Teaching Chinese at Home
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How to teach chinese at home - Preschoolers
My k1 dd just started her Berries lesson mid this year. And i really think that i have really started her late. While she can only recognise a few high-frequency used words, there are still many many words which she cant recognise at her berries level. I read somewhere that berries books are somewhat similar to Peter & Jane series. But there are just simply too many words that were already taught at prior levels that she has missed. And i am trying hard to figure out how to really teach her to recognise the words at home to help her catch up. i tried to drill her but this method is really not working out for both of us - we ended up in frustration at every lesson. So i must think of other way to make her learn in a more enjoyable way (if there is i hope!)... While it seemed teaching her Peter and Jane series a challenging job, this is even more challenging. While english more or less has a phonetic way to decode word, chinese words in Han is really really hard... sigh... HELP!!!!!
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Yong HL:
How to teach chinese at home - Preschoolers
My k1 dd just started her Berries lesson mid this year. And i really think that i have really started her late. While she can only recognise a few high-frequency used words, there are still many many words which she cant recognise at her berries level. I read somewhere that berries books are somewhat similar to Peter & Jane series. But there are just simply too many words that were already taught at prior levels that she has missed. And i am trying hard to figure out how to really teach her to recognise the words at home to help her catch up. i tried to drill her but this method is really not working out for both of us - we ended up in frustration at every lesson. So i must think of other way to make her learn in a more enjoyable way (if there is i hope!)... While it seemed teaching her Peter and Jane series a challenging job, this is even more challenging. While english more or less has a phonetic way to decode word, chinese words in Han is really really hard... sigh... HELP!!!!!
For Berries it is best to start a child no later than 4 years old. My boy started last year June in N2, he is coping very well now at K1.
Yes Berries books use the same method as Peter and Jane series, children learn a few new words every lesson, and these words build up since N2.
For the Peter and Jane series, it is very important to start from book 1a.
For Berries, you also need to start from the early N2 books. May be you can try to speak to the staff at Berries. They may be able to sell the N2 books to you.
If they don't sell to you, then look for the books \"Ji chu han zi\". I post the photos here :
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3878&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
These books use the same method as the Peter and Jane series, and book 1 starts from the very basic. -
schellen:
Ideally young kids should learn as many Chinese characters as possible before starting hypy, which is what the Berries class is doing. But when it comes to higher levels, hypy will help the child to read more advanced Chinese books and learn to read independently.
Of course cannot rely on hypy forever, especially for commonly used words but for my DD who started late, she is slowly gaining interest and a more positive attitude towards Chinese so I still find books with hypy for her. She has shown improvements in pronunciation and word recognition without hypy so hopefully when she reaches P2, she will be less reliant on hypy. -
Thanks Tamarind
I went to popular yesterday and got a copy of the Ji Chu Han Zi as recommended in your earlier post. But its a pity that they have only 1 book left. Will check out Union if they still have the whole series fingers crossed
I checked out with the staff at berries… they only allow purchase of 1 term down books from the level i hv started. So no point to get that i guess.
Do you teach english, chinese and even maths at home? And are you working? somehow i just feel time no enough… or am i just not planning effectively? … -
Yong HL:
I teach English and Maths at homeThanks Tamarind
I went to popular yesterday and got a copy of the Ji Chu Han Zi as recommended in your earlier post. But its a pity that they have only 1 book left. Will check out Union if they still have the whole series *fingers crossed*
I checked out with the staff at berries.. they only allow purchase of 1 term down books from the level i hv started. So no point to get that i guess.
Do you teach english, chinese and even maths at home? And are you working? somehow i just feel time no enough... or am i just not planning effectively? ............
For Chinese, the kids have been attending Berries since 4 years old. I don't have enough time to teach Chinese at home.
For English there are lots of learning materials. I only have to teach phonics (with help from Leapfrog DVDs), and let my kids read one page of the Ladybird Peter and Jane series everyday, total not more than 15 minutes everyday. These materials worked wonders for my kids. Because both of them are reading very well, they don't need any help to do their kindergarten homework. Spelling is also very easy for them, so I don't need to spend time on that.
I still have no idea how to teach my kids to read Chinese like that. I am planning to stop Berries class at K2 for both kids, and do the Chinese enrichment at home. That's why I started this thread to find better materials. I think Berries has the best teaching materials, too bad they don't sell them outside.
For Maths, I am not ambitious. I don't need my kids to be very good at mental calculation, I see no point in sending them to learn abacus, etc. Anyway kids can use the calculator from P5. I teach them maths once a week on weekends, about 20 minutes for each child. For my girl, who is now in K2, she already knows the four operators very well, I am teaching more advance concepts like algebra and fractions, but no drilling for her. My boy is learning addition and subtraction, drilling is needed for him. I got him Kumon workbooks to do at home, don't need to send for classes.
