Choosing a Chinese Enrichment Centre

Dumpling used to head off to my parents' place after school on some days but that changed with her staying back in the school for an average of 3 times a week because of extra classes and CCA. Hence the exposure to Chinese language has been greatly cut down since that's my parents' mode of communication with her. 

And like many other parents, I find Chinese a harder subject to crack and to support in, which explains why I did Chinese immersion for her from 18 months to her Kindergarten years and where we did a lot of  Chinese homelearning too. However, as she progresses on in school, and with me having started a new job earlier this year, I find the lack of time and the lack of teaching materials a challenge in effectively supporting her in this area. More than that, there are also quite a few elements to exams: Learning Comprehension, Composition, Oral, Paper 2 (which includes *gasp* comprehension and 便条).

We tried a Chinese tutor for a good couple of months but unfortunately, because of health issues, she could not teach Dumpling any more. That started a mad rush for me where I had to look for alternatives i.e. enrichment centre. 

With school (and semester 2) restarting in a week's time, how do you then choose a centre for your child and what are the things to look out for? Here, I share some tips and my thought processes. 

(Source)

1. Distance 
In all honesty, this ranks at the top of my list because choosing a centre usually is decision that will "last" over a few years. 

The closer the centre is to your home or to your child's school, the less tiring it is for all of you. And you will realise the importance as your child goes into Upper Primary because time is really a constraint with them staying back in school for so many days. You will also need to factor in the travelling time too. 


2. Teachers / Environment  
Chinese is already a hard language to master so to me, having encouraging teachers is very important. Dumpling was previously with another enrichment centre and while the workload was really heavy, the teachers she had there were really nice and always had words of encouragement. 

There were days where Dumpling could not finish the compositions in time and the teachers did not mind and allowed Dumpling to continue on, even after the lesson has ended. I feel that this contributed to Dumping's "openness towards this language" because her experiences with these teachers have always been good. 


3. Curriculum / Gaps you wish to tackle
While the syllabus is set by MOE, different centres have their own curriculum where they plan for their lessons and design their worksheets differently. Even elements in their worksheets differ in focus an in intensity. Additionally, the length of the sessions and what are being covered in the lessons differ too. 

To elaborate, some centres run 2-hour programmes as well as a 3-hour programme. The 2 hour programmes usually come in these sort of combinations:

- Paper 2 components (Vocab + words from textbooks as well as comprehension)
- Composition + Oral format 
- Composition + Oral + Comprehension 

Now, you may ask how it is that some centres are able to cover composition + oral + comprehension while another is not able to. This is where you will need to call and do a bit of "homework". 

Honestly, it is hard for these centres to cover all these components in a 2-hour class so some centres may cover comprehension but they are the MCQ versions and then they pair it with composition; they will then do an Open-Ended Comprehension with Oral the following week. Other centres may do a full paper 2 and pair it with Oral before alternating with Composition the following week. So you will need to think and decide if for e.g. you prefer weekly compositions or you are for e.g. fine with 3 per term. 

You will also need to understand your child's schedule - is he / she able to complete the homework given by these centres:

• do they have time to learn extra Ting Xie and Mo Xie words
• do corrections
• even work on the compositions from home 

I have some friends who prefer to let the enrichment centres support in just composition and oral while they work to support the child on the paper 2 components at home, on their own. Then, there are also centres that run a 3-hour programme where it is "all-in-one" ~ paper 2 components, composition and oral. 

More importantly, based on your child's recent SA1 papers, you will need to identify what the areas of improvement are. If your child seems to be weaker in composition, then you may not quite need to do the paper 2 components but focus your time and resources in choosing a centre that offers just composition support. 


4. Home and centre partnership 
It takes a village to raise a child and having a good partnership with your child's teacher is really important. In some trials / holiday workshops with some of the centres, I often ask for feedback and this allows me to gauge 2 things:

- How quick the centres reply with feedback 
- How insightful their observations are 

More importantly, when the teachers share areas which Dumpling needs improvement on, I'd often turn it around and ask them back ~ " How are you able to support her in that area then? What are your strategies and what will be your recommendations?" 



5. Slots availability and fees 
These 2 factors are pretty self explanatory ~ with Dumpling staying back in school so often, it is a challenge to be able to look for a class that suits her timetable so that took a bit of calling and checking too. Additionally, there's the question of fees of course. 

So far, based on my calls, most of these centres charge around $20+ per hour for group sessions (if you were to break the fees down by per term and then by per hour) but of course, there are some who charge a more premium fee. So it will be good for you to call and ask to see the materials and understand the justification in these places charging for a premium. 

