slmkhoo:

MintyMin:

hello slmkhoo,

DS problem is.. even if the story book has repetition words.. he still will forget the instance the sentence structure change and the word is no longer the 2nd word of the sentence.. eg:

我就给他一粒苹果。
The \"我就给他\" can be repeated in all pages.. and he will noe hw to read.. the moment they start with \"给他\" he duno how to read the 给他 liao..

Or if I teach him rows by rows, columns by columns.. he'll start remembering the sequence.. thereafter.. if the word appear in a book.. he will struggle to remember tat word.. :slapshead:

That's why I did the 'flashcard' approach and varied the sequence. With individual characters (no pictures, no context) and reading in a different order etc every day, my daughter was forced to recognise each character on its own. Give it a try - start with maybe 10 characters first and build up from there.

slmkhoo:

When my totally non-Chinese-speaking kid started school, I used the flashcard method for building her word recognition. I typed the characters on sheet of paper using big font (too lazy to actually do it on individual cards) and ran over them with her daily. As each new lesson was covered, I increased the no. of words. It only took about 10 mins a day to review and it really worked. To make it more 'fun', we would vary the sequence every day - sometimes we would read alternate words, or read columns instead of rows, or diagonals, or backwards, or I would let her quiz me (my Chinese was only slightly better than hers!).

ksi:

try Chinese comics and dvd cartoon to get him interested. 小叮当，喜羊羊, 蜡笔小新... At P1, he can still try the Wawayaya epad by Creative. It comes with interactive reading material and activities and can carry around like ipad, only lighter and has wawayaya's own content. Chief is doing an auction of this gadget later...

http://www.hansvision.com/en/products/images/pdtpage_wwyy_mainpad.jpg\">

You can read about the auction here:
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=13438&hilit=happy+birthday+ksp&start=140

MintyMin:

My ds is in P1 tis yr.. he also have difficulty in retaining the words he learn.. so far.. his bite size tests results has been ok.. but i find it challenging to teach him..


now he just started with chinese tuition at Just Education, and on the 1st lesson, the teacher commented that his can't even read words that has been taught in school b4 and if he can't read the simple words, he can't even do the worksheets that will be given to him during classes.. teacher told me to revise with him the words behind the chinese textbook.. we did it ytd.. n for that short 30mins.. i was practically 'screaming' at him.. sigh.. :sad: I dun wan him to hate chinese.. Where or wat else can we do to help?!

Gabby:

MrsSeah:

My son also have difficulty in chinese. He could remember all the tingxie and words. He has no problem when you break out the word for him to read. But when construct the chinese sentences, all his broken chinese come out. He could put 我们看戏今天。 He is P3 now and I just put him in Berries in January. Hope he could improve.


My P5 daughter has no problem in chinese before. She could get band 1 without any tuition all this while.

I have very little problem with my DS1 and personally I do like the Berries syllabus. However I realize it works well with the faster and brighter learners. My DS2 retains very little with the programme. However his oral improves greatly.

MrsSeah:

My son also have difficulty in chinese. He could remember all the tingxie and words. He has no problem when you break out the word for him to read. But when construct the chinese sentences, all his broken chinese come out. He could put 我们看戏今天。 He is P3 now and I just put him in Berries in January. Hope he could improve.


My P5 daughter has no problem in chinese before. She could get band 1 without any tuition all this while.

Picolo:

Please refer to one of my old post for more info:
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=75&t=854&start=180

Hope it helps.

Picolo:

august24,

My ds2 also has no problems with 听写, and getting 100 or close to it is not a problem if he is motivated to learn it before the test. However, he forgets the newly words very quickly too. He relies heavily on me to 'tell him stories' to help him remember the strokes, or break the Chinese character apart. The more dramatic/silly the story, the better he remembers. Eg. for a recently learnt word, 傻 (stupid)，I would tell him a story like: a person (一个人）is silly, that's why the radical is 人字旁, and because he is a 白痴 （dumb)， he always mistake the horizontal stroke in 白as x. he also has a moustache, which explains the 2 strokes 八 under ‘白\". As he keeps making silly mistakes, hence the word 又 （meaning again) at the bottom. But as the poor fella is 傻, even his 又 has an additional stroke. At the end of the story, the character 傻 is formed. The word was taught to him last week but he can still remember it effortlessly today.

