Teaching Chinese at Home

[porcupine12trade]

tamarind:

porcupine12trade, keltong,

My younger boy dislikes repeating the same thing everyday, so I don't ask him to do so.

When I taught him using the Peter and Jane series, I tried to let him read new pages everyday. He encountered the same words, but in different sentences everyday, so he did not complain. By the time he read level 6, he had read the common words many times and he could remember them.

The Sage basic Chinese series uses the same method as the Peter and Jane series. My suggestion is just keep going on to new lessons, kids will have lots of practice since they will see the same words again, but in different sentences. After you completed the series of 5 books, if you find that your child still cannot remember many words, then go back to the first book again. I think it will be less boring for the kids this way, by the time they read book 5, they would have forgotten what book 1 is like.

For the Si Wu Kuai Du series, the method of teaching is different. We should make sure that the child knows all the words in one lesson before continuing. Since we use word cards to teach, we can play a different game everyday, mix up the words in different order, so kids will find it more challenging. There are also sentences and stories in every lesson, and it is best to read them at least a few times. However, my boy refused to read the same story again, I usually can only make him read a story once. He likes to play with the cards, so he is still able to learn all the words in the 6 books.

Now he is reading story books like 不一样的卡梅拉 to me everyday, he is also reading new pages everyday. He laughs when he reads every book. I think that we should focus more on enjoying the story, rather than remembering new words. When kids have read extensively, they will be able to build up a large vocabulary. We just have ask them to read every word out loud, then help them if they do not know how to read any word.

Hi Tamarind,

Very good suggestions, I'll do the same for my boy then, thanks again for your advice :)!

[tamarind]

Brenda10:

tamarind:

Thanks. So far my kids only watch 喜羊羊, do you have any other DVD recommendations ?

Hi Tamarind

You may want to consider the 西游记(古装/神话/奇幻) 2010 new version. I did not buy but happen to see some parts during TS Video sales. The show is come with Chinese subtitle and fantastic effect that I think children should like it.

Hi Brenda,
Thanks ! I will look for those DVDs, always wanted my kids to watch 西游记 !

[jerejoy]

Hi Tamarind,


Thanks for sharing with us yr blog and advices. My boy is now able to read P&J level 5 and he is reading the sage collection book 3 at 35th month old now. However, he is not able to communicate with us in Mandarin in full sentences only partial but can ans us back in English when we speak to him in Mandarin. I am wondering if I shld send him to Berries. Do u think it will help? Kindly advise.

[tamarind]

jerejoy:

Hi Tamarind,


Thanks for sharing with us yr blog and advices. My boy is now able to read P&J level 5 and he is reading the sage collection book 3 at 35th month old now. However, he is not able to communicate with us in Mandarin in full sentences only partial but can ans us back in English when we speak to him in Mandarin. I am wondering if I shld send him to Berries. Do u think it will help? Kindly advise.

Hi jerejoy,
Even if you send to Berries, you still have to consistently practice the week's lesson with him everyday. He will improve quickly if you speak only Mandarin to him. Otherwise, once a week in Berries is not sufficient. Both my kids attended Berries since 4 years old, though they can read many words, they still did not feel confident enough to speak Mandarin when they completed K2.

I find that the best way to practice oral skills is to ask the child to read out loud from Chinese story books. When your boy has completed the 3 series of Sage, total 15 books, you can try to let him read simple Chinese story books. If he can read up to one thousand words out loud everyday, then he will be much more confident speaking Mandarin. Start with one hundred words a day, then slowly increase the volume as he reads faster.

My P2 girl now reads about 3000 words out loud to me everyday, she can finish reading in about 20 minutes or less. She is very confident in speaking Mandarin now.

[deardear07]

jerejoy:

Hi Tamarind,


Thanks for sharing with us yr blog and advices. My boy is now able to read P&J level 5 and he is reading the sage collection book 3 at 35th month old now. However, he is not able to communicate with us in Mandarin in full sentences only partial but can ans us back in English when we speak to him in Mandarin. I am wondering if I shld send him to Berries. Do u think it will help? Kindly advise.

Wow! Ur son is onto p&j level5? Read with understanding?

My 34mth son cannot read yet... Most letters cannot recognize too... Only recognize some words in books that he had constant exposure to.even then,he will forget at times.

He is better at recognizing chinese words though... Weird coz his spoken mandarin is poor due to lack of exposure.we expected him to pick up english faster. He is onto a little phonics so mayb need more time?

