Teaching Chinese at Home
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sinus123:
toddles is absolutely right about not killing the love of the language. I have written earlier that it is much more important to develop the love for Chinese, and not simply focus on learning to read and write new words.Hi I am new here. Appreciate what have been shared.
Any suggestion for parent like me who don't read or write Chinese to coach daughter. She is in P1 (SAP sch). Sent her to 2 CL weekend classes. On weekdays if she has CL homework, husband & I try 'helping' by giving moral support. Most of the time we weren't sure if she has done her work correctly. Taught daughter to use CL electronic dictionary independently. Daughter has been positive about learning CL so far and has been scoring 70s for modular assessments. Thought marks were good for a child with no CL background. Not until I met a friend who commented that they weren't good enough for a p1. Now I am worried!
sinus123,
The truth is that the top students in Chinese can easily get 100 marks without even spending time to study Chinese in P1 and P2. These include not only children of PRs from China, but also some kids from English speaking families who have been very diligently doing tons of Chinese assessment books.
However, when kids start to write Chinese compositions in P3, those who have only been doing assessment books will start to have a very difficult time. The fact is that you cannot expect to do well in Chinese simply by learning the textbook and doing assessments. Kids need to read Chinese story books extensively in order to be able to get very good marks in Chinese compositions. Those kids from China are already reading very long Chinese novels by 7 or 8 years old, local kids cannot expect to beat them unless we also teach our kids to be able to do the same. Chinese teachers will naturally award top marks to those who can write many words that are not taught in the textbook.
I read from a Chinese forum that kids in China read about 10000 words a week. That means more than 1000 words a day. I have been making my P1 girl read that amount of Chinese out loud everyday, from very interesting Chinese books which she truly enjoys, even though there are many difficult words that even our upper primary kids cannot read. She tells me that she likes Chinese, this is most important to me, because we do not speak any Mandarin at home. The \"side effect\" is that she does not need to spend a lot of time studying for Chinese. She also does not mind writing Chinese compositions of about 100 words.
Since you don't read or write Chinese, I would suggest that you get a good Chinese tutor, and then get good resources like these :
http://tamarindvillage.blogspot.com/2009/12/teaching-chinese-at-home.html
Ask the tutor to teach using that series of books. After completiong these books, make sure that your daughter reads at least 1000 words everyday, with the help of the tutor.
Note that many tutors do not know the best way to teach, I have heard of parents who spent a lot of money employing private tutors, but kids still do very badly. Another option is to put your daughter in a good Chinese enrichment school, but you must also make sure that she revises the lessons everyday. -
tamarind:
Hi tamarind,
toddles is absolutely right about not killing the love of the language. I have written earlier that it is much more important to develop the love for Chinese, and not simply focus on learning to read and write new words.sinus123:
Hi I am new here. Appreciate what have been shared.
Any suggestion for parent like me who don't read or write Chinese to coach daughter. She is in P1 (SAP sch). Sent her to 2 CL weekend classes. On weekdays if she has CL homework, husband & I try 'helping' by giving moral support. Most of the time we weren't sure if she has done her work correctly. Taught daughter to use CL electronic dictionary independently. Daughter has been positive about learning CL so far and has been scoring 70s for modular assessments. Thought marks were good for a child with no CL background. Not until I met a friend who commented that they weren't good enough for a p1. Now I am worried!
sinus123,
The truth is that the top students in Chinese can easily get 100 marks without even spending time to study Chinese in P1 and P2. These include not only children of PRs from China, but also some kids from English speaking families who have been very diligently doing tons of Chinese assessment books.
However, when kids start to write Chinese compositions in P3, those who have only been doing assessment books will start to have a very difficult time. The fact is that you cannot expect to do well in Chinese simply by learning the textbook and doing assessments. Kids need to read Chinese story books extensively in order to be able to get very good marks in Chinese compositions. Those kids from China are already reading very long Chinese novels by 7 or 8 years old, local kids cannot expect to beat them unless we also teach our kids to be able to do the same. Chinese teachers will naturally award top marks to those who can write many words that are not taught in the textbook.
