Teaching Chinese at Home

[porcupine12trade]

and yes, if we do not have specific books in mind, it's almost impossible to sieve out good books from the library, be it chinese or eng. So i usually check at home first for the books i want, I i can find many, i will make a trip to the library


Tamarind is it you who reco the book The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe? I found it in the library and my gal loves it, though she has nvr watched Narnia. Anymore books to reco? We are running out of books to borrow, the usual ones she borrows are rainbow magic (i dont like), tiara club (i dont like), magic ballerina, all enid blytons esp the adventure ones, naughty gal, malory towers etc, nancy drew, roald dahl, and others i cant rem.. I have no idea what else to search in the library for her. I buy quite many books too, esp those i feel may benefit my #2, #3.

[porcupine12trade]

tamarind:

Actually I love 14只老鼠 for the beautiful illustrations, personally I think one of the joy of reading is looking at pictures. This is especially important for kids because they don't like to be told that they must be learning new words all the time. Pictures are essential for kids to understand what they are reading. Otherwise kids may be able to read many words, but they don't know how to use the words.

I also did not like the pictures in 鸡蛋哥哥 and 永远永远爱你, but my boy loves these books very much and he has read them many times. So kids really think differently from adults.

In fact, for 笑猫日记, at first I did not think it is very good because I just quickly scanned through. But after I asked my girl to read every word out loud to me, I realized kids find these books are interesting because the writing style is humorous, the characters are well defined, the author writes about things that matter to kids.

Ya i tot the pics in these books are very nice! but my #2 was put off by the small words. I will try again today coz she was probably tired yday and 14只老鼠 is not as brightly coloured..mostly tones of brown, yellow etc haaa

Mo fa xiao gong zhu li li has very nice colour, my #1 was excited abt it and grabbed it for silent reading today, will see if she likes it :).

[toddles]

porcupine12trade:

and yes, if we do not have specific books in mind, it's almost impossible to sieve out good books from the library, be it chinese or eng. So i usually check at home first for the books i want, I i can find many, i will make a trip to the library


Tamarind is it you who reco the book The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe? I found it in the library and my gal loves it, though she has nvr watched Narnia. Anymore books to reco? We are running out of books to borrow, the usual ones she borrows are rainbow magic (i dont like), tiara club (i dont like), magic ballerina, all enid blytons esp the adventure ones, naughty gal, malory towers etc, nancy drew, roald dahl, and others i cant rem.. I have no idea what else to search in the library for her. I buy quite many books too, esp those i feel may benefit my #2, #3.

I would love to get my hands on this. A bit too advanced for my kids, but definitely a keeper!

http://www.amazon.com/Stories-Poems-Extremely-Intelligent-Children/dp/0684868733

I find it easy to find good english books for young kids... esp the boardbook types, since they have a section of those in every library.

[toddles]

porcupine12trade:

toddles:

I find it very frustrating to find chinese books in the library. If I have nothing in mind, browsing to sift out gems is near impossible. most of them have very thin pages and the words are 密密麻麻. if there is something specific, the cataloging (to me) is also quite inexplicable.

so for those that are 'keepers', should just buy direct from dangdang. or through one of those motherhood forum sprees that are always ongoing. If you buy more than 100 sgd, the shipping can be capped at 20% of book price, which is a good deal. can PM me if you want more info, I don't organise but have participated in a few.

Hi toddles

You mean if i order from dangdang.com >SGD200, the shipping is only 20%? I did not get this \"promo\" leh, how to get it? aiyo so stupid, i paid so much for the shipping liao

I was referring to the sprees organised at some local forums... cos they order in bulk (like HUGE bulk) so save on shipping cos spread across quite a few buyers. PM me if you would like some self-explanatory links...

