Learning Chinese (Primary/Preschool)

[mrswongtuition]

pingsped:

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.

DUH why didn't I think of that?

will check if Dora the explorer is available in Mandarin.

No prob

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.

[concern_mum]

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?

[Heavenlymusic]

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.

[peterch]

My son is P4 too. He got 24 for CL during his CA1 but he managed to score 54 for his SA1.


He just reside to Singapore early this year and he has a good private tutor, but most of all he has me as his 'monster daddy' :oops: who monitor his progress at all times....very kiasu indeed....

I agree with heavenlymusic...... let him do/learn with his style, just accompany and monitor them from time to time

He still has problem with his oral and planning to sent him to enrichment class for him practice more oral with his classmates in the centre.

[JUSTMOM]

my son barely passed his P1 chinese exams this year. just wondering if anyone has any recommendations for chinese enrichment (berries, tsien hsia, etc) that creates a child’s interest in chinese?

i am exploring the classes to enrol him during the holidays.
looking for small class, and something that is fun, not classroom/textbook style.
main concern is to create interest, not to revise the school work again…

recommendations anyone?

[Chenonceau]

I figured out a way to help my son in Chinese. I am not sure it'll work but am happy to share. Do share with me how you do it too. I'm kinda desperate.


Part 1: Starting Out
http://petunialee.blogspot.com/2010/12/reaching-tipping-point-for-chinese.html

Part 2: Getting Results
http://petunialee.blogspot.com/2011/01/reaching-tipping-point-for-chinese-part.html

Part 3: Reaching Tipping Point
http://petunialee.blogspot.com/2011/04/reaching-tipping-point-in-chinese-part.html

Part 4: Reaching Tipping Point
http://petunialee.blogspot.com/2011/09/reaching-tipping-point-for-chinese-part.html

Here is a blogpost written specially for Potato Parents and Potato Kids...
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/content/learning-chinese-potato-way

Part 5: Reaching Tipping Point
http://petunialee.blogspot.com/2011/11/reaching-tipping-point-for-chinese-part.html

Part 6: Reaching Tipping Point
http://petunialee.blogspot.com/2011/11/reaching-tipping-point-for-chinese-part_25.html

Part 7: Transiting from Potato Chinese(TM) to Composition Writing
http://petunialee.blogspot.sg/2012/07/potato-chinese-from-reciting-to-writing.html

Here is a reference for the Compendium of 1000 Chinese Compos from China. This is better than what I use because it is organized into different levels. P3. P4. P5. P6.


http://i40.tinypic.com/23jskmo.jpg\">

http://i44.tinypic.com/3elw5.jpg\">

[tamarind]

The following are results for the students attending Berries :

93.9% scored A & A* in 2010 PSLE Chinese
83.6% got merit/dist. for higher Chinese

I strongly advise parents who cannot teach Chinese, to send their kids to well established enrichment classes like Berries. Let the experts do the teaching. If you are illiterate in Chinese, do not try to invent your own methods, it may be detrimental to your child.

An educational expert in China, author of the best selling \"Hao mama sheng guo hao lao shi\" (A good mother is better than a good teacher) book, wrote that the quality of these so-called model compositions are actually quite poor. She wrote that the publishers allowed parents to send in money to have their kids' compositions published in the books. The compositions do not have interesting vocabulary or good content, and it is pointless to read them.

The author also wrote that reading model compositions alone is not sufficient, because there are not many words in these compositions. In order for kids to do very well, they should be reading many long novels of hundreds of thousands of words.

The author raised a daughter who is brilliant in her academic studies. She attributed her daughter's success to reading large numbers of interesting Chinese novels.

Also read my blog about how kids from non-Chinese families can excel in Chinese :
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/content/learning-chinese-independently

There is a Teaching Chinese thread here with a lot more information :
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3878&start=1020

For parents who know Chinese, check out my blog :
http://tamarindvillage.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-to-raise-bilingual-child.html

[Chenonceau]

Tamarind… this is lovely. But I’m a bit late.


Chinese was Grandma’s domain. And she was terribly old style. She did everything you said not to. She made my son copy out words out of context and we got into long and frustrating (for me) discussions on how to teach Chinese… and she still did it her way.

My son is in Pri 4. He needs boot camp right now… and I hope that in 6 months, I can catch up on what I haven’t been doing right since he was 4. Grandma has been sacked and I have taken over and desperate is an understatement.

I am also handicapped that I am myself illiterate in Chinese. My 2nd language is French and had I been able to read Chinese I would have been abe to choose books and read with him. All this I cannot do. Ohhhh… I should have sacked Grandma years ago and come join this forum!! She has given Little Boy a phobia of Chinese!!

So… thanks for the resources you have linked me to. If you could share more on strategies for last minute catch up (since we have barely 2 years to PSLE) it would help me lots.

Nonetheless, the other thread and your blog is great. Thank you!!!

[tamarind]

Chenonceau,

P4 is not too late to catch up. Another parent, Brenda’s daughter is in P5, and she is doing very well. Do post in that thread and chat with us.

[dido]

Hi,


You may wish to try Children Arts Theatre in Kembangan. Both my 3 and 6 years old are there. They enjoyed Chinese very much. It is not academic but they try to establish a strong interest and foundation for the kids.

For 6 years old, it is 2 hours comprising of:

1) Reading a small passage incl individual reading to whole class, some handwriting (1/2hr)

2) Story Telling (1/2 hr)

3) Art & Craft (1/2 hr)

4) Word Games (1/2 hr)

As for 3 years old, it is 1.5 hrs. The fee is very reasonable. $30/lesson for 3 years old and $35/lesson for 6 years old.

There is trial lesson if you wish to give it a try.

Cheers