Teaching Chinese at Home

[hquek]

tamarind:

Teaching Chinese at home is not difficult at all, parents just have to find good resources and good story books, and be persistent enough to teach about 30 minutes a day. My girl only spends about 20 minutes reading out loud to me everyday.

Very true, I totally concur. My kids used to hate chinese reading time, me too actually. The books that I could find in Popular are quite boring.

It was only after picking up those gems from Dangdang (eg bu yi yang de ka mei la) that they were excited to continue reading. Have gotten most of the books on Tamarind's list, and some others I picked up on the stray.

Chinese reading is now full of fun and a must during their pre-bedtime activities. DS1 has no problems with his tingxie even though I hardly coach him; and his reading is quite ok (though not to Tamarind's kids' standards).

[ksme]

Parental involvement is definitely useful. Although my P5 ds does not read out loud to me everyday, but through pushing/nudging/encouragement throughout the last 1 year, he has progressed from reading Doraemon comics in Chinese at beginning of last year to reading novels at end of last year. I borrowed books from library and although sometimes get disappointed when ds does not pick up the books, but through persistence, he is enjoying more and more chinese books. I also bought some of the books recommended by Tamarind and found them really good in terms of storyline, building vocabulary etc. Although it is still early to tell, 1 thing for sure is that he no longer dislike/fear chinese novels. That is a huge win for me already.


I love coming to this thread to read about how you gals are cultivating the love for Chinese in your kids. It really encourages me to keep going in this direction of encouraging DS to read instead of forcing him to memorise phrases. :thankyou:

[ADave]

What abt for parents who is not from chinese background and have basic mandarin conversational skills? Like me..hehe. What will be a good method? His is expose to chinese in childcare. I signed him up for speedy chinese character recognition. What else can i do to prepare him? I am having headache thinking abt it. To do PV in another school of my choice (rulang pri), also very difficult..sigh

[lil_jade]

Hi Tamarind,


Thanks for this thread! I've since started reading to my DD (3.5 YO) for a couple of months, as well as letting her watch \"xi yang yang\". We speak both english and chinese at home comfortably.

I do need your advice on something. DD has started N2 now, and DH felt that we possibly can stop DD's Berries (which she has attended for about 1/2 years).

The most I can do thereafter is to read chinese storybooks with her every night. Is that sufficient, or do I really need Berries? Of course, her father converses in Mandarin with her, so there is no lack of stimulation... and there is Chinese (however minimal) in nursery...

I'm just thinking of the atrocious $$ I pay to Berries, and how many more books I can buy from dangdang n read to her!

Thanks!

tamarind:

twinkle70:

[quote=\"tamarind\"]I actually sent both my kids to Berries to learn Chinese. I just calculated that it is going to cost me a total of $9000, over 3 years, sending 2 kids to Berries !

I plan to let both my kids attend Berries until the end of K2 only. Then I will try to \"enrich\" their Chinese at home. That's why I am starting this thread, hopefully parents can share how they teach their kids Chinese at home, and any good resources to recommend.

hi...hi... after two years, are u successful in teaching your kids chinese at home?

Hi twinkle,
I started to teach my girl at home after she stopped attending Berries at the end of K2. I am amazed by the results. By the end of P1, she is reading long novels like 笑猫日记 and she enjoys the books very much. These books have about 200 - 300 words a page, take a look at a section from the book :

杜真子感冒了，没去上学。当然，我今天也不会去翠湖公园，我要在家里陪伴杜真子。讨厌的是杜真子的妈妈也不去上班，她要在家里照顾杜真子，可杜真子好像并不需要她，杜真子真正需要的是我。现在的孩子，内心都十分孤独，所以他们喜欢跟动物交朋友。对杜真子来说，我就是她的最好的朋友。杜真子宁愿把心里的话跟我说，也不愿跟她的妈妈说，因为我比她的妈妈更能理解她。
听，她的妈妈又在唠叨了。
“杜真子，你能不能少让我操点心?”
“谁让你操心了？”杜真子用被子捂住脑袋，“你这是瞎操心。”
“你说我瞎操心?你这孩子，还有没有良心?”杜真子妈妈的话匣子打开了，“要不是因为你，我早就到美国享福去了。我把所有的希望全部寄托在你的身上，我这么辛苦，还不是全为了你?你说，你对得起我吗?”
这样的话，杜真子的妈妈就像念经一样，每天都要念上几遍。连我都听烦了，更别说杜真子了。
杜真子掀开被子坐起来：“我没有良心，我对不起你，我是小罪人。你满意了吧?”
我真的不明白，像杜真子的妈妈这样的大人，难道他们就没有自己的追求?为什么要把所有的希望都寄托在孩子身上?为什么他们活着都是为了孩子?难道没有孩子，他们就不活了吗?这些家长有没有想过，他们会让自己的孩子瞧不起?反正，我是瞧不起杜真子的妈妈这样的人。瞧人家马小跳的爸爸妈妈多好啊!他们除了爱他们的儿子，还爱他们的工作。马小跳的爸爸，是玩具设计师；马小跳的妈妈，是橱窗设计师。他们从来不说把所有的希望都寄托在马小跳身上，马小跳才活得这么自在，这么快活，心里一点压力都没有。难怪杜真子羡慕马小跳，难怪杜真子喜欢到马小跳的家里去。也许她经常想：如果把马小跳换成她，那该多好啊!杜真子有太多的烦恼，我不知道怎么安慰她才好。我只有守候在她的床边，静静地陪伴她。


These books are actually used by Berries for their P4 to P6 classes. My girl knows more than 95% of the words when she reads out loud to me. Most importantly, she tells me that she likes Chinese books Before P1, she refused to speak mandarin to me. Now she actually likes to speak mandarin to me. I believe that reading out loud from books everyday really builds up her confidence. She also enjoys writing in Chinese.