I hope the sharing is useful and here's wishing you good luck in your search and in the upcoming Semester 2!

I have previously written a post on nurturing a love for the Chinese language before and you can read more about it here:

Part 1: Read Read Read (books of a different kind)
Part 2: Speak it, Use it!
Part 3: Watch it!

Part 4: Play It! 

Part 5: Write it! (小书 Small Book) 

Looking for more sharing on the Chinese syllabus, I recently interviewed a friend who is an MOE Primary School Chinese teacher on Chinese Composition which you can read about here too. 

If you have enjoyed this post, please follow me on my Facebook Page where I share my parenting thoughts, food photos (be prepared for tons of them!), early shout outs for giveaways and interact with you, my readers! You can also follow me on Pinterest and Instagram!  

REVIEW: Little Red Hood 小红帽

Little Red Riding Hood is certainly a familiar tale in many households being as well known as it is. But watching it in Mandarin and with some modern twists to the story? That’s certainly something of a different experience which the kiddo and I had a chance to preview, 2 weekends back!  

:: The story

The play starts with Little Red’s family running a cake business – 甜心蛋糕屋. Business was thriving and the family, happy. Little Red’s father would deliver cakes to “Grandma” from time to time until one day, Little Red’s father did not return after leaving one such afternoon and this is where the adventure unfolds…

Little Red was well played as the actress exuded the same sense curiosity and the bubbly personality I’d imagine the storybook character to have. Along the way, she met Wolf (好狼, who pretended to be kind) and later, Woodcutter. Like the story, Little Red unwittingly gave away Grandma’s address to the cunning wolf. However, unlike the original story, the woodcutter is a bit “Dory-like” (as Dumpling puts it) because he seems to have short term memory loss hence he brings along a HUGE journal which he documents people he met and experiences he had along the way as a reference point.

The play had many funny and interactive moments which had the audiences shouting away. The wolf, though sly, did not appear scary but instead, I found myself laughing at his antics (and his smooth dance moves I must add ~ just look at the photo below!)

The story becomes interesting as we see an unlikely hero in Woodcutter when he and Red pair up to save the day… So what happened to Grandma and who, exactly was the wolf?

:: What we like about the play

Compared with Nightingale, this Mandarin play I feel; is a lot more suitable for younger children. Perhaps it is because it is such a popular fairy that it is easily understood even with younger children. As the entire play is in Mandarin, it is a good way for children to grasp and be exposed to the language in a fun and interactive manner. The songs were quite catchy and the famous lines were also translated "smoothly" to Mandarin which had the children in the rows in front of me, repeating them. 

Idioms and "strong" vocabulary were used during the play (一落千丈、吃盐多过吃米), which I feel, for the older children such as Dumpling who is in Primary 3 this year would gave them a more in-depth perspective on how these 成语/好词好句 can be used in her descriptions and compositions. 

I got Dumpling to add on her thoughts in Chinese for this review too:

“我觉得这部戏剧很有趣也很好笑。老狼这个角色扮演得很真实。这个故事教了我们应该听父母的话，不应该和陌生人谈天也不要太容易相信他们。”

Keen to catch the play and introduce Mandarin to your children in a fun way? Here's the event details:

Event Date

Thu, 20 Jul - Fri, 1 Sep 2017

Weekdays: 10am
Weekend & Public Holiday: 11am & 2pm
 

Venue

KC Arts Centre - Home of SRT

You can purchase tickets here

Disclaimer: We were invited to watch the play by Singapore Repertory Theatre so that we can give our opinions on it. We are not compensated for the post. All opinions expressed are entirely ours.

If you have enjoyed this post, please follow me on my Facebook Page where I share my parenting thoughts, food photos (be prepared for tons of them!), early shout outs for giveaways and interact with you, my readers! You can also follow me on Pinterest and Instagram!  

Primary One: Learning about the Chinese Curriculum

Chinese is a language which I have been openly anal about since Dumpling was young. While we homeschooled on the rest of the subjects, Dumpling attended a Full Chinese Immersion daily classes during her preschool years but I did work with her on various activities at home for Chinese to further cement the foundation. 

Then lo and behold, MOE announced a change in the Mother Tongue syllabus for Dumpling’s batch during late 2014 where the focus is for our children to be active learners and proficient of the language. Hence with that, came brand new textbooks, workbooks and flashcards.

I noted some differences between the old syllabus and this new one. 

