Teaching Chinese at Home

[phankao]

pinkiepirate:

Thanks hquek! I was unsure because, in a lot of books that we have, the Chinese characters are on the opposite page from the pictures, and I'm sure that my son is watching the pictures on one side, and not the Chinese characters. At the moment, all that is holding his attention is the pictures. I was not sure whether, if I draw his attention to the Chinese characters at this early beginning stage, I would lose his interest completely.

Thanks for your pointers!

I usually point, and i usu fold the page with pictures back while i read the words, unfolding it near the end of the text. I read v quickly n w expression. It takes practise. I usu check the dictionary b4 i read the book to him, n have a word card with me of words i can quickly glance at w/o stopping my reading. Like i said, the quick reading & fold/unfold pages take practise, but i've done that since he was a bb so quite comfortable w it. My son is 2yo.

[phankao]

pinkiepirate:

My little one is a complete Englishman. Everything that he knows, he knows in English. When I go through colours in Chinese with him, he will say the colours in English. Same with numbers. Maybe my pronunciation is really terrible. I shall see how long it takes before he \"absorbs\" my terrible Chinese.

Poor chinese is better than no chinese.

[pinkiepirate]

phankao, thanks for your tips! That’s an interesting technique!


Yes, my Chinese is beyond redemption. I can only buy Chinese books for my son with hanyu pinyin and even then I am not truly reading according to HYPY rules, I am just guessing what the intonation is.

I find this thread so fantastic, with all the parents so knowledgeable. I think I can only read less than 50 Chinese characters, so I am clueless most of the time. Today I was reading to my son and I realise I don’t even know how to read the characters for "read book" in the storybook, I was just guessing based on the HYPY and the picture in the storybook! Sigh, it’s going to be a long and tough journey for me.

BTW, is there another thread for parents like me, who can be considered as having zero Chinese proficiency? This thread is wonderful, but I think many of the parents here do know Chinese. For me, when Chinese characters pop up here, and when Chinese articles are quoted (on how I wish I can read them!), I am lost.

[cimman]

pinkiepirate:

phankao, thanks for your tips! That's an interesting technique!


Yes, my Chinese is beyond redemption. I can only buy Chinese books for my son with hanyu pinyin and even then I am not truly reading according to HYPY rules, I am just guessing what the intonation is.

I find this thread so fantastic, with all the parents so knowledgeable. I think I can only read less than 50 Chinese characters, so I am clueless most of the time. Today I was reading to my son and I realise I don't even know how to read the characters for \"read book\" in the storybook, I was just guessing based on the HYPY and the picture in the storybook! Sigh, it's going to be a long and tough journey for me.

BTW, is there another thread for parents like me, who can be considered as having zero Chinese proficiency? This thread is wonderful, but I think many of the parents here do know Chinese. For me, when Chinese characters pop up here, and when Chinese articles are quoted (on how I wish I can read them!), I am lost.

I feel your pain. My son is poor in Chinese too. Absolutely refuse to speak Mandarin. Speaks English to his Chinese Tuition teacher. Don't really know what to do with him. If only I could just dump him in China for a year. He will be forced to cimmunicate in Chinese then.

[pinkiepirate]

cimman, oh dear, hope he will take to it soon! How old is he?


My son (2 years old) doesn’t know any Chinese at all. We don’t speak Mandarin at home, and neither his father nor I read Chinese. Hopefully after my son learns some Chinese, he will use it. Fingers crossed!

At this beginning stage, I am keeping it light, just reading with him and listening to Chinese songs. My intention at this stage is to put some Chinese sounds in his environment and to introduce simple characters (so that he understands that the character actually has a sound and a meaning). At the moment, he is attending JG Bilingual Playclub once a week, but I think the Mandarin part is not intensive enough for him.

[smurf]

Thanks GSK! But is there any book that document these instead? Coz the websites only have it in traditional Chinese and not simplified ones.

[phankao]

pinkiepirate:

At this beginning stage, I am keeping it light, just reading with him and listening to Chinese songs. My intention at this stage is to put some Chinese sounds in his environment and to introduce simple characters (so that he understands that the character actually has a sound and a meaning). At the moment, he is attending JG Bilingual Playclub once a week, but I think the Mandarin part is not intensive enough for him.

Maybe you can try winktolearn.com's Sing-to-Learn Chinese CDs? Try with the 1st Chinese CD first. It's programme emphasizes the words used in the songs and then couples it with the songs, so it's quite effective.

As for JG - why don't you add a fully Chinese playclub as well?

[cimman]

pinkiepirate:

cimman, oh dear, hope he will take to it soon! How old is he?

he is in P4 this year. Looks like a lost cause.
You could put your son with some China kids in a playgroup. That will have both a play element and an Mandarin speaking environment.

[GSK]

smurf:

Thanks GSK! But is there any book that document these instead? Coz the websites only have it in traditional Chinese and not simplified ones.

These are more for pre-school, very simple, but personally I find them interesting and easier to understand.

http://www.popular.com.sg/jsp/product/product_detail.jsp?vca001=1566&vpd001=70341

http://www.popular.com.sg/jsp/product/product_detail.jsp?vca001=1566&vpd001=70344

http://www.popular.com.sg/jsp/product/product_detail.jsp?vca001=1566&vpd001=70340

There's one 笔 顺, but can't find in the popular link, so maybe u hv to go down to take a look.

[GSK]

Creative Technology just launched the \"playchinese and master it\", maybe can go down to Creative Headquarters 11-20Mar, 12-9pm to have a look.


I'm not very sure how this product will help in Chinese as seems like no much review or comments from website (since this is a new product too).

For more details, visit: http://www.playchinese.com

I'm not selling this product but just interested in it, so shared with u parents. I'll be going down to see how it works. :celebrate: