Learning Chinese (Primary/Preschool)

[tamarind]

I absolutely agree that Chinese tuition is not helpful, and if you get a bad teacher who makes the child memorize a lot of things, your child will end up hating Chinese. HeSheMe has given good advise about the ways to learn Chinese.


For young kids who are starting to learn Chinese, the easiest and most effective way is to make sure that he reads Chinese story books without hanyu pinyin every day for about 30 mins. Ask him to read every word out loud. This is also excellent for improving his oral skills. Even kids from English speaking families can excel in Chinese this way. This method is also good for primary school kids who cannot read chinese story books independently. When a child has read enough books outside of the textbooks, he will have no problems with Chinese.

Check out my blog for more information:
http://tamarindvillage.blogspot.com/2011/06/reading-long-chinese-novels-by-7-years.html

[MandyMummy]

课外阅读， 读书， 读好书 are ways to improve Chinese. Get your child to starting reading Chinese books apart from speaking and listening.

[metz]

inSing SuperDeals:

been trying to get my child to go for chinese tuition classes but its so tough! was wondering if anyone of you parents have this http://tiny.cc/p9yt9 and was it useful??

How old is your child? Depending on the age, your child may require different forms of help.

If you are a hands-on parent, the following two threads will give you some ideas on how to improve Chinese in various interesting ways. Though most of the sharing are by parents with kids in upper primary, you can still modify the ideas to suit your child's level. But bear in mind, they would require parents' active participation -

http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=17003

http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=68&t=20691 Some parents have provided feedback on the Creative Chinese tablet in this thread. More info can be found in http://www.playchinese.com/newsandevents/pedagogysystem.

If you are looking to outsource the teaching/guiding, then look up the various threads on Chinese enrichment centres for recommendations. Chiefkiasu has also shared his experience with one centre in http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/content/mother-and-educator.

For software that corresponds with the school textbook, try http://www.panpaceducation.com/contentview.aspx?article_id=17.

[tamarind]

MandyMummy:

课外阅读， 读书， 读好书 are ways to improve Chinese. Get your child to starting reading Chinese books apart from speaking and listening.

I totally agree. Whatever methods we use, we must be careful not to kill the interest of the kids. It is sad to hear so many kids hate Chinese because their parents use the wrong methods. The fact is that Chinese is a lot easier to learn compared to English, and it is entirely possible for kids to learn it in a fun and relaxing way.

[metz]

inSing SuperDeals:

been trying to get my child to go for chinese tuition classes but its so tough! was wondering if anyone of you parents have this http://tiny.cc/p9yt9 and was it useful??

I'm curious. Are you seriously trying to help your child improve Chinese? Or promoting your website?

Same thing with http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=27176.

For promotion, try to keep the posts in Market Place. Thanks!

[Chenonceau]

Reaching the Tipping Point for Chinese Part 5

http://petunialee.blogspot.com/2011/11/reaching-tipping-point-for-chinese-part.html

[Chenonceau]

Here is a reference for the Compendium of 1000 best compositions from China. This is better than what I am using because it is structured for different levels: P3. P4. P5. P6.


They're all difficult though... because at every level the PRC students do more difficult Chinese.

http://i40.tinypic.com/23jskmo.jpg\">

http://i44.tinypic.com/3elw5.jpg\">

[Chenonceau]

Every year, PRC publishers collate a new compendium. You don’t have to get exactly this. You can get the newest compendium instead. Mine is the 2010 one.

[pixiedust]

Chenonceau, wow ! Little Boy is rocketing ahead ! :rahrah:


I showed my boy your boot camp routine and his face collapsed. He exclaimed, \"What! wake up at 5.45am! 4 compos ! 2 compre! \" What to do, his mom can't help him be more motivated

but we'll continue to do what we can.
Look forward to continue reading about you and your boy's journey on learning Chinese.

:udawoman:

[Chenonceau]

Thanks Pixie!! All the best to you!! :rahrah: :rahrah:


Actually, if I had told my son last year that he would be processing 4 a day (as in http://petunialee.blogspot.com/2011/11/reaching-tipping-point-for-chinese-part.html), he would have freaked out too. Last year, I told him that he needed only to process 20 words at a time, and complete one compo a day only. This year, I realized he was done with one in 15 minutes... so I added 3 more. Kekekekeke!

The toughest part I think, is the first 15. You really get good by the time you get to 25. After 25, it starts to look easy. The first 15 were awful though. As long as you set targets that are achievable at first, then keep going... eventually it'll get to cruise point.