Learning Chinese (Primary/Preschool)
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hi
we just realised that our toddler can't understand Chinese. It came to us as a shock :idea: that she may grow up monolingual until she enters Nursery.
So I borrowed 3 books from library
a) 小红帽 JP YCX
b) 小猫该睡觉 le JP PAR
c) 亲爱的小鱼 JP DAH
can anyone share or recommend suitable titles? cos it's really hard to find chinese books in library.
She enjoyed the a) and esp b) cos there were many farm animals in the story.
she kind of ignored c) cos it is a quirky story (french-translated like little prince) only pic of a fish & cat for whole book
She ignored me at first. So I use the bilingual approach, I read in both English and Chinese. quite tiring and I get thirsty very fast.
Anyone trying that?
My hubby thinks we shld stick to English so that she has a strong conceptual and language foundation.
I've also tried to speak to her in Chinese purely but it's very difficult to stick to it entirely due to habit and poor vocab. So I resorted to English commentary first, then summarised Chinese commentary.
Anyone, any ideas?
Mummy Ping -
My boy did not know how to speak Mandarin till he was sent to CCC at 18mths. No exposure from us as our Mandarin isn’t any better!
He picked up Mandarin from his China teacher in CCC and subsequently, we sent him for enrichment classes, also taught by China teachers. His chinese teacher at his kindy now is also a China teacher.
No worries. My boy is now 3yo, he can speak (if he wants to), he can recognise alot of words, he can definitely understand (when my mum tells him something or scolds him). He knows that he has no choice but to use Mandarin with his chinese teachers.
He has developed a love for the language now and even takes out his chinese textbook and flashcards to ‘teach’ my maid. He has even started to like watching cartoons in Mandarin (specially bought from China by my mum).
His foundation is English is strong as I will consistently correct him. Large vocab range for his age and he is grammatically correct 90% of the time.
Don’t panic, just start planning how you are going to increase exposure. Outsource if you can’t handle it (like me). I rather he picks up proper Mandarin than to learn substandard Mandarin from me. -
hi mummy ping,
I spoke to DS1 English and Chinese 50% each…but that boy grow up to love English books and disdain Chinese. It got to the point where he would speak Chinese with an odd accent. Teachers did not highlight any problem - even his K2 chinese teacher sing praises of him. He can read Chinese words, but he still doesn’t like it. Watch chinese serials, he’ll read the subtitles - or else lose all interest in the show entirely.
He’s been attending chinese enrichment, plus chinese S&D classes for about 2 years already. I’ll read chinese books to him regularly also. Feel that the added enrichment classes forces him to speak more (now his chinese don’t have that angmo accent).
Series like 鼠小弟, 科学宝宝图画书系列 are quite fun and available from library. I personally find it hard to find chinese titles, so I typically look at the brand new arrivals and pick from there. you may also like to refer to Tamarind’s blog on what’s good (it’s available from her thread on Teaching Chinese at Home). -
mrswongtuition:
thnks, Mrs Wong.My boy did not know how to speak Mandarin till he was sent to CCC at 18mths. No exposure from us as our Mandarin isn't any better!
He has developed a love for the language now and even takes out his chinese textbook and flashcards to 'teach' my maid. He has even started to like watching cartoons in Mandarin (specially bought from China by my mum).
Don't panic, just start planning how you are going to increase exposure. Outsource if you can't handle it (like me). I rather he picks up proper Mandarin than to learn substandard Mandarin from me.
I guess it's true that bright children pick up languages easily, even at a young age. Wow, your boy really enjoys learning.
Can you share the cartoon titles? Will intro those VCDs when the right time comes.
It felt a bit like talking to the wall when I spoke Mandarin to my clueless tot.
I guess I kind of panicked cos we're first-time ks parents. LOL
We are generally bilingual, being graduates/products of SAP sch system & have lived in Taiwan and China for a few years. We used to code-switch effortlessly.
thnks again. Will definitely consider outsourcing (chinese s&d) next yr although I don't intend to put my girl in school till 3 or 4 yr old. I'm bringing her to work on some days.
any recommendation?hquek:
mummy hquek,hi mummy ping,
I spoke to DS1 English and Chinese 50% each..but that boy grow up to love English books and disdain Chinese. It got to the point where he would speak Chinese with an odd accent. Teachers did not highlight any problem - even his K2 chinese teacher sing praises of him. He can read Chinese words, but he still doesn't like it. Watch chinese serials, he'll read the subtitles - or else lose all interest in the show entirely.
