porcupine12trade:

paiseh, what is yoyoTV? my kids do not watch much TV except for Disney playhse (i switch to chinese option where possible) and gosh...爱!!! when my parents watch in the evening. But I try to minimise their TV time. It worked on #1, she loves reading now, and refuse to watch TV even when I find the prog is beneficial for her, she just refuse to watch as long as she has a book with her. #2 n 3 still love TV more than book loh. so i try to cut cut cut TV time

The video you showed seems familiar, did you try popular bkstore? There is no lyrics, so the kid got to hv good listening skills, which i think is important too

yoyoTV is on MIO TV, channel 26. A taiwanese kids program, not too bad except in the afternoons, they keep showing a teach kids english segment. Defeats the purpose of letting my kid watch chinese programs... -_-

I have now switched to 说说唱唱 series and 喜羊羊与灰太狼. (Many thanks to phankao for the introduction to 说说唱唱 series. Its awesome!)

Reading is good, imho. If your no. 1 likes to read english books, encourage her to do so.

Depending on her age, it depends on how you want to approach the matter. Buy a karaoke set and sing chinese songs? Or maybe enrolling her in an activity where pple mostly speak chinese... Chinese dance?

Ultimately, if its just to get good grades, lots of practise i guess... Afterall, return on time investment is important. Chinese is not the only subject that a child needs to focus on.

@keltong: bro, my kids chinese not good at all. he doesn't really speak full sentences. i think berries introduce about 3-4 idioms per term so just apply the idioms when the opportunity arises. Quite amazing how fast they pick up. lucky our kids still within that golden window of 3-6 yrs old... Our counterparts in china/taiwan are really way ahead of us. i think this is like the gold standard to aim for. nearly fainted when i saw this...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzGr3DJvW1I&feature=related

@porcupine12trade: My kid has been watching yoyoTV for about 1 year. he loves 虹猫蓝兔七侠传. Its like a cartoon wuxia. He doesn't speak much cus we didn't speak mandarin at home (trying to switch). BUT i can guarantee he understands a lot of mandarin. Sometimes, we talk in chinese about him and assume he does not understand. he actually does, and its very noticeable this last six months. what i am trying to say is that they probably understand a lot more than what we think. Also, cartoons build up interest mah.

I came across this youtube on Tang poetry cartoons. hoping if any parents out there know if these sort of cartoons exist and where to purchase. i think they will be very useful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snp7MyusKPc&NR=1

Tamarind and fellow parents,


Thank you for all the valuable information contained in this enormous thread. I really found it very beneficial and motivating. So much so that I went into dangdang.com and bought a whole bunch of books and dvds! My first time doing ecommerce on a chinese site! Wooo!
:celebrate:

My son is four and is attending Berries K1. Initially, the teacher told us that his standard is not high enough and N2 would be more suitable. But we put in a lot of effort and his teacher said he has improved a lot. Just the other day, he used the phrase \"车水马龙“ to describe a traffic jam.

Things that have worked:
Spending time every day reading chinese to him
Only watching chinese programs on TV

After getting some ideas from this thread, my plan is to
1) Use Sage books to build up his base
2) Ordered 四五快读 from dangdang.com but expect it by April?
3) Let him watch 虹猫蓝兔七侠传 (he loves this series) and 喜羊羊与灰太狼 (heard good reviews) during his TV time.

I am not so sure about getting too many books now as I suspect there might not be all that much time in a day to squeeze all this in. I have first hand experience with Sage and think that going through one lesson a day would be enough. (kid loses concentration quite fast. 15 mins usually, rarely 30 mins).

What do you all think of this plan?

I decided to enrol my kid into the Berries K1 class based on the teachers comment that whether I send him to nursery or K1 class, makes no difference if we do not teach him at home.


I \"think\" I see some improvement. Mainly its because we are far more conscious about speaking to him in mandarin at home now. But it takes effort and hopefully we can keep it up.

Kid learn chinese, parents also have to go along :lol:

Hi there,


I have an only child and he is 4 years old. I discovered this forum some years ago but only decided to get more active since he is now older.

We are staying in Jurong East and would love to be able to get a playgroup going in the evenings, preferably monday. I think it will help his social skills in term of sharing and communicating.

Parenting philosophy have constantly evolved eversince he was born. From wanting him to be the biggest and best in his batch (sounds a factory manager :oops: ), things have mellowed to just wanting my DS to be a happy, healthy kid who is well adjusted.

Feel free to PM me so we can do a playgroup outing and also discuss how we can be better parents for our kids.

Please include me in your club.


Daddybear/DS (Dec 06)/Crossfit, investments, food, being a proper Dad

Hi all,


I just sent my 4 year old son to a Berries trial class and the teacher recommended that he goes to the nursery class as he does not seem to understand most of what she says.

1) Should I send him to to the Berries nursery class?... (he actually attended 3 terms of chinese) during his nursery year
2) Send him to Berries K1 class and put him through intensive chinese at home. Hoping he will catch up
3) Do a dual class, attend both Nursery and K1 chinese.

Other questions would be what do you do to encourage your children to speak chinese at home?

Currently, the only shows I allow him to watch are chinese education shows like YoYo TV. I have tried to speak in chinese to him but he tells me he is an english boy and does not understand chinese...
:stupid:

Just wondering how others cope and address this issue...