[porcupine12trade]

toddles:

porcupine12trade:

[quote=\"toddles\"]

I find it very frustrating to find chinese books in the library. If I have nothing in mind, browsing to sift out gems is near impossible. most of them have very thin pages and the words are 密密麻麻. if there is something specific, the cataloging (to me) is also quite inexplicable.

so for those that are 'keepers', should just buy direct from dangdang. or through one of those motherhood forum sprees that are always ongoing. If you buy more than 100 sgd, the shipping can be capped at 20% of book price, which is a good deal. can PM me if you want more info, I don't organise but have participated in a few.

Hi toddles

You mean if i order from dangdang.com >SGD200, the shipping is only 20%? I did not get this \"promo\" leh, how to get it? aiyo so stupid, i paid so much for the shipping liao

I was referring to the sprees organised at some local forums... cos they order in bulk (like HUGE bulk) so save on shipping cos spread across quite a few buyers. PM me if you would like some self-explanatory links...[/quote]Hi toddlers,

I pm'ed you. I just saw in SMH's \"bulk purchase\" for dangdang and shipping cap at 20%. Sigh too bad i too kancheong, ordered alot liao :p. But would appreciate if u can reply my PM on these sprees, so i can join on my next purchase, thanks v much

[MyBaby]

Ha ha, I think all these bring back more memories for the mummies than our kids :lol:


The 2 CDs are commercial compilation CDs. I bought them in Singapore but some years back.

滚石金韵民歌 is a box of 4 CDs, each with 20 songs, released in 2004. 滚石just held a 30 yr celebration concert and there might be some newer compilation CDs out in the shops.

梁文福绕梁一世 was released in 2007 by Ocean Butterflies (海蝶) - should be a box of 6 CDs (not 5). You can check out this url for the look of the box-set http://www.chinesealbumart.com/2008/05/albums_5433.html but it does not tell you where to buy from...

tree nymph:

MyBaby:

I have these compilation CDs -
- 滚石金韵民歌 (80 Greatest Folk Songs)
- 梁文福绕梁一世 (total of 5 CDs)

I've also found some of the songs on you-tube:
- 光阴的故事 （http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrtZUUPiEMM）
- 快乐天堂 （http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5M8tB_OA8M). I like this video best as the animation is very pretty and I love the singing by the children

For some of these songs that DD likes, she will even type out the lyrics and memorise the words. She will also ask me for the meanings of the words and song. Some of the songs that appeal to her are 光阴的故事， 日出， 请你告诉她 (from 雨季 musical) ，天冷就回来.

Hi!

These are my favourite songs too! could you tell me if you have complied both the CDs yourself? These songs have also accompanied me through my growing up years too and I remembered going to bras basah complex for the open air concert for xingyao...

[keltong]

Yeah…reading comics is not the way to do well in chinese. My aim is to at least get him interested enough to want to pick up the comic and (hopefully) read. Coz my boy simply HATES chinese. Sad but true, and I am hoping that by reading some chinese comics (or doing anything chinese) it will help to get him to find some interest.


I started to read one story at a time for him. At first he was resistance, but later start to show some interest. Yesterday he sat readily beside me when I told him it’s story time. And I took time to explain the words that he may not understand (there are a lot of them). It’s a start, and I will be most delighted if it progress on to proper chinese story books.

We have also set ‘chinese speaking day’ where we will only communicate in chinese and will not answer him if he speak to us in english.

You can’t imagine how difficult it is for him, he get so frustrated trying to express his view in chinese that he sometimes gave up speaking. On the other hand, I have never hear him speak so much chinese in a single day! So much so that when my MIL came, he started to converse in (broken) chinese with her.

It is going to be a long road for my P5 boy, and I will press on. But for my K1 boy, I want to start right. It is tedious but when my K1 boy starts to recognize the chinese words (doing 基础汉字500), I feel so happy. Hopefully I can be consistant to do it with him.

[MyBaby]

That is a good start - 加油！加油!


Share a tip - when reading or doing any Chinese work with your K1 child, try to do it in common areas like the sitting or dining area where your P5 child is within earshot. Somehow, subconsciously, the older child will pick up some useful information.