:: Meaningful topical approach
A flip through the book shows that the content is meant to be something relate-able and using topical approach on everyday topics.

This comparing to the old syllabus (see bottom half of the photo) where the topics are not something that is meaningful or useful for the children. 

:: More words

A quick comparison between the old versus the new one seems to suggest that new syllabus covers more words.

Below is the 生字表 comparing the words between the old and new:

This is also because based on the old syllabus, HYPY is very much the focus for the first few months before they embark on word recognition. With this new syllabus, HYPY is taught in every chapter.

You can also that with the new syllabus, children are taught to write more words and from Chapter 1.

:: More topics and a focus on Oracy

The new textbook appears to be more comprehensive with the wider range of topics which you can see from the contents page above. Additionally, it also has a stronger emphasis on the verbal part with more daily “conversations” captured in the illustrations. 

:: So what goes on for tests?

For Dumpling, she was on holistic assessments last year so there was no formal Semester Assessments. What took place instead for her school was that there were bite size assessments from week 5 where the “elements” were broken down into different weeks.

For e.g. for Chinese, Week 5 could be Listening Comprehension, Week 6 could be Oral – Read aloud, Week 7 could be Show and Tell and Week 8, the written paper.

So for Oracy, on a termly basis, there are always 2 parts: either a read aloud + show and tell or read aloud + picture description. Schools will usually send back a sheet to share guidelines and even a template. I have previously shared on some show and tell tips for P1 here.

:: What about Ting Xie?

For many of my GFs and Dumpling’s school, Ting Xie (Chinese Spelling) features a mix of Han Yu Pin Yin and the words. When I first saw the list, I was very worried. To me, HYPY is to assist the child to read better with a list of mix words in a sentence, how is the child able to recall which part are the words are and which, is the HYPY?

For Dumpling, her school teacher will prompt them either verbally or write the structure on the white board in a format of dash and squares.

So for e.g. for the first ting xie list in the below picture

 the teacher may write this out on the board for item 9:

This format allows the class to know which goes where. Of course, not all schools use this format so you may need to check on this with your teacher. 

So is the Chinese work manageable? At the moment, yes, but as always, I believe in consistent work. So how do I revise, you may ask. 

Here’s my 3 study tips.

1) Speak and Tell!  

To help make it more natural for Dumpling to speak it more often, I bought 2 books on Oracy practice to work on read aloud as well as picture description. I will share that in a separate post as this post is becoming quite long. 

I also try very hard to set aside a specific time – just that 10 mins car ride / during meal time to have meaningful conversations with her. It exposes the child to useful and applicable vocabulary (e.g. in Book 1B, there is a topic on food) which I think is important and useful.

2) Consistent work  

I go through the words with Dumpling weekly when it is time for her ting xie. Now, for your test prep work, you can refer back to this list too as there will be “fill in the blanks” part for the kids in the papers.

What you can do is also to use the glossary for revision for questions which ask about the 旁边. 

The glossary also provides a good list of words which your child should be able to "read" and "write". These will be the words that the tests should be based on for the moment.

3) Read read read
Though this is not a immediate tangible thing, I always encourage parents to read with and read to your children from a young age. It need not be a full book daily; a few pages is a good way to start. Download Chinese dictionary onto your phone which will be helpful if you come across any words that you don't know. 

The reading is important as it increases not only vocabulary bank but helps with proper sentence structure which will be useful when the children start to work on composition. 

I have previously written a post on nuturing a love for the Chinese language before and you can read more about it here:

Part 1: Read Read Read (books of a different kind)
Part 2: Speak it, Use it!
Part 3: Watch it!Part 4: Play It! 
Part 5: Write it! (小书 Small Book)

Mummy blogger Mrs Kam has also written about the new Chinese Curriculum here. In it, she addresses the issue of mixing HYPY and Han character and some sharing on her conversation with her son's P1 Chinese teacher. :)

If you have enjoyed this post, please follow me on my Facebook Page where I share my parenting thoughts (both to the kiddo and my furkid, food photos (be prepared for tons of them!), early shout outs for giveaways and interact with you, my readers! You can also follow me on Pinterest and Instagram! 

Primary One - Nurturing a love for Chinese #5: Write it! (小书 Small Book)

From an earlier post where I reached out to a friend, who is also Chinese teacher in a Primary school, on sharing some tips on Chinese Composition, came the suggestion of creating a 小书, Small Book. The idea of creating one is to engage the children to reflect and write, and at the same time, in a fun and creative manner!

