Teaching Chinese at Home

[sunflower]

tamarind:

sunflower,

I think that one parent speaks one language to the child is the best. However, because both my hubby and I are working, we have no choice but to both speak in English to the kids. My mother only speaks Cantonese. So my kids speak Mandarin in their kindergarten and Berries only. My girl's kindergarten chinese teacher told me that she can speak mandarin fluently, so I am relieved.

It's great that your child take to Chinese well. My hubby and I actually converse in Chinese at home, but we speak to our kids in English most of the time, (as mentioned before, my hubby didn't speak as much Chinese to them as I wld like to) so by right, they should be quite comfortable with both languages. They do not have any Chinese enrichment and mostly learnt Chinese in CC (DD1) and nursery (DD2). Their Chinese OK only, wished it cld be better.

[sunflower]

Oh, just to add. I find that my DD2 Chinese wld suddenly become much better when I start to converse with her in Chinese more often. As advocated by Montessori, window of opportunity for learning language is between 3-6 (hope I remember the age correctly), so talk and expose your child to the language that you want him/her to learn as much as possible.

[schellen]

I managed to find Books 3 & 4 of the series recommended by tamarind at JP Popular. I was actually expecting a thin, lightweight book due to the price at $5.90 each. Imagine my pleasant surprise when the book turns out to be thick and a bit heavy. Really value for money. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find Books 1, 2 and 5 and only a few copies were left.

[tamarind]

schellen:

I managed to find Books 3 & 4 of the series recommended by tamarind at JP Popular. I was actually expecting a thin, lightweight book due to the price at $5.90 each. Imagine my pleasant surprise when the book turns out to be thick and a bit heavy. Really value for money. Unfortunately, I couldn't find Books 1, 2 and 5 and only a few copies were left.

Popular bookstore is having 20% discount (ends today) . I also think it is really value for money. I got my full set by going to both Jurong Point and Woodlands Popular.

I think it is possible to shop for books at
http://www.popular.com.sg

Enter the following
ji chu han zi

You should see all 5 books. Now selling at $5.31 online. The website states that you can self collect at any Popular bookstore.

https://www.popular.com.sg/jsp/main_page/shipping_info.jsp

[tamarind]

I was looking for Chinese chapter books for my girl, and I found this very good children's adaptation of Journey to the West. It has very cute pictures, and the writing is good, not too difficult for a child to read. My 6 year old girl is very interested to read this book, she is fascinated by the very exciting story. She is able to read every word on her own. I asked her whether she looked at the chinese characters or the hanyu pinyin, she said that she used the hanyu pinyin for words that she has not learnt before.


西遊記 is one of the 4 great classical novels of Chinese literature, and is essential reading for anyone learning Chinese. But parents should note that this is not a Disney style adventure, there are lots of demons, monsters, fightings, killings(where people really die), etc and the central character, Sun Wu Kong, is not a perfect hero. This children's version makes everything seem more cute than scary. Parents should look through the book and decide whether their kids are mature enough to read it.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b324/tamarind/west_cover.jpg\">

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b324/tamarind/west_page_1.jpg\">http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b324/tamarind/west_page_2.jpg\">

[tamarind]

I am looking for more Chinese chapter books for my girl. Any recommendations ?

[acforfamily]

tamarind:

I am looking for more Chinese chapter books for my girl. Any recommendations ?

My friend recommended me 小白龙 magazines. Said that a lot of kids found it interesting and funny. Easy to read with hanyupinyin below for the difficult words.

Anyone else seen this before?

[Carrotree]

Thanks amylqf for your blog post!

[schellen]

tamarind, thanks for the suggestion to buy online. I will try one more branch tomorrow and if still cannot find, then I will order online.

[kaimono]

hi tamarind,

thanks for the chapter book recommendation - looks interesting with HYPY
is it also from popular ?