Teaching Chinese at Home

[keltong]

daddybear:

Tamarind and fellow parents,


Thank you for all the valuable information contained in this enormous thread. I really found it very beneficial and motivating. So much so that I went into dangdang.com and bought a whole bunch of books and dvds! My first time doing ecommerce on a chinese site! Wooo!
:celebrate:

My son is four and is attending Berries K1. Initially, the teacher told us that his standard is not high enough and N2 would be more suitable. But we put in a lot of effort and his teacher said he has improved a lot. Just the other day, he used the phrase \"车水马龙“ to describe a traffic jam.

Things that have worked:
Spending time every day reading chinese to him
Only watching chinese programs on TV

After getting some ideas from this thread, my plan is to
1) Use Sage books to build up his base
2) Ordered 四五快读 from dangdang.com but expect it by April?
3) Let him watch 虹猫蓝兔七侠传 (he loves this series) and 喜羊羊与灰太狼 (heard good reviews) during his TV time.

I am not so sure about getting too many books now as I suspect there might not be all that much time in a day to squeeze all this in. I have first hand experience with Sage and think that going through one lesson a day would be enough. (kid loses concentration quite fast. 15 mins usually, rarely 30 mins).

What do you all think of this plan?

Hi fellow daddy!

It's great that your son already uses 成语! That is one thing I dream off that my kids will use. But first I have to get them to speak chinese

I am also using the sage book while waiting for 四五快读. I find them very beneficial and simple to use. It has been very effective too. My K1 son just finished the 1st book and he was very excited about it and can't wait to start book 2. Amazing for someone who use to call himself an English boy. He seems to like chinese now.

I do agree that 15mins a day is enough, if we drag too long, it must have a negative effect, even when he seems to still show enthusiasm. I usually go through 1 lesson a day too (unless the word is something he is already very familiar) and I do it twice a day, one for revision. I will recap all lessons learned previously till I reach lesson 10 and above than I select certain lessons to revise.

One thing I notice about my son, when we reach lesson 10 and above, I select only the long sentences that contain all the words in previous lessons. He sometimes will not recognize the word in long sentences but in the short 词汇。 Sometimes it's the other way round, so I take care to ensure when I do revision, I encompass as much variety of words so that he can remember better. Each child is different so you have to see what fits for yours.

The other day I was at Popular again so I decide to just get all the level 2 and 3 books for 基础汉字。When I brought it home, I did not want to tell him about it, but he saw me putting the books in the shelf and ask me if the books are for him. I says yes and his reaction is \"Yeah! Thanks dad!\". It was a pleasant surprise.

I just bought some DVD from dangdang and hope to interest him in that.

Cheers!

[porcupine12trade]

keltong:

daddybear:

Tamarind and fellow parents,


Thank you for all the valuable information contained in this enormous thread. I really found it very beneficial and motivating. So much so that I went into dangdang.com and bought a whole bunch of books and dvds! My first time doing ecommerce on a chinese site! Wooo!
:celebrate:

My son is four and is attending Berries K1. Initially, the teacher told us that his standard is not high enough and N2 would be more suitable. But we put in a lot of effort and his teacher said he has improved a lot. Just the other day, he used the phrase \"车水马龙“ to describe a traffic jam.

Things that have worked:
Spending time every day reading chinese to him
Only watching chinese programs on TV

After getting some ideas from this thread, my plan is to
1) Use Sage books to build up his base
2) Ordered 四五快读 from dangdang.com but expect it by April?
3) Let him watch 虹猫蓝兔七侠传 (he loves this series) and 喜羊羊与灰太狼 (heard good reviews) during his TV time.

I am not so sure about getting too many books now as I suspect there might not be all that much time in a day to squeeze all this in. I have first hand experience with Sage and think that going through one lesson a day would be enough. (kid loses concentration quite fast. 15 mins usually, rarely 30 mins).

What do you all think of this plan?

Hi fellow daddy!

It's great that your son already uses 成语! That is one thing I dream off that my kids will use. But first I have to get them to speak chinese

I am also using the sage book while waiting for 四五快读. I find them very beneficial and simple to use. It has been very effective too. My K1 son just finished the 1st book and he was very excited about it and can't wait to start book 2. Amazing for someone who use to call himself an English boy. He seems to like chinese now.

