Teaching Chinese at Home

[autumnbronze]

Trapwithin:

First . .thanks Tamarind for this wonderful thread. :thankyou:


I have trouble getting the Si Wu Kuai Du considering that Dang Dang do not work well with VISA.

Then I found this site http://www.sgshinekids.com/index.html
We can just self-collect and buy it for S$41.50

Hope that helps all who are looking for it.

Thanks for sharing, Trapwithin :celebrate:

[toddles]

Trapwithin:

First . .thanks Tamarind for this wonderful thread. :thankyou:


I have trouble getting the Si Wu Kuai Du considering that Dang Dang do not work well with VISA.

Then I found this site http://www.sgshinekids.com/index.html
We can just self-collect and buy it for S$41.50

Hope that helps all who are looking for it.

You can consider buying through sprees... that's what I did, and with shipping it only cost me $32.30.

of course, the waiting time will be longer than just cash and carry.

[Trapwithin]

toddles:

You can consider buying through sprees... that's what I did, and with shipping it only cost me $32.30.


of course, the waiting time will be longer than just cash and carry.

Pardon my ignorance. What is Sprees?

[Bowie]

Hi, just to share. I got my books from Dangdang thru spree. Got my si wu kuai du for abt $28, can't remember exact.


Here's one of the spree just started.

http://www.singaporemotherhood.com/forumboard/messages/590029/4527590.html?1285162313

I got my books in abt 4~5wks after spree ends.

Hope it provide a channel to mommies who need.

Happy shopping!!

[toddles]

Trapwithin:

toddles:

You can consider buying through sprees... that's what I did, and with shipping it only cost me $32.30.


of course, the waiting time will be longer than just cash and carry.

Pardon my ignorance. What is Sprees?

I've PM-ed you.

[wonderm]

tamarind:

I also hope that other parents who are good in Chinese can share their experiences too

tamarind, I have been reading some of your sharings and am very impressed like many other forumers. My kids are much older (12 and 14) and I wish I had started them earlier like you did.

However, for those whose kids are older, it is not too late to start. I agree very much with the methods shared by tamarind. My kids do not speak Chinese at home. It was very hard to try to change that at an older age. What I did was to read together with him, made him reading out loud and I explain every difficult phrase along the way to save his time from checking dictionary. We mixed him reading, mummy reading and quiet reading to make it less tiring. After 1-2 hours of reading, I asked him to write down just a few new phrases which took only 5 mins of his time. I did that consistently, a few times a week last year, when he was in Sec 1. He became more interested in Chinese and his Chinese grade improved too.

From my own experience, I think parents involvment and guidance are much more effective than any enrichment centre. But like tamarind said, it takes a lot of effort from us.

[mummy of 2]

I Just borrowed this book 走开 绿色大怪物 from the library, and my kids find it quite fun, so want to share the info. The books introduces the monster feature by feature and then each feature goes away, with the monster eventually disappearing. The text is simple, and teaches the different features of a face eg eye, teeth, as well as colours. I find it suitable for toddlers though my 5 year old also enjoys it, as he can read it to me



Books is also available form Dang Dang.
http://product.dangdang.com/product.aspx?product_id=20759236&ref=search-1-pub

[jenao]

tamarind:

Also note that Chinese characters are made up of 偏旁, 部首, and simple characters. Parents should teach kids the names of the 偏旁, 部首. When learning more complex characters, teach the kids to remember the word by its individual parts. For example, take a look at these words :
弟 第 剃 梯 涕 递

Once the child knows how to write 弟, just tell him to change the 偏旁, 部首 to make different words.

Tamarind,

Thank you for your reply. It was very enlightening. This may sound like a silly question but how do you get him to learn how to write 弟 in the first place for a 5 yr old? Do you have to get him to learn and practice the stroke by stroke for 弟 at the least ? Really not sure how to get my ds started as my ds is not interested, so am trying to see if there are other ways.

Appreciate your reply.

[tamarind]

wonderm:

tamarind:

I also hope that other parents who are good in Chinese can share their experiences too

tamarind, I have been reading some of your sharings and am very impressed like many other forumers. My kids are much older (12 and 14) and I wish I had started them earlier like you did.

However, for those whose kids are older, it is not too late to start. I agree very much with the methods shared by tamarind. My kids do not speak Chinese at home. It was very hard to try to change that at an older age. What I did was to read together with him, made him reading out loud and I explain every difficult phrase along the way to save his time from checking dictionary. We mixed him reading, mummy reading and quiet reading to make it less tiring. After 1-2 hours of reading, I asked him to write down just a few new phrases which took only 5 mins of his time. I did that consistently, a few times a week last year, when he was in Sec 1. He became more interested in Chinese and his Chinese grade improved too.

From my own experience, I think parents involvment and guidance are much more effective than any enrichment centre. But like tamarind said, it takes a lot of effort from us.

wonderm,
You are absolutely right that it is not too late to start after 7 years old. The most important thing is to develop a love and interest in Chinese.

Yes parents definitely play the most important part, and we must have the right attitude towards Chinese. Do not tell kids that Chinese is difficult, tell them that Chinese is easy to learn if we use the correct methods

[tamarind]

jenao:

tamarind:

Also note that Chinese characters are made up of 偏旁, 部首, and simple characters. Parents should teach kids the names of the 偏旁, 部首. When learning more complex characters, teach the kids to remember the word by its individual parts. For example, take a look at these words :
弟 第 剃 梯 涕 递

Once the child knows how to write 弟, just tell him to change the 偏旁, 部首 to make different words.

Tamarind,

Thank you for your reply. It was very enlightening. This may sound like a silly question but how do you get him to learn how to write 弟 in the first place for a 5 yr old? Do you have to get him to learn and practice the stroke by stroke for 弟 at the least ? Really not sure how to get my ds started as my ds is not interested, so am trying to see if there are other ways.

Appreciate your reply.

Hi Jenao,
It is not a silly question

In the case of my kids, since they read Chinese books regularly, they seem to have captured photographs of the words in their memory. For example, one day when my boy was 5 years old, he showed me that he could write the word 我. I was surprised because I never asked him to practice writing that word many times, he probably wrote that only once or twice in his Berries class. My boy is only of average ability. I believe that most kids between the age of 3 to 6 have the ability to remember many words simply by taking \"photographs\" of the words, but we must expose them to the words regularly. That is why many parents use flash cards for babies. In my case, I do not use flash cards, but I let my kids read Chinese books regularly so they always see the commonly used words.

Note that I never said that kids should not practice writing. I only said that parents should not force kids to practice writing Chinese words before the age of 6, if the child's fine motor skills are not well developed yet. Kids still have lots of time to practice writing from 6 years old. Between the age of 3 to 6, parents should concentrate on teaching kids to recognize as many Chinese words as possible, and to develop a love for Chinese. Practicing writing is not a good way to learn Chinese for young kids, you should teach word recognition by reading good books, or by using games. This is the method used by Berries in their N1 to K1 classes.