Learning Chinese (Primary/Preschool)

[tamarind]

To other parents,

I want to emphasize that you should never force kids to memorize essays. Not unless they choose to do so on their own. But it is good to have such books around as a reference.

I wrote this earlier and I want to emphasize again :
Anyway, if you heard of students who memorize model essays and get high marks, that is because their foundation in Chinese is already very good. They could have already read tons of Chinese novels. That is why they can write so well. If your child’s foundation is weak, memorizing essays is not going to help.


To other parents whose kids are still young,
Do aim to read as many Chinese story books with your kids as possible. Your kids will have a much easier time in upper primary.

[Brenda10]

tamarind:

Chenonceau,

One very good series of Chinese story books 笑猫日记 is available in Singapore. My girl likes this series very much. It is very suitable for P6 kids, in fact, many P6 kids may find it challenging to read. These books are some of the best selling books in China. It is written by a well established author in China. I believe that 12 year old kids cannot possibly write better than an experienced adult author.

I will be adding more books to the long list of good books in my blog.

I want to emphasize to other parents that you should never force kids to memorize essays. Not unless they choose to do so on their own.

Yes. The books are very interesting and well written. E.g. The # 10 book is about 笑猫 and his family was in the scene of 大地震. Their 惊心动魄experience, son of 笑猫 and other animals become rescuer team etc. So happen dd had watched the 唐山大地震 and this help her further understand those scenes and circumstances that described in the story.

[tamarind]

Brenda10,

Nice to see you in this thread

Book 10 sounds interesting ! I must go and order that, currently I have the first 9 books in the series.

I remember that you show your P5 daughter Chinese TV series right ? Any more good ones to recommend ? I must start to let my kids watch Chinese swordsman series, I used to be crazy about these shows when in primary / secondary school.

I think that watching Chinese TV series is a good way to learn Chinese, especially if we can find those DVDs that have Chinese subtitles. Then the child can listen as well as read the words.

[Brenda10]

tamarind:

Brenda10,

Nice to see you in this thread

Book 10 sounds interesting ! I must go and order that, currently I have the first 9 books in the series.

I remember that you show your P5 daughter Chinese TV series right ? Any good ones to recommend ? I must start to let my kids watch Chinese swordsman series, I used to be crazy about these shows when in primary / secondary school.

I think that watching Chinese TV series is a good way to learn Chinese, especially if we can find those DVDs that have Chinese subtitles. Then the child can listen as well as read the words.

Hi Tamarind

Yes. TV series is the best way to buck up the CL especially its come with only Chinese sub-title. Last year dd watch the 还珠格格 and 9 pm CL show, . This year she finished 倚天屠龙记 and now we are watching 三国。 I would highly recommend 三国 DVD (95 episode) as the show is very interesting. Many cheng yu were originated from those historical stories and by watching all these shows in fact are the best channel to understand and apply it.

[tamarind]

Brenda10:

tamarind:

Brenda10,

Nice to see you in this thread

Book 10 sounds interesting ! I must go and order that, currently I have the first 9 books in the series.

I remember that you show your P5 daughter Chinese TV series right ? Any good ones to recommend ? I must start to let my kids watch Chinese swordsman series, I used to be crazy about these shows when in primary / secondary school.

I think that watching Chinese TV series is a good way to learn Chinese, especially if we can find those DVDs that have Chinese subtitles. Then the child can listen as well as read the words.

Hi Tamarind

Yes. TV series is the best way to buck up the CL especially its come with only Chinese sub-title. Last year dd watch the 还珠格格 and 9 pm CL show, . This year she finished 倚天屠龙记 and now we are watching 三国。 I would highly recommend 三国 DVD (95 episode) as the show is very interesting. Many cheng yu were originated from those historical stories and by watching all these shows in fact are the best channel to understand and apply it.

Thanks brenda.

I will definitely look for 还珠格格, I enjoyed the show when I watch it years ago. For 三国, is there a lot of talking ? Any action ?

I wonder if 仙剑奇侠传 is good, the lead actor and actress are very pretty.

[Brenda10]

tamarind:

Thanks brenda.


I will definitely look for 还珠格格, I enjoyed the show when I watch it years ago. For 三国, is there a lot of talking ? Any action ?

I wonder if 仙剑奇侠传 is good, the lead actor and actress are very pretty.

Hi Tamarind

You're welcome.