I actually don't spend much time teaching my kids, I am also a full time working mommy and it is difficult to find time. But for kids below the age of 6, about 30 minutes a day should be good enough, so long as they study consistently everyday, even on Sundays, public holidays and school holidays. There is no need for them to study a few hours a day at home. Kids at this age should spend most of their time playing
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Hello Tamarind
Thanks for sharing so much. I :salute: you. With full time work and coaching kids yourself seemed really super to me.
I need your advise. With my k1 dd only started berries last mid term & missed so many basic words from prior levels, u tink she can catch up? I asked the teacher and the teacher says it will be fine. i just have this feel that its gona be tough for her. I bought the ji-chu-han-zi u recommended - thinking i use it as my basic tool to help her recog simple words. Then i fear the more i drag berries, the tougher for her to catchup. sigh.
Time again is a factor. With languages on hand, i aint focusing too much on maths either. Just taught her simple addition and subtraction on single digits. Thinking of starting 2 digits soon and I havent teach her multiplication & division yet. And i am also thinking how best way to teach these 2 also. Did you make your kids memorise the tables by heart?
i totally agree with you that pre-school kids should spend time playing and shouldnt be loaded with too much study. Looks like i really have to sit down and plan a roster to follow.... hiaz... -
Yong HL:
Berries standard is actually very high. I don't think there is any kindergarten in Singapore that is teaching Chinese at this high standard. Since the Berries teacher say that it will be fine, that means your girl is progressing well in class, so you don't have to worry. You can try to let your girl practice reading the lesson of the week at least a few times every day, with enough practice she will catch up soon.Hello Tamarind
Thanks for sharing so much. I :salute: you. With full time work and coaching kids yourself seemed really super to me.
I need your advise. With my k1 dd only started berries last mid term & missed so many basic words from prior levels, u tink she can catch up? I asked the teacher and the teacher says it will be fine. i just have this feel that its gona be tough for her. I bought the ji-chu-han-zi u recommended - thinking i use it as my basic tool to help her recog simple words. Then i fear the more i drag berries, the tougher for her to catchup. sigh.
Time again is a factor. With languages on hand, i aint focusing too much on maths either. Just taught her simple addition and subtraction on single digits. Thinking of starting 2 digits soon and I havent teach her multiplication & division yet. And i am also thinking how best way to teach these 2 also. Did you make your kids memorise the tables by heart?
i totally agree with you that pre-school kids should spend time playing and shouldnt be loaded with too much study. Looks like i really have to sit down and plan a roster to follow.... hiaz...
My boy is only learning addition and subtraction now. I don't think I will start multiplication until he is very good at + and -. I do not make my girl memorize the mutliplication table by reciting it over and over again. I taught her the concept of multiplication. She can calculate and write out all the tables on her own. Then that is good enough for me. I don't expect my kids to be like the calculator. I only make sure that they understand the concepts of maths very well.
For example, my boy understands that addition is counting forward. I can ask him to +1, +2, etc to any number between 1 to 99 and he can give me the correct answer. That means he really understands the concept. It is OK even if he takes 5 seconds to give me the answer.
Yes having a teaching plan helps for busy mommies like us
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Good morning Tamarind
What early riser you are
I appreciate and will bear your advise in mind. I will just start a study plan and see how it goes. As for berries, i will just try read over the textbook few pages a day and just pray that she will catch up eventually. Of coz the most impt thing is not to lead the lessons to frustrations again...
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Charmaine_chong:
Hi Charmaine_chong,Hi mummies,
Yes. it is available in Malaysia.
Please see the samples. It uses the same theory as P&J.
http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=Pq5_hZJ
http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=Pq5_ktS
http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=Pq5_mZ0
http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=Pq5_pt9
Does your child enjoy the set you purchased?
I'm thinking of buying a set for my 5yo daughter, but not sure whether she will enjoy learning with it. -
RE: Multiplication
Don’t force them to memorise without teaching them the concept. Teach them the concept then practise with them till they memorise it. Can make it into a game (there are many free online games dealing with additiona, substraction, multiplication & division).
If your child has problems memorising after learning the concept, you can buy CDs with multiplication songs in them. Helps them to remember faster.
The best timing to introduce them to simple multiplication is mid K1 & by end K2, they should be able to recite the timetables (either through calculation or memorisation) from 1x1 - 1x10 till 5x1 - 5x10.
So far I found the ‘grouping method’ is the easiest for them to understand at that age.
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