He's been attending chinese enrichment, plus chinese S&D classes for about 2 years already. I'll read chinese books to him regularly also. Feel that the added enrichment classes forces him to speak more (now his chinese don't have that angmo accent).
Series like 鼠小弟, 科学宝宝图画书系列 are quite fun and available from library. I personally find it hard to find chinese titles, so I typically look at the brand new arrivals and pick from there. you may also like to refer to Tamarind's blog on what's good (it's available from her thread on Teaching Chinese at Home).
That's what I'm afraid of - that my girl may not like using Chinese, even if she does pick it up eventually. We may have unrealistic expectations now - we're hoping she'll be a fluent bilingual in future. erm, she's only 13 mth old. Hubby is very paranoid on China factor.
My baby seems to remember some words such as 狼 from Red Riding Hood story. I think Chinese cartoons/anime and manga books may work better in instilling Mandarin proficiency.
Thks for the tips. 鼠小弟 sounds good. 科学宝宝图画书系列 may be a bit cheem for my tot. Will check out the tamarind thread.
cheers
Mummy Ping
wah, it's hard work being a parent -
hi mummy ping,
Yup, not easy to be parent. In my son's case, it's very strange. Grand parents speak to him in Chinese only...he could translate from young age (eg my english instructions to him, I'll speak in chinese). goodness knows where he got that aversion from.
Anyway, I'm busily trying to rectify my error by ensuring that I read chinese books to him.
Some children are effortlessly bilingual..unfortunately, mine are not.
You may want to consider cds with chinese songs and chinese poems. There are some pretty good ones available from Popular. I got some that are very pleasing. Will post it once I have the links (if I can find it). -
The VCDs are our regular titles like Little Mermaid, Snow White, Toy Story, etc. Just that they have been dubbed in Mandarin.
My mum says that you can also get them from HDB stores, usually selling for less than $5 each. -
mrswongtuition:
DUH why didn't I think of that?The VCDs are our regular titles like Little Mermaid, Snow White, Toy Story, etc. Just that they have been dubbed in Mandarin.
My mum says that you can also get them from HDB stores, usually selling for less than $5 each.
will check if Dora the explorer is available in Mandarin.
thnks!hquek:
Some children are effortlessly bilingual..unfortunately, mine are not. Razz
You may want to consider cds with chinese songs and chinese poems. There are some pretty good ones available from Popular. I got some that are very pleasing. Will post it once I have the links (if I can find it).
if he can translate (code-switch), he's already considered bilingual to some extent which is good.
I'm going to check out popular this weekend for chinese nursery rhymes.
I can't understand why it's necessary to teach Tang/chinese poems. Isn't it very boring? I remember having to memorise loads of stuff for CL1. I must be missing something here.
Anyway, everyone will stare at me if I start speaking proverbs, etc to my baby. ROFL -
pingsped:
No prob
DUH why didn't I think of that?mrswongtuition:
The VCDs are our regular titles like Little Mermaid, Snow White, Toy Story, etc. Just that they have been dubbed in Mandarin.
My mum says that you can also get them from HDB stores, usually selling for less than $5 each.
will check if Dora the explorer is available in Mandarin.
If you subscribe to Starhub's Cable TV, the kids cartoon channels like Playhouse Disney can be switched to Mandarin instead. We've been doing that for my boy (imagine his fave cartoons in Mandarin, more motivated to learn).
And he recently started to like 'Shi Wan Ge Wei Shen Me'. The turtle who is a professor and teach Science concepts but in Mandarin. He likes it and picked up some words from there too. I bought the one with subtitles (Chinese) so he can recognise some of the words he learnt in school. -
hi, i need advise on how to improve my son now in P4 chinese grade? We have a private chinese tutor for him but seems that he is not improving. He manged to pass his paper 2 by just 1 mark. Anyone has good recommendation?
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I am a Chinese tutor, studying part time masters in education. I feel that there’s various factors that can affect how a child’s performance. The key factors can be child’s interest in the subject, child’s ability in the language and even child’s liking of the subject teacher or tutor. Do analyse your child’s weakness in the subject, eg just pass paper2, as in all sections did badly or just certain sections pulling the mark down. You can also help your child review his learning style. Guide him to choose the learning style that suits him the most.
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