Bi-lingualism at school a mistake ?

[3Boys]

tamarind:

I myself also struggled with English all the way until I was 18 years old, but I did not complain non-stop that English is difficult to learn..

There is a difference between the 2 in the Singapore context, and your experience is proof positive. Someone in the reverse situation, of similar abiliites, would not have fared so easily. That is something the Chinese speaking camp cannot come to grips with, but thankfully MOE has.

tamarind:

Let's not lament about the past anymore.

Agreed

[cafelatte]

Very interesting debate here ! I am encouraged to see parents of KSP can disagree with each other with respect and courtesy!


Tamarind, I agree with many of the points you raised. My personal view, Chinese is a more difficult language to learn - it requires more focus, memory work and reasonably good penmanship. The learning curve is steep and new learners (if not motivated or encouraged) can "lose steam" very quickly.

Anyway, I am butting in here just to say that if anyone has concrete ways or experience to share about learning Chinese in effective & fun way, to arouse interest in the language, please share in the academic or support sections. The way I see it, we, the parents have a big role to play in that. So far, my child’s chinese school teachers do not seem to be able to do that - perhaps due to lack of resources.

[ruolei]

[quote]We must also read interesting Chinese story books to them, like short stories taken from the 4 great classical novels, especially 西游记, as well as 封神榜, 山海经， etc, and true stories from the history of China. These are very fascinating to kids, much better than Disney cartoons [/quote]
I totally agree with this. Children like 西游记very much, just as they like Harry Potter! They just need you (teachers or parents) to introduce these magical stories to them.

[kiasimom]

I try to get my children interested by finding out what can arouse their interests.


My children enjoy watching 封神榜 and have picked out chinese idioms from the show.

I also let my children watch the Chinese drama they like.

The key elements to learning a language is:

1. Listen
2. Speak
3. Read

In fact, my children watch more Chinese programmes at home. They are exposed to English most of the time, that’s why back home, they will watch more Chinese programmes.

I try to get them to speak Mandarin by taking the initiative to speak to them in Mandarin.

Kids are smart.
My children speak Mandarin to my parents as they know my parents cannot speak English well. In a way, they are "forced" to speak in Mandarin if they want to communicate with my parents.

[mathsparks]

Ermmm insider, I’ll protest definitely. home wreckers come to mind. You know how many pot-bellied ah peks I’ve seen often in east coast park…sneaking behind their wives.


I won’t even hire a mynmar maid, in case, she gets along too well with my mil.

[mathsparks]

insider:

I am confident to be able to find many decent Chinese girls (mostly not from major cities and so yet to be 'polluted'). Those who are home wreckers are the rotten ones. Still have many many good ones there... (their P6 Chinese can anytime hatam our O level A1 student...)

But of course. that's true. and our P6 English can anytime hamtam their secondary students. hmmm. since they dont take o or a levels, what do you call their equivalent?

[mathsparks]

:oops:

[kiasimom]

My children had one to one tuition with a Native china teacher.

I specifically asked for native teacher so that they can be taught the pure chinese not the spore type of mixed chinese.

Both my children had a good headstart.

Once the foundation is there, it is easier to carry on.

[mathsparks]

Good for you, kiasimom. It’s difficult to find good and highly recommended tutors among your peers; coz ppl are generally selfish as in…why should I recommend you, your child beat mine then how? Or if tutor prefer to go to yr place instead of mine, then how? cham liao.

[kiasimom]

mathsparks:

Good for you, kiasimom. It's difficult to find good and highly recommended tutors among your peers; coz ppl are generally selfish as in..why should I recommend you, your child beat mine then how? Or if tutor prefer to go to yr place instead of mine, then how? cham liao.

Hi mathspark,

I won't mind recommending mine. Each child has different calibre.
What goes around comes around