Teaching Chinese at Home

[tamarind]

Serendipity:

Serendipity:

Been trying to coach DD on my own using Ji Chu Han Zi and SWKD. Glad to say that she's responding well and is learning new words. So I'm happy that there's a DIY way to help DD with word recognition, thanks to the tips from parents here!


I'm wondering though if I shld still send her for enrichment classes to help with the oral component. Cos she's not very willing to speak Mandarin to me and hubby. Only speaks her broken Mandarin to her grandfather, haha...

Any thoughts, everyone?

Hi Tamarind,

I understand your children don't really speak Mandarin at home. How did they manage to pick up speaking Mandarin fluently? I read from previous posts that they do well in their oral tests. Is it through your correction of their intonation while reading aloud?

My DD speaks Mandarin with an ang moh accent, though she's showing some slight improvement recently. Just wondering whether greater exposure through an enrichment class would be better, or if the reading aloud alone would do the trick of correcting her intonation?

Any thoughts?
Thanks much!

Hi Serendipity,
Yes my kids improve their oral skills mostly by reading out loud to me everyday. I always correct their intonation, now they speak just like me and I am often mistaken to be a mainland Chinese when I speak mandarin Each time they can read more than 1000 words out loud, my girl takes about 15-20 mins, my boy takes about 30-45 mins. Note that reading just a few sentences a day is not enough.

I also recommend the following methods :
1. Reading Chinese comic books like Doraemon and the Survival series because all the words are conversations
2. Watching Chinese cartoons like 喜羊羊 for 30 mins a day
3. Listen to Chinese audio books everyday. Look for the audio books in my blog :
http://tamarindvillage.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-to-raise-bilingual-child.html

If you are able to persist with the above methods, then personally I don't think it is necessary to send to enrichment class which is only once a week and will not be helpful. When your DD attends kindergarten and primary school, she will have Chinese lessons everyday and that will be good enough.

Of course the best method is to put a child with other kids or adults who do not speak a word of English. The child will feel a need to communicate using Mandarin, and this is the most effective method for her to learn to speak Mandarin.

[Brenda10]

Hi Tamarind


DD now is watching the Channel U show 画皮电视剧 at 7.30pm - 9.30pm on Saturday and Sunday. The show is really interesting and the Mandarin that they spoken are quite easy to understand.

The song is very nice and very romantic. :love:

[hquek]

Channel 855 is showing 楚汉交雄 (think my spelling is out) - I think it’s on weekends. Finally DS1 can watch (previously he was a bit young).

[Brenda10]

hquek:

Channel 855 is showing 楚汉交雄 (think my spelling is out) - I think it's on weekends. Finally DS1 can watch (previously he was a bit young).

Hi hquek

Thank you for sharing. Think should be 楚汉骄雄。

I had bought another verison 《楚汉风云》 but not time to watch yet.

[hquek]

Thanks Brenda10, I was thinking there’s something not right when i typed.

[Serendipity]

tamarind:

Hi Serendipity,
Yes my kids improve their oral skills mostly by reading out loud to me everyday. I always correct their intonation, now they speak just like me and I am often mistaken to be a mainland Chinese when I speak mandarin Each time they can read more than 1000 words out loud, my girl takes about 15-20 mins, my boy takes about 30-45 mins. Note that reading just a few sentences a day is not enough.

I also recommend the following methods :
1. Reading Chinese comic books like Doraemon and the Survival series because all the words are conversations
2. Watching Chinese cartoons like 喜羊羊 for 30 mins a day
3. Listen to Chinese audio books everyday. Look for the audio books in my blog :
http://tamarindvillage.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-to-raise-bilingual-child.html

If you are able to persist with the above methods, then personally I don't think it is necessary to send to enrichment class which is only once a week and will not be helpful. When your DD attends kindergarten and primary school, she will have Chinese lessons everyday and that will be good enough.

Of course the best method is to put a child with other kids or adults who do not speak a word of English. The child will feel a need to communicate using Mandarin, and this is the most effective method for her to learn to speak Mandarin.

Hi Tamarind,

Thanks for giving your opinion and recommendations! Where did you pick up your mainland Chinese accent from?

My DD has been attending childcare since 2.5yo and has had Chinese lessons in school but still not very effective i feel.

Recently i did note an improvement in her intonation. Not sure if it's a result of her reading aloud more often from Ji Chu Han Zi.

Okie, I'll bear your input above in mind and monitor her progress till Dec when her enrichment class term ends, and decide from then on. Hopefully the verdict will be that we can save the $$ from enrichment!

[tamarind]

Serendipity:

Where did you pick up your mainland Chinese accent from?

It is entirely through self learning. When I was in secondary school, I regularly checked the Chinese dictionary and made sure that I pronounced all the zh, chi, shi, etc correctly. I did this on my own initiative because I was very motivated to learn Chinese. Many Singaporeans speak Mandarin without the 翘舌音 or they get the words mixed up, so when they hear me speaking accurately, they thought that I am from China.

Even when I worked and traveled in China, I had no problem pretending to be a local. This is because China is very diverse and the people in every province speak with a different accent. I actually don't speak with a Beijing accent. People I met in China always guessed that I am from Guangzhou.

Actually both my kids attended Berries, once a week, since they were 4 years old. I only discovered the 四五快读 books when my girl has completed K2 in Berries. My kids' oral skills did not improve by attending Berries, in fact, the teacher kept telling me that I must speak more mandarin to them at home. I actually did not read Chinese books with my kids before K2. After my kids completed the 四五快读 books and continued to read Chinese story books out loud to me, their oral skills improved very quickly.

[MandyMummy]

Hi, parents, any good Chinese books (novels/short stories/poetry/comics) to recommend to 12/13 year old to read?

Thanks.

[Serendipity]

tamarind:

Actually both my kids attended Berries, once a week, since they were 4 years old. I only discovered the 四五快读 books when my girl has completed K2 in Berries. My kids' oral skills did not improve by attending Berries, in fact, the teacher kept telling me that I must speak more mandarin to them at home. I actually did not read Chinese books with my kids before K2. After my kids completed the 四五快读 books and continued to read Chinese story books out loud to me, their oral skills improved very quickly.

So the reading aloud did help more than the enrichment class! But I think your consistent efforts in getting them to read aloud is also key. :udawoman:

[tamarind]

MandyMummy:

Hi, parents, any good Chinese books (novels/short stories/poetry/comics) to recommend to 12/13 year old to read?

Thanks.

Hi MandyMummy,
I highly recommend books by 沈石溪.

最后一头战象
斑羚飞渡
狼王梦
黑熊舞蹈家

The standard of Chinese in his book is very high, probably about upper secondary level in Singapore. Some of his short stories are used in the textbooks for upper primary in China. His writing is superb, and his stories are breathtaking. He writes about animals and the cruel reality of survival in the wild. Though he writes minimum dialogue and mostly description, his stories are very fascinating and exciting. I think that his books are excellent for improving creative writing skills.

Another good author is 张之路 who writes highly imaginative stories. His books are easier to read compared to 沈石溪, but more difficult compared to 杨红樱. I have scanned some pages from one his book in my blog:

http://tamarindvillage.blogspot.com/2011/08/progressing-from-picture-books-to-long.html

For girls age 12 to 13, I highly recommend 魔女宅急便, a series of 5 novels. These books have inspired a wonderful 宮崎駿 movie but the original novels are absolutely delightful. It is about a 13 year old witch girl learning to live on her own and has to work to support herself.

Another must read book for both boys and girls are 佐贺的超级阿嬷.