Teaching Chinese at Home

[phankao]

daisyt:

Hope the above helps. My child did not attend any Chinese tuition or enrichment class before and she did well in PSLE HCL and now still doing fine in Sec.

Ah, i hope my 3rd child can cope well now w/o tuition (read above post - no more CL tuition from now on). He does HCL and in p5. Let's see how he handles on his own. He's a superlazy pig. And i can't help him, unfortunately.

[Brenda10]

HI rocklee, Jedamum


I bought a few CLIPS (Chinese Language Instructional Materials For Primary Schools) during May’s book fair in 2009. It’s quite true my dd had finished reading those books without much issue. I refer the book on hand and realize volume 4 (suitable for P4 & P5 came with HYPY) and volume 5 (suitable for P5- P6 was without HYPY). I remember paid $3 for volume 4 book and $4 for volume 5 book (Hopefully is right :? ). I would like to buy some more during the coming book fair.

[Brenda10]

hquek:

jedamum:

let him watch channel 8 or u drama, he will read the english subtitles! :stupid:

Same issue! Chinese enrichment teacher suggested that we use paper to block the lower part of the tv screen.

But this won't work on mine cos he'll just not be interested to watch the show.

I bought the 倚天屠龙记 with the Chinese Subtitle. DD is enjoyed watching the show and she would have to refer the Chinese Subtitle (presented in 简体字) when ever she feel their talking are too fast.

[daisyt]

Building up interest for something they dislike, takes lots of patience and time. It takes me about 9 years to have things work out, from hate to dislike to OK lah to like. When dd told me, she likes Chinese, I know our effort is not wasted. So jia you to all parents, this is a long learning process.

[rocklee]

I don’t sent my kids to chinese enrichment class. I teach them at home. It is very very challenging and I have to try out various methods and see what works for them. And mind you I am still searching for the best. It really takes time.


Just to share with you, I like to teach my kids 成语 using english story books or chinese comic books cos it tends to sink into their mind better. For example, when they were young like 4 to 5 years old, I remember reading a story about how a racoon became ungrateful to the ants who saved its life. So i told them ungrateful means “忘恩负义”. Years later, while watching a movie, they blurted out this word to my surprise. Then they told me they remember this word because they remember how ungrateful was the racoon. That shows that my kids learnt better through visual and stories. Subsequently i exposed them to some simple cheng yu using comics and it really works cos they find it easier to understand and they can relate to the comic.

I feel that speaking mandarin to them frequently helps cos that’s where they know how to express themselves and then subsequently they can move on to writing out their thoughts.

[rocklee]

Jedamum


Recently i borrowed some chinese story books from the library. It is a series of 5 books on "Moral Education for Young Citizens" ie 好公民价值观丛书. The 5 titles are:

1. 小红花找朋友
2. 四个好朋友
3. 你喜欢谁
4. 长大后
5. 原来是她

These books are suitable for P1 and P2. Actually there are really a lot of interesting books in the library. Hope you can find something suitable for your kids.

Regards
Rocklee

[jedamum]

rocklee:

Jedamum


Recently i borrowed some chinese story books from the library. It is a series of 5 books on \"Moral Education for Young Citizens\" ie 好公民价值观丛书. The 5 titles are:

1. 小红花找朋友
2. 四个好朋友
3. 你喜欢谁
4. 长大后
5. 原来是她

These books are suitable for P1 and P2. Actually there are really a lot of interesting books in the library. Hope you can find something suitable for your kids.

Regards
Rocklee

hi rocklee,
thanks for the recommendation. it is more challenging to browse chinese section cos really have to go book by book to find the hidden gems.

[toddles]

I find that I always get a bit lost in the kids chinese section in the library.


Esp for younger readers (toddlers etc). there’s no equivalent of the english Board book section in each library… the board books, or books with fewer 密密麻麻的字 are scattered all over the whole children’s chinese section, and I have to Really Hunt to find something suitable.

I’ve come across a few suitable mandarin board books in the series of 小售不是用来打人的 and another series that is large with colourful pictures. But other than that, all their 童话故事书 seem daunting even for an adult with a reasonable standard of mandarin like me!

Any specific recommendations, or help wrt to finding suitable books?

提前对你们致谢！

[toddles]

hee hee, jedamum our posts crossed. my sentiments exactly.

[hquek]

toddles:

I find that I always get a bit lost in the kids chinese section in the library.

Same sentiments - that's why I rather buy at times. Will just browse for fun and see what interesting bookcovers I can find - have never tried hunting down a particular chinese book before.