If I have found these good resources earlier :
http://tamarindvillage.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-to-raise-bilingual-child.html

She could have been reading long Chinese novels by 5 or 6 years old, she can read long English novels just before she turned 5 years old because I taught her at home. I could have saved so much money.

Teaching Chinese at home is not difficult at all, parents just have to find good resources and good story books, and be persistent enough to teach about 30 minutes a day. My girl only spends about 20 minutes reading out loud to me everyday.[/quote]

[tamarind]

Trapwithin and Brenda,

You are absolutely right that parents' involvement is most important.

hquek,
I am glad to know that Chinese reading is full of fun for your kids now, that is the way it should be ! It is great that your DS1 has no problem with tingxie, he has proved that a child who reads regularly will be able to write easily too.

ksme,
You are welcome Your ds has done very well progressing from comics to reading novels within 1 year !


ADave,
What is being taught in the speedy Chinese character recognition class ? If kids are taught to recognize individual Chinese characters, without relation to one another, then it is not going to be effective. Chinese words must be taught in context, like in sentences and short stories. Otherwise, kids may be able to recognize 1000 Chinese words, but they still do not know how to read or speak.
For parents who are not good in Chinese, my advise is to send the kids to well established enrichment classes like Berries or Tien Hsia. The teachers there know what are the correct methods of teaching Chinese.
I saw a poster in Tien Hsia showing many of their non-Chinese students who scored A/A* in Chinese.


lil_jade,
Reading to your child is not enough. Many kids just listen without looking at the words, or they do not pay attention at all. You can read hundreds of children's books to them, but they may still not know how to read.

The most effective method is to ask your child to read every word out loud. Then we can be sure that the child is paying attention and using his brain to think. Reading out loud is also very effective for practicing oral skills.

It will be difficult at first because there will be many words that your child do not know. So you need excellent learning resources. Berries has very good resources for teaching a child to read, that is why I sent both my kids there. But that was before I found the Si Wu Kuai Du series of books :
http://tamarindvillage.blogspot.com/2009/12/teaching-chinese-at-home.html

Personally I think that these books are of a higher standard compared to Berries' materials. However, I recommend these books only to parents who are :
1. Very passionate to teach their kids at home
2. Quite good in Chinese, at least able to read and understand Chinese newspapers (please click on the photos of the pages below and try to read them)
3. Hardworking enough to spend at least 15 minutes teaching Chinese every day

It is very important to read and understand the instructions in the first 30 pages of book 1. Click on this link and see if you can read it :
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_w1nyHWTEh94/SzQMM0_2kGI/AAAAAAAABas/fiu6YIcA5gk/s1600-h/b2.JPG

[ADave]

tamarind, yeah its something like that…recognizing chinese characters. i tried a trial class in tien hsia…and i think my son dun like it. plus the teacher like couldnt be bother to engage him just cuz he doesnt respond to her. i think they are relieve that i didnt sign up! hahaha

[tamarind]

ADave:

tamarind, yeah its something like that..recognizing chinese characters. i tried a trial class in tien hsia..and i think my son dun like it. plus the teacher like couldnt be bother to engage him just cuz he doesnt respond to her. i think they are relieve that i didnt sign up! hahaha

Personally I feel that Berries is better than Tien Hsia. Both my kids were at Berries from 4 years old to 6 years old. Though now I regretted sending them there, not because they are not good, but because I \"suffered\" so much, sacrificing my weekends bringing them to classes. If only I have found the excellent Si Wu Kuai Du series of books earlier. But then for parents who are not strong in Chinese, or are too busy to teach at home, a good Chinese enrichment class is still the best alternative.

[ADave]

i totally agreed with you. I called Berries Orchard (bukit batok is fully booked!) and slot in a trial class this friday. I spoke to the centre staff and am really impressed with her. so patience explaining to me and a joy to talk to! I hope all the teachers there are like her. and i really really hope this time, my son will like it so that we can sign up the class for him.


i am not giving up, trying my very best to let him pick up the interest but if he is adamant abt not wanting to learn chinese, i guess it is to Plan B. And bye bye nan hua primary

[Brenda10]

Hi there, some interesting thing to share:


This morning having breakfast with dd and she told me her classmate wanted to quit as a head prefect. In view of her good leadership dd and others asked her to 三思.

I’m quite happy that dd know how to use this word and she told me during the show whenever 丞相 wanted to do something drastically and the rest of the 大臣would 异口同声 said 请丞相三思.

[pummanuel]

tamarind:

pummanuel,
Thanks for recommending 阿凡提. I will definitely order it

You're welcome, Tamarind. I hope your children will like it. Till today, all my siblings remember reading 阿凡提's books and watching 阿凡提's movies on TV.