So I decided to take this on to try with the kiddo and we created 1 小书 so far with another still "work-in-progress". 

For our first attempt, because I did not want it to be so taxing for her, I decided to make it with a 填充 format. To start, we made it as a 6 panel book using this format. I wanted to set her up for success so that she has a positive experience and I made it a fun story with open ended sentences where she can pen down her portion. 

I also cut out a window with a pen knife so that she is able to slot in whichever illustration she fancies for the moment. 

Pages 1 & 2

After jotting down the start of the story, before Dumpling began, I got her to read to me first and we discussed this in Mandarin. I prompted her with questions such as "她是一个怎么样的女孩?", "你觉得她会怎么样做?", etc.

She then started to fill the book on her own. 

I also left the illustration half completed so that it has room to allow for creativity and she can doodle what she likes.

Pages 3 & 4

As part of the objective of this exercise was also to encourage her to converse in Mandarin, I got her to write down dialogue too. It would then allow me to be able to gauge her sentence structure, the high frequency words knowledge (if she is able to recall), as well as to expand her vocabulary range.  

Pages 5 & 6
For these last 2 pages, I wanted to make it fun for her. Because we have loads of stickers at home, I cut out a plastic sheet and drew the face of the girl on. With the plastic sheet, Dumpling can then paste on whichever dress she fancies for the moment, making this activity an interactive one too as she can change the dress design any time she wants to. We also made a "closet" where she cut out dresses for the girl. These dresses can be "worn" by slotting them under that same plastic sheet. :)

If you are keen to make one too, here's what you may need for materials:

- A4 paper (if it is a 4-page book) / A3 (for 6 pages book). I prefer using construction paper as it is thicker
- Colourful pens / markers
- Scissors (may need pen knife)
- Glue stick
- Scotch tape
- Old magazines where you can cut out pictures from

- Optional: scrapbook materials (I bought 2 made-to-go albums for this purpose!) 

So there you have it! Our very first 小书 (Small Book) which is not unlike the lapbooks we have made in the past, only just in Chinese. :) I hope to share our next book soon!

This is an ongoing series on documenting my learning and Dumpling's Primary one journey. 

This is part of a 5-part series:

Part 1: Read Read Read (books of a different kind)

Part 2: Speak It, Use It

Part 3: Watch It!

Part 4: Play It! 

If you have enjoyed this post, please follow me on my Facebook Page where I share my parenting thoughts, food photos (be prepared for tons of them!), early shout outs for giveaways and interact with you, my readers! You can also follow me on Pinterest and Instagram!  

Primary One: Chinese Compositions

I am blessed because in my circle of friends, I have many educators whom I am able to reach out to, to clarify and seek for advice / opinions. Though I was a part time tutor years back, there have been many changes to the Primary school syllabus over the years. I even had to do "investigative" work to understand the Stellar system and learn about the English curriculum again.

Importantly, there has also been a total change in the Chinese syllabus where the course materials have been updated and the focus is now on communication/oracy skills. (I have previously shared a post on helping your child to prepare for Show and Tell.) While working with the kiddo on Chinese oracy (will share in another post), one other thing that came up was composition.

To be able to write, it must mean that the children need to be able to string sentences together, have the right vocabulary and write the right words. Hence I reached out to a friend (a current Chinese teacher) to ask more about Chinese compositions in Primary schools.   

Q: Based on the current system with the change in P1 syllabus, which year is Compo needed?

A: Currently schools are doing 4-picture compositions from Primary 3, and 6-picture compositions from Primary 5. For some schools, they may start earlier with a 4-picture composition; these all vary slightly from school to school. 

Q: How do we support our children in writing? There seems to be a jump from just "fill in the blanks" (Tian Chong) to suddenly needing to produce a piece of work?

A: Basically, activities like Tian Chong in Paper 2 test on the pupils' reading and comprehension ability. To do so, they need understanding of vocabulary which is taught via textbook. Of course the new textbook teaches beyond vocabulary. Since at the moment, with the new syllabus, we only have P1 textbook, I would say that for P1, focus of the textbook is really more on oral and listening interactive skills.

Q: In terms of flow / content, is there a suggested format? (Say for lower primary?) Are there specific areas to watch out for?

A: Writing at young age is more about writing sentence or short story - 写句／写话. Importantly good sentence structure is very important for the Chinese language: 句式练习. The progression should be in this manner: 从字、词、短语、句、段、篇.