I read from a Chinese forum that kids in China read about 10000 words a week. That means more than 1000 words a day. I have been making my P1 girl read that amount of Chinese out loud everyday, from very interesting Chinese books which she truly enjoys, even though there are many difficult words that even our upper primary kids cannot read. She tells me that she likes Chinese, this is most important to me, because we do not speak any Mandarin at home. The \"side effect\" is that she does not need to spend a lot of time studying for Chinese. She also does not mind writing Chinese compositions of about 100 words.
Since you don't read or write Chinese, I would suggest that you get a good Chinese tutor, and then get good resources like these :
http://tamarindvillage.blogspot.com/2009/12/teaching-chinese-at-home.html
Ask the tutor to teach using that series of books. After completiong these books, make sure that your daughter reads at least 1000 words everyday, with the help of the tutor.
Note that many tutors do not know the best way to teach, I have heard of parents who spent a lot of money employing private tutors, but kids still do very badly. Another option is to put your daughter in a good Chinese enrichment school, but you must also make sure that she revises the lessons everyday.
How did you get your daughter to start reading and what if there are
so many words that my child cannot read in the books and they lose interest after a while because they have to keep checking the dictionary? (imagining future, as she is only 5 now)
Do you have any suggestions?
I have been getting the same private tutor but like you say without seeing results (she still hates chinese), you mentioned good Chinese enrichment schools, I have tried Berries but it does not seem to work as the foundation is not there and she switches off during lessons as she cannot really understand what they are talking about. I wonder if you know of any centre that specializes in getting kids who do not like Chinese, whose std is below average to do reasonably well (60s- 70s mark range) for Primary 1?
My child is not in Pri 1 yet, but I feel for a child her age, she is way below the average standard and I am very worried that she will not be able to cope when she goes to Pri 1, how did you get your girl to be so good in Chinese and so interested to write as well? -
ccgoh,
All thanks to this series of books
http://tamarindvillage.blogspot.com/2009/12/teaching-chinese-at-home.html
and also for the fact that my girl attends Berries since 4 years old. She knows more than 80% of the words in the long chapter books after she completed the Si Wu Kuai Du series of books. I asked her to read out loud to me, and I teach her to read the words that she does not know, so it is easier for her. Also, the books that I let her read are very interesting, and she really loves the books.
It is important that we do not make kids check the dictionary as they read. That will definitely kill their interest.
Good resources are more important than a good tutor. I highly recommend the Si Wu Kuai Du series of books to be used by tutors to teach. Also make sure that the tutor reads the first 30 pages of book 1 in order to know how to use the books effectively, we should be using games to teach, not just point and read.
The best way to get a child interested in Chinese, is to find good books for her. I have listed many books in my blog, and I will also be listing new books soon. -
tamarind:
Hi TamarindThe truth is that the top students in Chinese can easily get 100 marks without even spending time to study Chinese in P1 and P2. These include not only children of PRs from China, but also some kids from English speaking families who have been very diligently doing tons of Chinese assessment books.
However, when kids start to write Chinese compositions in P3, those who have only been doing assessment books will start to have a very difficult time. The fact is that you cannot expect to do well in Chinese simply by learning the textbook and doing assessments. Kids need to read Chinese story books extensively in order to be able to get very good marks in Chinese compositions. Those kids from China are already reading very long Chinese novels by 7 or 8 years old, local kids cannot expect to beat them unless we also teach our kids to be able to do the same. Chinese teachers will naturally award top marks to those who can write many words that are not taught in the textbook.
I read from a Chinese forum that kids in China read about 10000 words a week. That means more than 1000 words a day. I have been making my P1 girl read that amount of Chinese out loud everyday, from very interesting Chinese books which she truly enjoys, even though there are many difficult words that even our upper primary kids cannot read. She tells me that she likes Chinese, this is most important to me, because we do not speak any Mandarin at home. The \"side effect\" is that she does not need to spend a lot of time studying for Chinese. She also does not mind writing Chinese compositions of about 100 words.
What you said are very true, usually in P1 and P2, score full marks or high marks are achievable without much difficulties. However, once you move up from P3 onward, lacking of 理解能力， adequate 词汇 and 成语 will become a potential problem when doing of 理解问答 and compo. -
Hi mummies using the si wu kwai du…
How often do you revise the words which your kids have learnt before in the series? Do you make them read the single words, or try to incorporate them into simple sentences for them to read? Which do you think if more effective? Personally I find that as the words they learnt increase, it becomes very time consuming to go through single words every now and then ( I think there’s a recommendation in the book on the frequency of revision), so I try to write my own short sentences for them to read, but it can be quite time consuming and may not cover some words….if only there is a set of readers which follows the sequence of the series for them to revise the words they have learnt previously.
