Teaching Chinese at Home

[phankao]

laughingcat:

Phankao, my DS2 can read on his own.He can even reads the headline newspaper and signage as well. I do not need to point the word-by-word for him. In terms of reading, he is rather independent. Whatever his kor kor is reading, he can reads too.

Except that I don't know how much he knows how to spell. I know that this is not important yet. But I would like to teach him phonics for spelling purposes.

Yup - that means you may not need spend all that much time teaching him phonics either then. Still have 4 more years to pri 1! Yeah, my ds3 also doesn't need me to point words. He also does not need to point at the words himself now. He can focus to read the words himself.

[laughingcat]

phankao:

laughingcat:

Getting children to read chapter and novel books are not an easy feat. I sure my children love reading novel books too.

Sometimes it's the storybook, it's storyline too. What may interest \"tamarind\"
s kids for instance, may not interest your kids. Just like what may interest your kids, may not interest my kids. You have to go with what they love most. eg. animals, trains?

My 2yo has finished the series of 青蛙和蟾蜍. He Loved it so much, esp the Ice Cream story and a few others which he read over and over again. Each book has a few stories.
http://product.dangdang.com/product.aspx?product_id=20624751
Too bad there doesn't seem to be anymore of these similar books. Still looking around the library. But then again, what my ds likes may not be what yr kid likes.

Yes agreed that all kids' interest in reading are different. But still I would like to expose my boys to novels. Coz I love to read novels and so would love my kids to indulge in hearty discussion/sharing on what they have read. Novels reading has alot of benefits......especially on creative writing. That is what I have been brought up to in my younger days.

[phankao]

laughingcat:

Yes agreed that all kids' interest in reading are different. But still I would like to expose my boys to novels. Coz I love to read novels and so would love my kids to indulge in hearty discussion/sharing on what they have read. Novels reading has alot of benefits......especially on creative writing. That is what I have been brought up to in my younger days.

so what Chinese Novels r yr 2 boys interested in?

[tamarind]

Hi Brenda,

Thanks. The book looks interesting. I will go look for it.

pea:

Thanks Tamarind, for posting the audiobook links!

And Tamarind, though you say that your kids couldn't read before the age of three, look at how they accelerated after that!

The main thing is that you have cultivated the love of reading in them - that is a wonderful gift.

:celebrate:

pea,
You are right, my aim is to cultivate a love of reading both English and Chinese books. Their ability to read on their own also means that they are able to learn independently, which is what I want, because that means they don't need to bother me

teh_oh:

Hi Tamarind,
They said parents get better at parenting their younger child as they get more experienced. My firstborn read (English, can't say the same for Chinese :() at 6 years old and my secondborn reads at 4 years old. Statistically speaking, my next child has a high chance of reading at 2 years old.

Hi teh_oh,
Yes this is generally true.
However, in the case of my boy, he could not even recognize all the 26 letters of the alphabet at 3 years old, that is why I could not have taught him anything earlier even if I wanted to. I also have to think of more efficient methods to teach him, since he cannot focus as well as my girl.

markfch:

Not only did she cultivate the love of reading in her kids, she helped many parents - such as me - along the same process as well thru her blog. :celebrate:

Hi markfch,
Many thanks for your kind words. I feel encouraged to keep on blogging

laughingcat:

Guess what......I do the same amount and same techniques in the flashcards for my 2 kiddies and the outcome is very different. I did flashcards for my 2 boys when they were 1mth old and flashing both cards & DVD as well. My first born reads at 3yrs & 8 mth old and my 2nd born reads at 2 years old too (now reading P&J level 5 and swkd at bk 4). From this, I noticed that flashcards are more suitable for kids who are good at picture memory. That is my observation on my 2 kids.

Hi laughingcat,
You are absolutely right that the same techniques will have different outcomes on different children.
Parents need to adapt their teaching methods according to the abilities of the children.

[laughingcat]

phankao:

laughingcat:

Yes agreed that all kids' interest in reading are different. But still I would like to expose my boys to novels. Coz I love to read novels and so would love my kids to indulge in hearty discussion/sharing on what they have read. Novels reading has alot of benefits......especially on creative writing. That is what I have been brought up to in my younger days.

so what Chinese Novels r yr 2 boys interested in?

Both my boys like Martial Arts. So right now they are reading 西游记, which I borrowed from my cousin. I have also bought additional set for myself to keep, because they loved these books so much that they sleep with it. :love:

http://product.dangdang.com/product.aspx?product_id=9168296&ref=search-1-pub

Do you have any other recommendation?

[tamarind]

Dear all,

I have just included 2 new books in my blog :

狼王梦
http://product.dangdang.com/product.aspx?product_id=20690625&ref=order-2-A

斑羚飞渡
http://product.dangdang.com/product.aspx?product_id=20390902&ref=order-2-A

Here's the link to the long list of books in my blog :
http://tamarindvillage.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-to-raise-bilingual-child.html

狼王梦 and 斑羚飞渡, both by the author 沈石溪, are very well written and very exciting. These stories are about how animals survive in the wilderness. Highly recommended for upper primary students, very suitable for boys, though I think girls will be very interested in them too. If you want your kids to get high marks for HCL, these are must read books

沈石溪 books have even more challenging vocabulary compared to the 杨红樱 books. Kids who have read most of 杨红樱 books can progress to the 沈石溪 books.