[phankao]

jerejoy:

Hi Tamarind,


Thanks for sharing with us yr blog and advices. My boy is now able to read P&J level 5 and he is reading the sage collection book 3 at 35th month old now. However, he is not able to communicate with us in Mandarin in full sentences only partial but can ans us back in English when we speak to him in Mandarin. I am wondering if I shld send him to Berries. Do u think it will help? Kindly advise.

if you want your child to converse in Mandarin, then you'd have to speak with him in Mandarin. My son is 30mths old and that's what I've been doing with him. Also, we read lots of Chinese books together. I'm poor in Chinese, so it's through all the books that we both learn proper Chinese and sentence structure together. He can speak and express himself in Chinese. I'm not sure what language is dominant to him, since I've been hearing him \"speaking\" with his toys in both English and Chinese at different times. Probably he's comfortable with both and thinks in both english & chinese.

[tang_kweeyee.02795yahoo.02795com]

Is there a systematic way to teach my ds to remember how to write chinese words? He can read the words but he cannot write it out from memory.

[porcupine12trade]

deardear07:

Wow! Ur son is onto p&j level5? Read with understanding?

My 34mth son cannot read yet... Most letters cannot recognize too... Only recognize some words in books that he had constant exposure to.even then,he will forget at times.

He is better at recognizing chinese words though... Weird coz his spoken mandarin is poor due to lack of exposure.we expected him to pick up english faster. He is onto a little phonics so mayb need more time?

Hi deardear,

I am impressed too at 34th mth he can read Level 5!! my son still at Level 1 hehe. Hey, did you try Leapfrog DVDs on ur son? When my son was 30 mth old, gosh he cldnt even recog A-Z, even the teachers commented too. I was worried coz at the same age, my gals already knew single sounds. I had Leapfrog from about 6-7yrs ago, however he was not keen. When he was abt 32mths, I tried to on the Leapfrog DVDs again and he watched, after a mth or 2 of watching, he can recog all letters and make all the sounds. I think the Leapfrog DVDs are fantastic.

My #2 is similar to your son, she speaks v poor mandarin but very interested to learn the characters.

[tamarind]

ky:

Is there a systematic way to teach my ds to remember how to write chinese words? He can read the words but he cannot write it out from memory.

Hi ky,
Before the age of 7, we should focus only on character recognition. It is very important that we do not make kids practice writing many words before the age of 7, this may kill their interest in the language.

Between the age of 3 to 6, most kids can learn enough Chinese characters to be able to read over 80% of the words in Chinese newspapers. When kids can read any Chinese books independently, then you don't have to worry about their grades in Chinese anymore.

Kids can recognize far more Chinese characters than they can write. This is perfectly fine. From 6 years old onwards, they have lots of time to practice writing Chinese. I remember that I only practice writing all the words in the Ting Xie list, that is enough for me to do very well in Chinese all the way to JC.

I have written a section about effective methods of learning to write Chinese, click on the following page and scroll down to read :
http://tamarindvillage.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-to-raise-bilingual-child.html

[jerejoy]

tamarind:

jerejoy:

Hi Tamarind,


Thanks for sharing with us yr blog and advices. My boy is now able to read P&J level 5 and he is reading the sage collection book 3 at 35th month old now. However, he is not able to communicate with us in Mandarin in full sentences only partial but can ans us back in English when we speak to him in Mandarin. I am wondering if I shld send him to Berries. Do u think it will help? Kindly advise.

Hi jerejoy,
Even if you send to Berries, you still have to consistently practice the week's lesson with him everyday. He will improve quickly if you speak only Mandarin to him. Otherwise, once a week in Berries is not sufficient. Both my kids attended Berries since 4 years old, though they can read many words, they still did not feel confident enough to speak Mandarin when they completed K2.

I find that the best way to practice oral skills is to ask the child to read out loud from Chinese story books. When your boy has completed the 3 series of Sage, total 15 books, you can try to let him read simple Chinese story books. If he can read up to one thousand words out loud everyday, then he will be much more confident speaking Mandarin. Start with one hundred words a day, then slowly increase the volume as he reads faster.

My P2 girl now reads about 3000 words out loud to me everyday, she can finish reading in about 20 minutes or less. She is very confident in speaking Mandarin now.

Thanks for yr advise. I try to speak to him alt days in Mandarin. I hope he can read as well as yr kids. They r v good.