Learning Hanyu Pinyin

[JHJC]

Hi Parents,

have you tried teaching young kids both Phonics and Han Yu Pin Ying at the same time? will they get confuse? is there an ideal way to teach?
Thank you.

[hquek]

hi jhjc,


Depends on the age group. I understand that HYPY should only be introduced at K2. Phonics I assume should have been taught much earlier.

I don’t think it should be introduced at the same time if the child is just starting out. Can get quite blur how to pronounce leh.

[tamarind]

hquek is correct.


Phonics should be taught from 3 years old. At the same time, parents should start to teach the kids to recognize Chinese characters.

Hanyu Pinyin should be taught at 6 or 7 years old, after the kids already know as many Chinese characters as possible. Do not make the mistake of teaching hanyu pinyin before Chinese character recognition.

In fact, both my kids know phonics very well, and hanyu pinyin is very easy for them.

[tankee]

Tao Nan school actually teaches hanyupinying first before the chinese characters. In fact, for term 1 chinese spelling, all are in hanyupinying.

[titank]

tankee:

Tao Nan school actually teaches hanyupinying first before the chinese characters. In fact, for term 1 chinese spelling, all are in hanyupinying.

Yes same in Radin Mas, also have spelling in HYPY! Wonder how to learn that in chinese spelling.

[buds]

JHJC:

Hi Parents,

Hi JHJC! Long time no see..

JHJC:

have you tried teaching young kids both Phonics and Han Yu Pin Ying at the same time?

A student who once had Phonics enrichment lessons with me had lotsa
trouble getting the sounds right, if i remember correctly it's always a
mix up between the vowel sounds. While other children have gone
ahead to master all the sounds, he was still stuck. The mother
then confessed, she panicked when at K2 he didn't know how
to read English words not Chinese characters and HYPY too!

So, at the eleventh hour... she dumped all three onto the child to learn!
The poor boy tried so hard to get it right but to no avail. I had to make
the mother choose which is of more importance to her at that time cos
it was confusing the boy loads and even myself too! The boy would be
giving me all the different tones when he failed to get the first one rite.
And that made me and the other kids go :?

Eventually, she said she will choose Phonics first. So, i offered to provide
extra lessons outside his enrichment hours so that he could catch up with
his group lesson. She went easy on his Chinese enrichment and only went
ahead to resume until i okayed it. By the time the boy was into blends and
reading simple sentences and books, i found he would no longer be confused
between the two. Just sharing my experience. You take care, JHJC. :hugs:

[tamarind]

All primary schools are teaching hanyu pinyin at P1 first. But nowadays most kids start to learn Chinese years before they enter P1, either from nursery/kindergarten or enrichment classes. In Berries Chinese enrichment class, kids learn to read only Chinese characters from 3 to 5 years old, hanyu pinyin is only taught at K2. This is the correct method of teaching. If you teach a child hanyu pinyin at 3 years old, before he knows any Chinese characters, that will be a very big mistake. He is going to reject reading any Chinese books without hanyu pinyin.


As for those kids who never learn Chinese before they enter P1, they have even more difficulty in primary school because of the way Chinese is taught.

All the P1 and P2 textbooks have hanyu pinyin under every word. Try taking away hanyu pinyin, and the child cannot read Chinese at all ! Then by P3, kids are required to write Chinese composition, how do you expect them to know how to write all those words ? That’s why many kids grow up hating Chinese.

Kids learn best between 3 and 6 years old, this is the time when we should try to teach them to recognize as many Chinese characters as possible. Hanyu pinyin is totally not necessary and not helpful at all. My P1 girl can now read any Chinese story book without hanyu pinyin fluently, she learned to recognize hundreds of Chinese characters before she know hanyu pinyin.

The only way to do well in Chinese, is to read as many Chinese story books (without hanyu pinyin) as possible.

My girl knows phonics very well, hanyu pinyin was very easy for her.

[jesschan]

Yes, I totally agree with Tamarind. It is better to learn phonics first before teaching hanyu pinyin. And since P1 Chinese syllabus starts with hanyu pinyin, it is important for the kid to learn phonics in preschool.


And it also important to learn some basic Chinese characters because in P1, they will usually show a picture or some characters and the kid is expected to put down the corresponding hanyu pinyin. For instance, if they show a picture of fish or the character "yu", the kid must be able write down the hanyu pinyin independently.

[tamarind]

jesschan:

Yes, I totally agree with Tamarind. It is better to learn phonics first before teaching hanyu pinyin. And since P1 Chinese syllabus starts with hanyu pinyin, it is important for the kid to learn phonics in preschool.


And it also important to learn some basic Chinese characters because in P1, they will usually show a picture or some characters and the kid is expected to put down the corresponding hanyu pinyin. For instance, if they show a picture of fish or the character \"yu\", the kid must be able write down the hanyu pinyin independently.

Thanks jesschan for sharing

Hanyu pinyin is only taught at the beginning of P1, after that kids will be expected to read and write in Chinese characters.

[JHJC]

Buds

yes... long time no see...hope all are well with you
my new job as full time mummy is keeping me very busy

Learning Phonics has been a breeze for my children. And i am so thankful i started them young. I was very tempted to do so for HYPY. Tamarind is right, in the long run, its knowing the characters that is more critical.

Thanks all for sharing.
Its really helpful.