I do agree that 15mins a day is enough, if we drag too long, it must have a negative effect, even when he seems to still show enthusiasm. I usually go through 1 lesson a day too (unless the word is something he is already very familiar) and I do it twice a day, one for revision. I will recap all lessons learned previously till I reach lesson 10 and above than I select certain lessons to revise.

One thing I notice about my son, when we reach lesson 10 and above, I select only the long sentences that contain all the words in previous lessons. He sometimes will not recognize the word in long sentences but in the short 词汇。 Sometimes it's the other way round, so I take care to ensure when I do revision, I encompass as much variety of words so that he can remember better. Each child is different so you have to see what fits for yours.

The other day I was at Popular again so I decide to just get all the level 2 and 3 books for 基础汉字。When I brought it home, I did not want to tell him about it, but he saw me putting the books in the shelf and ask me if the books are for him. I says yes and his reaction is \"Yeah! Thanks dad!\". It was a pleasant surprise.

I just bought some DVD from dangdang and hope to interest him in that.

Cheers!

Its v good to see fathers so involved :)! Hmm if only my kids' father so 'on' too :p, but his chinese cannot swim la.

daddybear

I think your plan sounds great! I want to ask, if your kid understand 喜羊羊与灰太狼? so sad leh, my 3 kids like 1/2 pail water, #1 prefers to read (eng books) then watch TV, so its not easy to get her watch TV let alone chinese prog. #2 and #3 will watch 喜羊羊与灰太狼, hehe but they dont quite understand the conversation.

I would like to ask, if its still beneficial to continue let them watch if they dont quite understand the conversation?

I have 基础汉字 too but use it for #2 only coz the 1st stage is too easy for my #1. #2 is interested in learning, and yes i think the books are pretty good :). Have not \"officially\" taught my #3 chinese (though he speak more chinese than his sisters), too tiring for me to be coaching 3 kids all subjects!

keltong

I have similar problem as you. my #2 \" sometimes will not recognize the word in long sentences but in the short 词汇。 Sometimes it's the other way round\", i wonder is it they memorize the sentence and not the characters!
Another qn, do u'all do all 7days in a week? sometimes I can be very inflexible and think i must do everyday esp weekdays, hence not willing to go out for dinner etc coz which means no time for reading... abit siao or not?

[MyBaby]

I know this is the thread for teaching Chinese at HOME but I am looking for an enrichment centre that focuses on speech and drama (no worksheets, please!) for my P2 DS, to work in tandem with what we are doing at home.


He is dyslexic. Amongst the 4 components of language learning - Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, he has no problems with Speaking and Listening, his Reading is improving as we are building on his word recognition using 四五块读 (we are still on Book 4 and progress is slow!). Writing is still a challenge.

I am in favour of boosting his spoken skills so as to somewhat compensate for his weaker areas. Thought this is particularly important as at higher level, composition (which would be very challenging to him) and comprehension would be tough for him to handle.

He used to attend enrichment with one centre but as it was group and there were worksheets to complete in class, he was not coping well as he could not recognise many words and have difficulty reading aloud.

Does anyone know of any centre that focuses on speech and drama -rather like Lorna Whiston but in Chinese?

[daddybear]

@keltong: bro, my kids chinese not good at all. he doesn't really speak full sentences. i think berries introduce about 3-4 idioms per term so just apply the idioms when the opportunity arises. Quite amazing how fast they pick up. lucky our kids still within that golden window of 3-6 yrs old... Our counterparts in china/taiwan are really way ahead of us. i think this is like the gold standard to aim for. nearly fainted when i saw this...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzGr3DJvW1I&feature=related

@porcupine12trade: My kid has been watching yoyoTV for about 1 year. he loves 虹猫蓝兔七侠传. Its like a cartoon wuxia. He doesn't speak much cus we didn't speak mandarin at home (trying to switch). BUT i can guarantee he understands a lot of mandarin. Sometimes, we talk in chinese about him and assume he does not understand. he actually does, and its very noticeable this last six months. what i am trying to say is that they probably understand a lot more than what we think. Also, cartoons build up interest mah.