Yes. This show has quite a lot of talking, 斗智，战争的情节和场面。 I believe dd can enjoy the show is because she had read Romance Of the Three Kingdoms (English comics – 10 books) last year and had some basis understanding of stories like Sworn Brotherhood, Battle at the Red Cliff etc and also we had watch the CL Movie show Red Cliff 1 and Red Cliff 2.

As for 仙剑奇侠传, I'm no so sure about this show but only know was acted by 胡歌.

[Chenonceau]

tamarind:

Chenonceau,

One very good series of Chinese story books 笑猫日记 is available in Singapore. My girl likes this series very much. It is very suitable for P6 kids, in fact, many P6 kids may find it challenging to read. These books are some of the best selling books in China. It is written by a well established author in China. I believe that 12 year old kids cannot possibly write better than an experienced adult author.

I will be adding more books to the long list of good books in my blog.

There is no need to feel hopeless because you don't know Chinese. You can also send your son to enrichment classes like Tien Hsia and Berries. I know that they have many non-Chinese students who scored A* in Chinese every year.

Berries use 笑猫日记 in their upper primary classes, while Tien Hsia uses 马小跳 series, both are written by the same author. Both series of books are available at Popular bookshop.

For your information, it is very easy to order books from China through dangdang.com which has a huge collection of good books.

I found this book of 1000 best essays :
http://product.dangdang.com/product.aspx?product_id=20383611

It can be shipped to Singapore for a shipping charge of about ￥18.

Thank you Tamarind and Brenda for the very very generous sharing.

I am interested in the videos and Chinese shows... but I don't understand the Chinese characters that you've written in here. I will try and get my husband to translate.

Could you share where to get these shows? I borrowed Long Men Ke Zhan... Red Cliff... Ip Man etc... for Little Boy through an online video subscription. Is that what you do too? Or are the shows you mentioned on Cable TV... or Channel 8. I have trouble with the content of Channel 8...

[Brenda10]

Chenonceau:

Thank you Tamarind and Brenda for the very very generous sharing.


I am interested in the videos and Chinese shows... but I don't understand the Chinese characters that you've written in here. I will try and get my husband to translate.

Could you share where to get these shows? I borrowed Long Men Ke Zhan... Red Cliff... Ip Man etc... for Little Boy through an online video subscription. Is that what you do too? Or are the shows you mentioned on Cable TV... or Channel 8. I have trouble with the content of Channel 8...

Hi Chenonceau

You're welcome.

I remembered get the DVD either from Poh Kim Video or TS Video.

[tamarind]

Brenda10:

Chenonceau:

Thank you Tamarind and Brenda for the very very generous sharing.


I am interested in the videos and Chinese shows... but I don't understand the Chinese characters that you've written in here. I will try and get my husband to translate.

Could you share where to get these shows? I borrowed Long Men Ke Zhan... Red Cliff... Ip Man etc... for Little Boy through an online video subscription. Is that what you do too? Or are the shows you mentioned on Cable TV... or Channel 8. I have trouble with the content of Channel 8...

Hi Chenonceau

You're welcome.

I remembered get the DVD either from Poh Kim Video or TS Video.

Hi Chenonceau,
Just curious, is your nickname inspired by this beautiful castle ?
http://www.chenonceau.com/media/fr/index_fr.php

Note that Poh Kim Video and TS Video shops can be found in most major shopping malls like Plaza Singapura.
http://www.pohkim.com.sg/Pohkim_asp/Home/Index.asp?LangId=1
http://www.tsgroup.com.sg/

I think that long TV series are better than movies. There are usually about 30 to 40 episodes per series. You can ask the staff to recommend some interesting ones for you, tell them it is for your son. Get those swordsman series, kids love action.

Also get the Doraemon series in Chinese :
http://www.time.com/time/asia/features/heroes/doraemon.html
There are many episodes in the series.
Also try to find this fantastic movie :
Doraemon the movie Nobita's Dinosaur, 大雄的恐龙

http://postimage.org/image/2x9x0x49w/

You can ask your hubby to write out the Chinese characters of the recommended series and bring it to any video shop, the staff can help you find it.

[tamarind]

I also want to add that every library has a very good collection of children’s books. When I was young, my parents also could not help me with Chinese. But they allowed me to take a bus to the National Library since I was 7 years old. I went to the library every week, and read any thing that I found interesting.


Parents can bring their kids to the children’s Chinese book section at least once every week, and just let them choose whatever they like to read.

Also note that reading a few books a year is not enough. In P1, aim to read at least 1000 words a day, and increase that as the child grows older. By P3, the child should be reading about 1 book a week (100 to 200 pages, 200 - 300 words a page).