Learning Chinese (Primary/Preschool)

[Chenonceau]

I figured out a way to help my son in Chinese. I am not sure it'll work but am happy to share. Do share with me how you do it too. I'm kinda desperate.


Part 1: Starting Out
http://petunialee.blogspot.com/2010/12/reaching-tipping-point-for-chinese.html

Part 2: Getting Results
http://petunialee.blogspot.com/2011/01/reaching-tipping-point-for-chinese-part.html

Part 3: Reaching Tipping Point
http://petunialee.blogspot.com/2011/04/reaching-tipping-point-in-chinese-part.html

Part 4: Reaching Tipping Point
http://petunialee.blogspot.com/2011/09/reaching-tipping-point-for-chinese-part.html

Here is a blogpost written specially for Potato Parents and Potato Kids...
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/content/learning-chinese-potato-way

Part 5: Reaching Tipping Point
http://petunialee.blogspot.com/2011/11/reaching-tipping-point-for-chinese-part.html

Part 6: Reaching Tipping Point
http://petunialee.blogspot.com/2011/11/reaching-tipping-point-for-chinese-part_25.html

Part 7: Transiting from Potato Chinese(TM) to Composition Writing
http://petunialee.blogspot.sg/2012/07/potato-chinese-from-reciting-to-writing.html

Here is a reference for the Compendium of 1000 Chinese Compos from China. This is better than what I use because it is organized into different levels. P3. P4. P5. P6.


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

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

[tamarind]

The following are results for the students attending Berries :

93.9% scored A & A* in 2010 PSLE Chinese
83.6% got merit/dist. for higher Chinese

I strongly advise parents who cannot teach Chinese, to send their kids to well established enrichment classes like Berries. Let the experts do the teaching. If you are illiterate in Chinese, do not try to invent your own methods, it may be detrimental to your child.

An educational expert in China, author of the best selling \"Hao mama sheng guo hao lao shi\" (A good mother is better than a good teacher) book, wrote that the quality of these so-called model compositions are actually quite poor. She wrote that the publishers allowed parents to send in money to have their kids' compositions published in the books. The compositions do not have interesting vocabulary or good content, and it is pointless to read them.

The author also wrote that reading model compositions alone is not sufficient, because there are not many words in these compositions. In order for kids to do very well, they should be reading many long novels of hundreds of thousands of words.

The author raised a daughter who is brilliant in her academic studies. She attributed her daughter's success to reading large numbers of interesting Chinese novels.

Also read my blog about how kids from non-Chinese families can excel in Chinese :
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/content/learning-chinese-independently

There is a Teaching Chinese thread here with a lot more information :
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3878&start=1020

For parents who know Chinese, check out my blog :
http://tamarindvillage.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-to-raise-bilingual-child.html

[Chenonceau]

Tamarind… this is lovely. But I’m a bit late.


Chinese was Grandma’s domain. And she was terribly old style. She did everything you said not to. She made my son copy out words out of context and we got into long and frustrating (for me) discussions on how to teach Chinese… and she still did it her way.

My son is in Pri 4. He needs boot camp right now… and I hope that in 6 months, I can catch up on what I haven’t been doing right since he was 4. Grandma has been sacked and I have taken over and desperate is an understatement.

I am also handicapped that I am myself illiterate in Chinese. My 2nd language is French and had I been able to read Chinese I would have been abe to choose books and read with him. All this I cannot do. Ohhhh… I should have sacked Grandma years ago and come join this forum!! She has given Little Boy a phobia of Chinese!!

So… thanks for the resources you have linked me to. If you could share more on strategies for last minute catch up (since we have barely 2 years to PSLE) it would help me lots.

Nonetheless, the other thread and your blog is great. Thank you!!!

[tamarind]

Chenonceau,

P4 is not too late to catch up. Another parent, Brenda’s daughter is in P5, and she is doing very well. Do post in that thread and chat with us.

[dido]

Hi,


You may wish to try Children Arts Theatre in Kembangan. Both my 3 and 6 years old are there. They enjoyed Chinese very much. It is not academic but they try to establish a strong interest and foundation for the kids.