I noticed this when reading aloud 小男生杜歌飞 to my DS. My DD would also listen in and I \"caught\" both of them commenting and laughing about an escapade when driving them to their CCA on Saturday. DD also \"confessed\" that she has read ahead and completed the book as she could not wait for me to do the reading aloud nightly.

keltong:

Yeah...reading comics is not the way to do well in chinese. My aim is to at least get him interested enough to want to pick up the comic and (hopefully) read. Coz my boy simply HATES chinese. Sad but true, and I am hoping that by reading some chinese comics (or doing anything chinese) it will help to get him to find some interest.

I started to read one story at a time for him. At first he was resistance, but later start to show some interest. Yesterday he sat readily beside me when I told him it's story time. And I took time to explain the words that he may not understand (there are a lot of them). It's a start, and I will be most delighted if it progress on to proper chinese story books.

We have also set 'chinese speaking day' where we will only communicate in chinese and will not answer him if he speak to us in english.

You can't imagine how difficult it is for him, he get so frustrated trying to express his view in chinese that he sometimes gave up speaking. On the other hand, I have never hear him speak so much chinese in a single day! So much so that when my MIL came, he started to converse in (broken) chinese with her.

It is going to be a long road for my P5 boy, and I will press on. But for my K1 boy, I want to start right. It is tedious but when my K1 boy starts to recognize the chinese words (doing 基础汉字500), I feel so happy. Hopefully I can be consistant to do it with him.

[keltong]

MyBaby:

That is a good start - 加油！加油!


Share a tip - when reading or doing any Chinese work with your K1 child, try to do it in common areas like the sitting or dining area where your P5 child is within earshot. Somehow, subconsciously, the older child will pick up some useful information.

Great tip! Thanks!

MyBaby:

I noticed this when reading aloud 小男生杜歌飞 to my DS. My DD would also listen in and I \"caught\" both of them commenting and laughing about an escapade when driving them to their CCA on Saturday. DD also \"confessed\" that she has read ahead and completed the book as she could not wait for me to do the reading aloud nightly.

I am waiting for the day he will pick up a chinese book and read himself, I think I will hug and kiss him to death :lol:

[porcupine12trade]

keltong:

Yeah...reading comics is not the way to do well in chinese. My aim is to at least get him interested enough to want to pick up the comic and (hopefully) read. Coz my boy simply HATES chinese. Sad but true, and I am hoping that by reading some chinese comics (or doing anything chinese) it will help to get him to find some interest.


I started to read one story at a time for him. At first he was resistance, but later start to show some interest. Yesterday he sat readily beside me when I told him it's story time. And I took time to explain the words that he may not understand (there are a lot of them). It's a start, and I will be most delighted if it progress on to proper chinese story books.

We have also set 'chinese speaking day' where we will only communicate in chinese and will not answer him if he speak to us in english.

You can't imagine how difficult it is for him, he get so frustrated trying to express his view in chinese that he sometimes gave up speaking. On the other hand, I have never hear him speak so much chinese in a single day! So much so that when my MIL came, he started to converse in (broken) chinese with her.

It is going to be a long road for my P5 boy, and I will press on. But for my K1 boy, I want to start right. It is tedious but when my K1 boy starts to recognize the chinese words (doing 基础汉字500), I feel so happy. Hopefully I can be consistant to do it with him.

Good news, very encouraging progress :). I also use 基础汉字500, the most basic set on my K2, I cover the HYPY coz she will use them to read the words. So far, it is helping her to recog the very commonly used words, I hope she will finish the basic set soon and by time 45kuaidu arrive, I can use that on her.

But i find very time consuming to teach both Eng and Chinese. I have 3 kids, #1 is independent on eng, I need to push her harder for chinese. #2 is 85% independent on english, but she wants me to sit with her while she read. I took Tamarind advice to read with her, now she will read for me and i think it is really better this way, chinese will definitely b an effort for me to teach her. #3 doesnt know how to read eng/chinese, so i have to work on him too.... wah shiong!