Teaching Chinese at Home

[tamarind]

ccgoh:

My youngest refuses to touch chinese books, I am at a loss. Next year she will be in P1 and I do not want her to fall behind. Anyone knows how to interest an extremely reluctant reader?

Hi ccgoh,
Don't worry, my girl also did not read Chinese story books at K2, but by the end of P1, she was reading Chinese novels.

The best way to encourage a reluctant reader to read, is to ask her to read every word out loud to you for at least 30 minutes everyday. A child does not like to read Chinese books because there are many words that she does not know how to read. That affects her understanding of the story, and she loses interest very quickly.

When you ask the child to read out loud to you, you can help her with words that she cannot read. As she reads everyday, she will encounter the same words over and over again, by the 10th to 20th time, the words will sink into her long term memory. She will gain confidence and she will develop a love for chinese books.

Parents should not expect children to pick up Chinese books to read on their own. If you leave the child to read a book silently, it is very unlikely for her to ask you every word that she does not know, because it is too troublesome to do so, and as a result the child's standard of Chinese will not improve. There is no way for a child to accurately guess how a Chinese word should be read, every Chinese word must be taught by an adult. If you train her to read out loud to you and help her with words that she cannot read, she will improve very quickly.

[tamarind]

micollh:

jst to updates.. DD finishes her 5 books of ji chu han zhi.. now we are into first book of second level.. and i start to borrow short story books with few words in a page for her to read, she can read most of the words for her level.. one day one words really works for me and DD.. hope she is benefiting from this process

Hi micollh,
That is excellent progress

You need to persist and complete all the stages. Currently only 4 stages, total 20 books are available at Popular bookshop. I hope that they can bring in stage 5. Ji Chu Han Zi is a very easy and straightforward way of learning to read in Chinese. After you have completed the 4 or 5 stages, you need to continue to ask your DD to read out loud from Chinese story books. Start with picture books then move on to simple chapter books, then to novels.

When a child is able to read Chinese books independently, she will not need to spend any time learning Chinese in school

[tamarind]

MandyMummy:

tamarind:

[quote=\"MandyMummy\"]
:thankyou: Tamarind, you are a wealth of information. Thanks for taking time to type out your recommended books. I'll be sure to check it out on dangdang and the NLB.
If I come across good books, I will come back and share.

Hi MandyMummy,
I am looking forward to your sharing I intend to expand my home library now that I am moving to a bigger place

Just to share. My ds enjoyed reading 杨红樱非常校园系列 which includes

非常男生
非常老师
非常妈妈
非常爸爸
非常小男生和小女生

He hasn't read 非常搭档 and 非常事件 yet.
http://i53.tinypic.com/ve8xon.jpg\">
http://i54.tinypic.com/s2bolz.jpg\">[/quote]Hi MandyMummy,
Thanks for sharing. I am definitely going to add these books to my home library.

[tamarind]

MyMooMoo:

Hi Tamarind,


Can I teach DS who is 25 months old this month to read 基础汉字 500 ? If not, what do you suggest that I can teach him for chinese. Im very poor in my language. Therefore, it would be the last thing that I want DS to be like me. TIA:)

Hi MyMooMoo,
It depends on whether your child is ready to recognize words. Every child is different, you should progress at a pace that suits your child.

It is fine for you to try. The first few pages of 基础汉字 book 1 is very easy, check my blog:
http://tamarindvillage.blogspot.com/2009/12/basic-chinese-500.html

Remember that you should not read every word to your DS. You should read only the new words and let him try to recall words that you have taught before. On the first page, point to 山, and read the word. On the next page, point to 高, and read 高, but don't read 山, ask your DS to read it. If he can read 山, that means he is ready. If he is not paying attention, then you should probably start when he is 3 or 4 years old. It is no advisable to make a 2 year old child learn to read if he is not ready.

At your DS age I advise you to let him watch Chinese cartoons like 喜羊羊 or Chinese versions of Disney DVDs which are excellent for developing listening comprehension in Chinese. Limit the cartoons to less than 1 hour a day. Young kids learn very quickly by simply watching and listening.

[tamarind]

michyms:

Breadandmuffins, would it help if you reward him for reading Chinese books? I am going through Si Wu Kuai Du and Ji Chu Han Zi with my K2 girl, and at the same time I am getting her to read one Chinese book out loud every evening. For every Chinese book she reads, she collects 1 sticker. After 10 stickers, she gets a treat. It's working well, because she is the one reminding me its time to read Chinese book :rahrah:

Hi michyms,
I reward my kids for every book that they finished reading too Otherwise they don't get anything from me.

[tamarind]

Bluepanda:

Dear Parents,

Does anyone know how I should read this word \"地\" in this sentence?

我要好好地爱我的妈妈。

Should it be read as \"di\" or \"de\"? Many thanks in advance.

- Bluepanda

It should be read as de.

[tamarind]

Breadandmuffins:

hi michyms

Thank you for yr reply. My DS not into any form of rewards as I dont normally give rewards for academic aspect. My DD on the other hand likes stickers as a reward. I find that the si wu kuai do should be done before primary school like what u are doing for yr DD. If any, boys at this age would want to play computer games as a reward!

Hi Breadandmuffins,
For your DS, you can refer to my reply to ccgoh. As I wrote above, a child does not like to read Chinese books because they don't know how to read most of the words and they lose interest quickly. It is essential for parents to read with the child, no matter what age, in order to help them improve.

Look for 小男生杜歌飞, 没有尾巴的狼, 亲爱的笨笨猪 by 杨红樱. These books are quite easy to read, the stories are long and complicated enough for a P3 kid, and they are great fun to read out loud.

[Bluepanda]

tamarind:

Bluepanda:

Dear Parents,

Does anyone know how I should read this word \"地\" in this sentence?

我要好好地爱我的妈妈。

Should it be read as \"di\" or \"de\"? Many thanks in advance.

- Bluepanda

It should be read as de.

Thank you very much for your reply, Tamarind!

[tamarind]

Hi Bluepanda,

You are welcome !

[Dinah]

Hi Tamarind,


The info and tips you share are very useful and encouraging!

For a while, I ran out of both Eng and Chinese book titles to recommend to my gals for reading. But after reading what you and Brenda10 wrote, I’m pleasantly surprised that there are many more titles (esp the Chinese ones) suitable for my gals!

My gals (P1 and K2) are interested readers (both Eng and Chinese but interest is more inclined towards Eng though). But somehow, I find that they tend to read without real understanding of certain sentence structures and new words. What I had hoped is, through reading, they’d be able to pick up good sentence structures and words, and apply them in their writing/picture conversation. Do you experience the same "problem" with your kids when they are at P1/P2 level? Do you make your kids start a "Word Bank" book, check the meanings of the new words and write them down in this book? Or am I expecting too much?

Can you share any tips in coaching your kids in picture conversation? I do feel that reading (and of course daily interactions and conversations) does help in picture conversation/oral as I do observe that my P1 gal is able to establish better linkage between the things happening in the picture after she progresses to story books for 7-8 years old (eg: Wishing Chair by Blyton, Fairies series by Meadows, Diary of Wimpy Kids, Horrid Henry etc).