I came across this youtube on Tang poetry cartoons. hoping if any parents out there know if these sort of cartoons exist and where to purchase. i think they will be very useful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snp7MyusKPc&NR=1

[phankao]

daddybear:

Our counterparts in china/taiwan are really way ahead of us. i think this is like the gold standard to aim for. nearly fainted when i saw this...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzGr3DJvW1I&feature=related

Our boy could recite SanZiJing, DiziGui and several TangShi at 1+year old. So, as long as you provide the exposure, surely can, lah!

daddybear:

I came across this youtube on Tang poetry cartoons. hoping if any parents out there know if these sort of cartoons exist and where to purchase. i think they will be very useful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snp7MyusKPc&NR=1

I've found some cheap ones at Bras Basah Ground Floor music shop. But if you want them word-based (to reinforce Chinese word recognition), then this 《说说唱唱》 series of CDs / VCDs are very good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl3o11A2vzw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylMUmHV4oGk
They have Tangshi, sanzijing, dizigui and many others. Can get from selected Popular bookstores. But it's way cheaper to buy from Malaysia Popular bookstores where the range is even wider.

[24hr-mum]

MyBaby:

I know this is the thread for teaching Chinese at HOME but I am looking for an enrichment centre that focuses on speech and drama (no worksheets, please!) for my P2 DS, to work in tandem with what we are doing at home.


He is dyslexic. Amongst the 4 components of language learning - Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, he has no problems with Speaking and Listening, his Reading is improving as we are building on his word recognition using 四五块读 (we are still on Book 4 and progress is slow!). Writing is still a challenge.

I am in favour of boosting his spoken skills so as to somewhat compensate for his weaker areas. Thought this is particularly important as at higher level, composition (which would be very challenging to him) and comprehension would be tough for him to handle.

He used to attend enrichment with one centre but as it was group and there were worksheets to complete in class, he was not coping well as he could not recognise many words and have difficulty reading aloud.

Does anyone know of any centre that focuses on speech and drama -rather like Lorna Whiston but in Chinese?

re ch speech n drama - Julia gabriel, hokkien huay guan, crestar maybe have

[MyBaby]

Tks, 24hr-mum. Will check out. Thought Julia Gabriel's only for English? Hokkien Huay Guan might be an option.

24hr-mum:

MyBaby:

I know this is the thread for teaching Chinese at HOME but I am looking for an enrichment centre that focuses on speech and drama (no worksheets, please!) for my P2 DS, to work in tandem with what we are doing at home.

He is dyslexic. Amongst the 4 components of language learning - Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, he has no problems with Speaking and Listening, his Reading is improving as we are building on his word recognition using 四五块读 (we are still on Book 4 and progress is slow!). Writing is still a challenge.

I am in favour of boosting his spoken skills so as to somewhat compensate for his weaker areas. Thought this is particularly important as at higher level, composition (which would be very challenging to him) and comprehension would be tough for him to handle.

He used to attend enrichment with one centre but as it was group and there were worksheets to complete in class, he was not coping well as he could not recognise many words and have difficulty reading aloud.

Does anyone know of any centre that focuses on speech and drama -rather like Lorna Whiston but in Chinese?

re ch speech n drama - Julia gabriel, hokkien huay guan, crestar maybe have

[24hr-mum]

my girl ever attend chinese speech n drama at julia gabriel when she was 3 at forum

[keltong]

porcupine12trade:

keltong:

keltong

I have similar problem as you. my #2 \" sometimes will not recognize the word in long sentences but in the short 词汇。 Sometimes it's the other way round\", i wonder is it they memorize the sentence and not the characters!
Another qn, do u'all do all 7days in a week? sometimes I can be very inflexible and think i must do everyday esp weekdays, hence not willing to go out for dinner etc coz which means no time for reading... abit siao or not?

What I did sometimes is have certain words on my handphone and show it to them to see if they recognize. Sometimes when I see the word in a phase (during normal times) I will point to him to see if he knows. So that is like a check. I sometimes will also write out a sentences using words I know he has learnt and see if he can read it (outside of the pictures in the book). All this to help reinforce his learning.

I also try to do 7 days a week whenever possible but all very short session so it take usually about 10mins and it's done.

[MyBaby]

24hr-mum:

my girl ever attend chinese speech n drama at julia gabriel when she was 3 at forum

Now that you've mentioned, I remembered calling Julia Gabriel about 2 yrs back regarding their Mandarin Edudrama prog. At that time, I didn't sign up as the timing was not suitable and the children who were in the class are mostly foreigners.