say many misconceptions about Chin cultures have taken root.
Many people assume that immigrants from Myanmar practice Burmese languages or cultures. While in reality, facilitators said, cultural erasure in Myanmar and other countries has led to minimal recognition of hundreds of Chin languages other than Burmese.
It’s something Calvary Lutheran School Principal Steve Rensner learned more about at the workshop. The principal told Mirror Indy that he used to say that half of his school identifies as Chin Burmese. But the Chin Languages Workshop helped him realize he needs a better understanding of the many languages spoken by his students and wants to learn where they’re from.
Some educators at the workshop believe immigrant parents’ limited English skills prevent Chin families from volunteering or attending parent teacher conferences.
But Sui Hnem Par, a PhD student at IU Bloomington, said that isn’t the entire story. Par is a Chin community member who moved to Indy’s south side in 2012. She said unfamiliarity with American school systems is likely the culprit for low parent engagement.
In Chin cultures, families typically don’t ask educators questions or pry into their roles.
“Across many Asian cultures,” Par said at the workshop, “it is considered rude and disrespectful and seen as crossing (a) work boundary to be too involved or to ask many questions.”
Connecting families
The workshop organizers don’t expect educators to become fluent in a Chin language. But Laura Judson, assistant director for IU Bloomington’s East Asian Studies Center, said she hopes teachers learn that it’s OK to try pronouncing an unfamiliar name in order to help a student feel recognized and seen.
“You may see a name that doesn’t look familiar on your roster,” Judson said, “but we have the resources for you to recognize, ‘Oh, maybe that sounds like this. Let me try to say my students’ names,’ even though it’s a little bit scary and it might not feel familiar to me.”
Want to connect with your Chin neighbors?
Here are some resources from the Chin Languages Research Project:
IU Bloomington’s East Asian Studies Center, which began in 2018, is one of seven university programs in the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia. IU receives funds from the group to provide free online and in-person programming to help educators incorporate East Asian literature and culture into classrooms.
Kelly Harper Berkson, an IU Bloomington associate professor of linguistics, provided a presentation during the workshop.
Berkson leads the Chin Languages Research Project, but she isn’t part of the Chin community. That’s why she wants to guide Chin students so they can teach more southsiders about their culture.
“It’s just all about nurturing the Chin students,” Berkson said, “and supporting them until they develop the confidence so that they can take the microphone.”
A correction was made on July 15, 2025: This post has been updated to include the correct names of a program and a center named in this article.
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Mirror Indy reporter Elizabeth Gabriel covers the south side of Marion County. Contact her at elizabeth.gabriel@mirrorindy.org. Follow her on X at @_elizabethgabs.
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