In another word 猴，ds2 keeps forgetting the 人字 in the middle, so I remind him that although the monkey is an animal, he thinks he is a 人. After the explanation, ds2 forms a mental picture of the word and he has no problems remembering how to write the word now.

Picolo:

Gabby:

My son is in K2 now. I have been trying to build his foundation in English, Maths and Chinese when he was in Nursery. He has a big big problem recognizing Chinese characters. I can teach and teach and the next day, he can't recognize any. I have also put him in enrichment centres like speech and drama and Berries. He still cant recognise and retain the Zchinese characters he has learnt. I m feeling increasingly frustrated and stressed because he will be starting P1 next year.

Anyone know what or whom I can turn to for help?

My ds2 has the same problem. He is in P4 now. He did well at P1 & P2 Chinese level as it was still relatively easy to score as questions were predictable. But in P3, his Chinese score dropped to Band 3 (more than 20 marks' drop) level while the other subjects still maintained at Band 1 standard. This sharp fall is worrisome as the standard will only go much higher at upper primary level.

I suspect your son has the same problem as mine who has pictorial memory issue. My ds2 attended Berries at K1 & K2 but it was a waste of time as he couldn't remember any of the new words learnt, despite repetition and revision. Hence I pulled him out from Berries at end of K2. My suggestion to you is you can teach your son radicals and how they can combine with the various possible parts to form new Chinese characters first. I believe if he has a strong foundation in this, he will be able to learn faster. Such kids need the linking method to learn faster. It is sometimes frustrating to see the improvements only gradually, but with some trial and error, you should be able to guide your child effectively. Another thing I've found is, for such children, 1-1 guidance is necessary. So, please be patient and be the learning companion with you son. I find pleasure in encouraging my ds2 in his Chinese work, and the CL teachers in school are very supportive in his learning journey despite the fact that his Chinese is way below average and his handwriting is atrocious. Although he is bad at Chinese, he doesn't hate it and he never gives up. Perhaps it's a way for him to learn to be resilient.

Please refer to one of my old post for more info:
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=75&t=854&start=180

Hope it helps.

ksi:

Gabby:

My son is in K2 now. I have been trying to build his foundation in English, Maths and Chinese when he was in Nursery. He has a big big problem recognizing Chinese characters. I can teach and teach and the next day, he can't recognize any. I have also put him in enrichment centres like speech and drama and Berries. He still cant recognise and retain the Zchinese characters he has learnt. I m feeling increasingly frustrated and stressed because he will be starting P1 next year.

Anyone know what or whom I can turn to for help?

Hi， there is a fun way to introduce to him how Chinese characters are formed. Perhaps after showing him this video clip, you can whet his appetite in learning to remember the characters. Of course not all Chinese characters are formed from pictures so clearly but if this idea can make him love Chinese better, it will help him to learn from here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Le5keBiZa9s

Actually I really love the Chinese language because of this.

Gabby:

My son is in K2 now. I have been trying to build his foundation in English, Maths and Chinese when he was in Nursery. He has a big big problem recognizing Chinese characters. I can teach and teach and the next day, he can't recognize any. I have also put him in enrichment centres like speech and drama and Berries. He still cant recognise and retain the Zchinese characters he has learnt. I m feeling increasingly frustrated and stressed because he will be starting P1 next year.


Anyone know what or whom I can turn to for help?

Gabby:

My son is in K2 now. I have been trying to build his foundation in English, Maths and Chinese when he was in Nursery. He has a big big problem recognizing Chinese characters. I can teach and teach and the next day, he can't recognize any. I have also put him in enrichment centres like speech and drama and Berries. He still cant recognise and retain the Zchinese characters he has learnt. I m feeling increasingly frustrated and stressed because he will be starting P1 next year.


Anyone know what or whom I can turn to for help?