I have 10 books of the 皮皮鲁 series by 郑渊洁. Each book is a collection of short stories. I read a few books, and I am quite shock to find some stories are really not suitable for primary school kids, though the books are written at a level that primary school kids can understand. These books are available in the library, I advise parents to pre-read each 皮皮鲁 book before you decide to let your child read it. This is my personal opinion only, I may be too conservative. I know that 郑渊洁 is a very popular author in China before 杨红樱. Now I understand why 杨红樱 has overtaken him to be the best-selling author in China.

My personal opinion is that the 郑渊洁 stories contain largely conversations, not enough descriptions. The writing style is very direct and straightforward. My feeling is that reading these books is not going to improve kids' compositions. Kids will benefit much more from reading the 杨红樱 and 沈石溪 books, and of course the excellent 窗边的小豆豆 and 佐贺的超级阿嬷 which are must read books for every child.

[tamarind]

Earlier, I mentioned that audio books can help kids of parents who are not good in reading Chinese.


I highly recommend this audio book which I bought from dangdang.com recently.

聆听经典·世界著名童话典藏系列：海的女儿（附光盘）
http://product.dangdang.com/product.aspx?product_id=20759110&ref=order-2-A

It comes with a CD containing MP3 files narrating all five stories in the book. The book is quite thick, with many beautiful colour pictures, and there are over 200 words on each page (no hanyu pinyin). The vocabulary is challenging enough for students up to P3. I listened to the MP3 files, and I find that the quality is very good.

The following are other audio books in the series. Each book includes five classic stories.
聆听经典·世界著名童话典藏系列：木偶奇遇记（附光盘）
http://product.dangdang.com/product.aspx?product_id=20759107

聆听经典·世界著名童话典藏系列：三只小猪（附光盘）
http://product.dangdang.com/product.aspx?product_id=20759108

I think these books are excellent for parents who cannot read, or have difficulty reading Chinese books with their kids, or simply have no time to read with their kids. The mandarin pronunciation is perfect. Parents can ask kids to read along as they listen to the CD.

I have also included these audio books in my blog :
http://tamarindvillage.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-to-raise-bilingual-child.html

[Brenda10]

tamarind:

Dear all,

I have just included 2 new books in my blog :

狼王梦
http://product.dangdang.com/product.aspx?product_id=20690625&ref=order-2-A

斑羚飞渡
http://product.dangdang.com/product.aspx?product_id=20390902&ref=order-2-A

Here's the link to the long list of books in my blog :
http://tamarindvillage.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-to-raise-bilingual-child.html

狼王梦 and 斑羚飞渡, both by the author 沈石溪, are very well written and very exciting. These stories are about how animals survive in the wilderness. Highly recommended for upper primary students, very suitable for boys, though I think girls will be very interested in them too. If you want your kids to get high marks for HCL, these are must read books

沈石溪 books have even more challenging vocabulary compared to the 杨红樱 books. Kids who have read most of 杨红樱 books can progress to the 沈石溪 books.

I have 10 books of the 皮皮鲁 series by 郑渊洁. Each book is a collection of short stories. I read a few books, and I am quite shock to find some stories are really not suitable for primary school kids, though the books are written at a level that primary school kids can understand. These books are available in the library, I advise parents to pre-read each 皮皮鲁 book before you decide to let your child read it. This is my personal opinion only, I may be too conservative. I know that 郑渊洁 is a very popular author in China before 杨红樱. Now I understand why 杨红樱 has overtaken him to be the best-selling author in China.

My personal opinion is that the 郑渊洁 stories contain largely conversations, not enough descriptions. The writing style is very direct and straightforward. My feeling is that reading these books is not going to improve kids' compositions. Kids will benefit much more from reading the 杨红樱 and 沈石溪 books, and of course the excellent 窗边的小豆豆 and 佐贺的超级阿嬷 which are must read books for every child.

Hi Tamarind

Thank you for sharing.

狼王梦 and 斑羚飞渡 look interesting to us, really too many books to buy lah. :lol:

[Brenda10]

Hi Tamarind



FYI, all along dd doesn't like 淘气包马小跳 series and perhaps the layout and printing is not as attractive as xiao mao ri ji. However, there is a new version of 马小跳 that was published in Jan 2011 which is very similar to xiao mao layout and I'm very surprise and happy that dd likes it and finish the following book this evening and urges to get in the rest.

The following is the outlook of this book:


http://product.dangdang.com/product.aspx?product_id=21024896

Now I'm trying to get in more.

[tamarind]

Dear all parents,

I also found this book with CD at dangdang.com.

唐诗 （附光盘）——快乐小学堂
http://product.dangdang.com/product.aspx?product_id=20779555

I bought this book from Popular a few years ago, it is an excellent book for teaching 唐诗 to children. It is well illustrated, and the CD contains 唐诗 songs which my girl likes to listen to.

I bought it for SGD9.90. It costs only RMB8.50 at dangdang. Now I know how much profit Popular is earning for each book.

There are many other books of classical literature in the series, like 弟子规, 论语, 三字经, etc, all comes with CD.