For 6 years old, it is 2 hours comprising of:

1) Reading a small passage incl individual reading to whole class, some handwriting (1/2hr)

2) Story Telling (1/2 hr)

3) Art & Craft (1/2 hr)

4) Word Games (1/2 hr)

As for 3 years old, it is 1.5 hrs. The fee is very reasonable. $30/lesson for 3 years old and $35/lesson for 6 years old.

There is trial lesson if you wish to give it a try.

Cheers

[Chenonceau]

Sure I will… let me slowly read through the other thread before I go and ask stupid questions that others have answered already. It’s a loooooong thread though…

[pixiedust]

Chenonceau,


Thanks for sharing ! Totally understand the lack of time and need for 'boot camp'. Our kids will be taking PSLE the same year ! I am also getting ds to memorise compos. It seems to be working as he is more confident and writes more fluidly. Of couse, the work is still far from 'stellar' and he gets many marks deducted for wrongly written words (one stroke less, one dot too many :stupid:) Please share with me too if you have more ideas and catch-up techniques.

For us, I realise after the SA2 exams, they went into R&R mode so the last 2 lessons of the 4B texts were not covered properly. I am trying to do some revision on those before term starts.

[jedamum]

pixiedust:

I am also getting ds to memorise compos. It seems to be working as he is more confident and writes more fluidly.

how to memorise compo when there are so many possible topics to be tested? :?

[tamarind]

Dear all parents,

Please read my blog :
http://tamarindvillage.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-to-raise-bilingual-child.html

Even though your kids are already over 10 years old, you can still read any of the excellent Chinese story books listed in my blog. The story books have a very high standard and may be challenging even to secondary school students.

Please remember that if you want your kids to do well in a subject, you should develop the love for the language, the best method is to read as many interesting story books as possible. I would advise you to let the child read at least 10000 words a week. It will become a very enjoyable experience if you choose good books. Both my kids often laugh when they are reading Chinese story books.

Memorizing compositions will only make kids think that they are \"forced\" to learn the language for the sole purpose of passing exams. They are going to hate the language in the future. I know many adults who are incompetent in Chinese even though they do well in Chinese up to A levels. One of my colleague who took higher Chinese in school, does not even recognize the Chinese word for soup when in China. He said that he hated Chinese and simply threw away everything after the exams. Remember that as parents, we should be concerned not only about getting good grades for exams. Being good at 2 languages, English and Chinese, are important life skills for our kids when they grow up.

I hope that parents do more research and find out what are the correct methods of teaching Chinese, instead of just focusing on how to get good grades in exams. I heard many parents complaining that Chinese is difficult to learn, that is because they have used the wrong methods. The fact is that if you use the correct methods, Chinese can be very fun and easy to learn.

Anyway, if you heard of students who memorize model essays and get high marks, that is because their foundation in Chinese is already very good. They could have already read tons of Chinese novels. That is why they can write so well. If your child's foundation is weak, memorizing essays is not going to help.

When I was in RGS, I was able to write Chinese essays effortlessly, and I often score the highest marks in class. I never memorized any essays. All I did was to read Chinese books extensively. I was crazy about Wu Xia novels back then and often read until pass midnight. The \"side effect\" was that I get very high marks and I only spent very little time studying the Chinese textbook.

[wonderm]

To share my experience. I used to think it is "horrible" to ask the kids to memorise compo. I still think it is more ideal to build a strong foundation in the language by reading widely and use the language in daily life as much as possible. However, when my DS1 was in P6 and when I saw the standard of his Chiinese compo, I started to change my mind and asked him to memorise some good phrases and a few good compo. The process of memorising is indeed very painful but I did not force him, just told him I know it is hard, but it would be good if he can do it. The purpose is not to cover all topics in the hope that he can "use" the same model compo in an exam. Instead, memorising helped him to be able to come up with more fluent sentences. Come DS2, I started the process earlier when he was half way through P5. Both of them had no Chinese tuition. DS1 got A and DS2 got A* for PSLE. Once we are over the hurdle of PSLE, I get the boys to read more Chinese books. In the long run, that is the better way to learn and appreciate the language.