Teaching Chinese at Home
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Brenda10:
Nowadays computer software is very intelligent. After you type one character, the software can guess what phrase you are writing, and put the next character high up in the list when you type the next word.
I am also quite slow as I need to think or seach through Besta for the HYPY. However, for the new generation like dd she can do it very much faster than me when she was using the computer to type out a compo. that require by her teacher as she is very familar with the use of HYPY. -
tamarind:
Errr.... I seriously don't think this was based on expert advice. They say it's ok cos boh pian, just a move towards practicality and sacrificing some stuff for the 'larger' good.
I think all the old style Chinese teachers will also get heart attackstoddles:
This is a very practical standpoint.
But I'm sure all the calligraphy 师傅 will get heart attacks when they read this.
Personally, I would try my best to make my kids love writing chinese characters. It's tough, but the result is gorgeous! I love reading long chinese letters from ethnic chinese (haha like we are not).... and trying to copy their script.
But MOE says it is OK, and we should trust them to have all the experts right tamarind:
yah, I guess it's just how yim4 jin1 we want to be... or how closely we want to stick to the straight and narrow... the traditional 'right' way... if the ends justify the means, then I suppose no one will ever be able to tell! until she does a live calligraphy demo, if ever.I never correct my girl's sequence of strokes, I don't even know whether she is writing correctly. But her Chinese words are beautiful since K1. In P1, her Chinese teacher was also very impressed by her handwriting.
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toddles:
Just to clarify, I am not saying that kids do not need to learn the correct sequence. But we should put character recognition, reading, and speaking at the top priority, make sure that kids are very good at these skills first.
yah, I guess it's just how yim4 jin1 we want to be... or how closely we want to stick to the straight and narrow... the traditional 'right' way... if the ends justify the means, then I suppose no one will ever be able to tell! until she does a live calligraphy demo, if ever.
Speaking is actually the most difficult part, and we should spend most of our effort perfecting it.
It is well proven that the traditional right way makes most kids hate Chinese, so better to take another more modern route. -
tamarind:
I thought speaking is the easiest... just watch enough mandarin TV hahaha...
Just to clarify, I am not saying that kids do not need to learn the correct sequence. But we should put character recognition, reading, and speaking at the top priority, make sure that kids are very good at these skills first.toddles:
yah, I guess it's just how yim4 jin1 we want to be... or how closely we want to stick to the straight and narrow... the traditional 'right' way... if the ends justify the means, then I suppose no one will ever be able to tell! until she does a live calligraphy demo, if ever.
Speaking is actually the most difficult part, and we should spend most of our effort perfecting it.
It is well proven that the traditional right way makes most kids hate Chinese, so better to take another more modern route.
i think speaking is so much easier to pick up for non-ethnic chinese who want to learn it. there are so many angmohs who speak fluently but cannot write or read at all. same for most languages (e.g. thai).
some of my peers started their kids on Tao shu... but I haven't researched it well enough to decide whether or not to start. It seems like the banana's quick fix to learning chinese. -
[quote]
Errr.... I seriously don't think this was based on expert advice. They say it's ok cos boh pian, just a move towards practicality and sacrificing some stuff for the 'larger' good. [/quote]I thought we should have trust in MOE right ? Even boh pian, their Chinese experts must also agree to it.
I just hope that they don't lower the standard of Chinese. I would rather that my child can read long Chinese novels at 7 years old, then be very good at Chinese handwriting but cannot read well. -
toddles:
For children who did not grow up speaking mandarin at home, speaking is most difficult. This is because they will think in English, then translate to Chinese, which is very ineffective. The brain really needs to process fast enough. So unless the child is very smart, he will struggle when he speaks.
I thought speaking is the easiest... just watch enough mandarin TV hahaha...
i think speaking is so much easier to pick up for non-ethnic chinese who want to learn it. there are so many angmohs who speak fluently but cannot write or read at all. same for most languages (e.g. thai).
some of my peers started their kids on Tao shu... but I haven't researched it well enough to decide whether or not to start. It seems like the banana's quick fix to learning chinese.
In order to speak Chinese very well, we must train kids to think in Chinese too. -
toddles:
Beg to differ. I had seen my classmates who can't speak chinese for nuts get A2 in O's becos they memorised cheng yu by the dozens and liberally peppered their essays with such - and btw, they failed their oral.
I thought speaking is the easiest... just watch enough mandarin TV hahaha...
i think speaking is so much easier to pick up for non-ethnic chinese who want to learn it. there are so many angmohs who speak fluently but cannot write or read at all. same for most languages (e.g. thai).
some of my peers started their kids on Tao shu... but I haven't researched it well enough to decide whether or not to start. It seems like the banana's quick fix to learning chinese. -
For parents who think that the sequence of strokes, or 笔顺 is important, just teach the kids these 7 rules will do :
笔顺的口诀有七点：自上而下，从左到右，先中间后左右，先横后竖，先撇后捺，先外后内，先进后关。
Don’t need to spend many years learning the proper strokes of every character. -
tamarind:
I thought we should have trust in MOE right ? Even boh pian, their Chinese experts must also agree to it.[quote]
Errr.... I seriously don't think this was based on expert advice. They say it's ok cos boh pian, just a move towards practicality and sacrificing some stuff for the 'larger' good.
I just hope that they don't lower the standard of Chinese. I would rather that my child can read long Chinese novels at 7 years old, then be very good at Chinese handwriting but cannot read well.[/quote]haha, I guess for a start I don't trust MOE!
the news report says that they cut the P3 and P4 syllabus by 10% (or was it more?). I guess there'll still be SAP schools and LEP (whatever they call it now) for those who can cope with higher standards of mandarin.
One thing I like is the translation course they have introduced in JC. Translation can be the forte of Singaporeans. And good translators/interpreters can make a lot of money on the side! -
tamarind:
that's a neat 口诀, but on this 先中间后左右, what kind of characters does it refer to? 竖 or perhaps 进 types?For parents who think that the sequence of strokes, or 笔顺 is important, just teach the kids these 7 rules will do :
笔顺的口诀有七点：自上而下，从左到右，先中间后左右，先横后竖，先撇后捺，先外后内，先进后关。
Don't need to spend many years learning the proper strokes of every character.
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