I also find that it’s still difficult for them to read along with me for Chinese books unless specifically asked to (but doesn’t work all the time…)… -
sean wife:
Hello sean wife,Hi mummies using the si wu kwai du…
How often do you revise the words which your kids have learnt before in the series? Do you make them read the single words, or try to incorporate them into simple sentences for them to read? Which do you think if more effective? Personally I find that as the words they learnt increase, it becomes very time consuming to go through single words every now and then ( I think there’s a recommendation in the book on the frequency of revision), so I try to write my own short sentences for them to read, but it can be quite time consuming and may not cover some words….if only there is a set of readers which follows the sequence of the series for them to revise the words they have learnt previously.
I also find that it’s still difficult for them to read along with me for Chinese books unless specifically asked to (but doesn’t work all the time…)…
On a daily basis, I will selectively revised some of the single words and totally revised new words.
Like yourself, I will get my boy to piece together compound words and even sentences. After that we played some games (as mentioned in the book). When comes to reading, I am using the 学前阅读计划 幼儿首 (100-800) 字 extensively. On top of that, we also cover the basic chinese 500.
Everynight, I will read some chinese and english books to him. Of which some are his selection and some are mine. -
Hi laughing cat,
Thanks for your sharing…Yes, I do intend to get the学前阅读计划 幼儿首 (100-800) 字….in fact, I already have the first 100 words and intending to get the rest of the series. How do you use them? Do you let your child read a few pages each day or finish the whole book at one time? And do you only ask him to read the same book one time or many times? I am just thinking should they be used the same way as Peter and Jane series whereby I only ask them to read out one page a day and move on to the next page tomorrow since the words are repeated throughout the book? For the学前阅读计划 幼儿首 (100-800) 字, are the first 100 words also repeated in the subsequent books in the series? BTW the way, how old is your child? Mine just turned 3 this month…. -
Hello sean wife,
I used the same concept as Peter & Jane. He is now into 幼儿首 300-400 字. Everyday, he will get to read 2-3 new pages only. And yes, the words in the readers are repeated along the way. And that is why by the time the child completed the whole series 幼儿首 100-800 字, the child already knows 800 words.
If my boy has finshed reading that particular book, I will just ask him to read the last few or selected pages. But sometime, he requested to read the book by himself.
He is now 3 yrs and 10 mths old.
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Dear all,
I have compiled the list of wonderful Chinese story books in my home library here :
http://tamarindvillage.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-to-raise-bilingual-child.html
I am also sharing my experience teaching Chinese at home. Please feel free to view and comment.
I will be adding more books to this list in the future. -
sean wife:
Hi mummies using the si wu kwai du…
How often do you revise the words which your kids have learnt before in the series? Do you make them read the single words, or try to incorporate them into simple sentences for them to read? Which do you think if more effective? Personally I find that as the words they learnt increase, it becomes very time consuming to go through single words every now and then ( I think there’s a recommendation in the book on the frequency of revision), so I try to write my own short sentences for them to read, but it can be quite time consuming and may not cover some words….if only there is a set of readers which follows the sequence of the series for them to revise the words they have learnt previously.
I also find that it’s still difficult for them to read along with me for Chinese books unless specifically asked to (but doesn’t work all the time…)…
Hi sean wife,
I usually let my kids practice one lesson for at least one week before I move on to the next lesson. I followed the instructions in the book, first use games to teach the new words, then read the stories in the book. I also let my boy read all the 2 word phrases every day. This series of books do revise the words that they have learned in previous lessons, reading every story in every lesson is sufficient. It is like Peter and Jane. I also revise the old words using the games suggested in the book.
It is important to revise the words. I usually revise the words in the earlier lessons in the same book once a week.
When I am teaching the Si Wu Kuai Du series of books, I did not ask my kids to read other Chinese books. Both of them enjoy reading the stories in the books because they know all the words. By the time my girl completed book 6, she is confident reading any Chinese story books.
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