I engage my child (who is in lower primary) through the making small books (小书). I also use picture books to build up my child’s comprehension and inference skills. Hence, my child is very quick in Q&A sessions after being read a book.

With the picture books we read, I will then encourage my child to work on writing. To start off, it can be something that is related to the book we just read but progressively, my child has started to work on writing which is not related to the books we read.

To elaborate, for e.g. after reading 我爸爸，you can design the small book in the form of a大嘴书 to express what your child wants to say to his/her father. Also, for this book, there are many repeated sentences that begin with 我爸爸真的很棒，他像什么一样。So in my child’s small book, the same sentence structure (句式) was adopted. You can build up slowly – at first my child only started with drawing, then I guided on the writing slowly.

You can also do thematic topics too, like festivals or special days. Here’s one we did on National Day. 

(Above sample provided by "interviewee")

(If you like to know more about this approach, I adopted it from a Taiwanese master teacher, 林美琴, in her book: 从阅读到写作).

As for Primary 3 to 6 picture composition format, many schools train their pupils in having 开头，内容，结句，结尾.

结局 is the ending of the story, as in what happen to the character(s) in the end, but 结尾 is commonly expected in Chinese compositions when character reflects on the lesson learnt from the incident.

An example:

“怎么了？”林老师好奇地问。小美把事情的经过一五一十地告诉老师。林老师听到了，马上跟小美跑回课室。林老师一看到天明和大山打架，马上大声地喊他们，要他们立刻住手。林老师狠狠地把两人骂了一顿。大山和天明知道错了，马上跟对方道歉。林老师要他们握手言和。最后，这场风波就这样平息了。（结局）

俗话说：“经一事，长一智”，这件事让大山和天明上了人生宝贵的一课，他们从此做什么事情之前都会三思而后行。（结尾）

However, with so many model compositions available in the market, I feel that this has also led to pupils (even for Higher Chinese pupils) writing only in this genre/way. To write about life experiences, however it requires a different skill set. 

This will require parents to read to and read with your children and engaging them in meaningful conversations so that they are sharing their thoughts and views. Through small books, children can then write whatever that is on their mind or apply their experiences into these stories.

This is an ongoing series on documenting my learning and Dumpling's Primary one journey. 

Disclaimer: the article is a sharing based on my friend’s observations and it does not represent the teaching fraternity / education system.

If you have enjoyed this post, please follow me on my Facebook Page where I share my parenting thoughts, food photos (be prepared for tons of them!), early shout outs for giveaways and interact with you, my readers! You can also follow me on Pinterest and Instagram!  

Review: The Little Company's "The Ugly Duckling" 丑小鸭

The kiddo and I have been attending productions by Singapore Repertory Theatre for years. When I started taking on the onus of guiding her in the Chinese language in the earlier years, I had problems looking for meaningful Chinese theatrical plays for children. I lamented to my buddies that such productions are so rare and it was such a pity because bilingualism is something really close to my heart.

We then caught our first Chinese play with SRT 2 years ago with The Three Little Pigs 三只小猪 and we loved it. So it was with great excitement when Dumpling and I met up with our buddies for a morning of fun with SRT’s Chinese production of The Ugly Duckling 丑小鸭.

We first watched the English production of The Ugly Duckling in 2011 and the kiddo enjoyed it. The Little Company (TLC) incorporated small elements of audience interaction in the 50 mins production and it was the same in the Chinese version.

The play starts with a narrator in Fairy-tale Kingdom 童话王国 interacting with the children, telling the story. Isabelle Chiam as the narrator certainly brought the play to ‘live’. She was lively and humorous, providing some comic relief in the play. The entire production was told through puppetry with colourful props and backdrop.

The story of The Little Duckling unfolds as a mother duck waited patiently for her eggs to hatch where one out of the four eggs was none other than The Ugly Duckling. Much larger and 'uglier' as compared to the other siblings, he was mocked and ostracised from young. The duckling later ran away from home where he embarked on an adventure, met a myriad of characters and later learnt the truth about himself and his identity.

For me, the objective of bringing the kiddo to a Mandarin production is such that she gets exposed to Mandarin, useful expressions and phrases. For that, The Ugly Duckling 丑小鸭 did not disappoint. Comparing this to the Mandarin production of Nightingale 夜莺 (also by TLC), The Ugly Duckling 丑小鸭 was produced with younger children in mind.

Children were introduced to counting in Mandarin as well as simple idioms.The puppets used (friendly sheepdog, fat hen and the vain cat in the barn) were adorable and well liked by the young audience. At one point, there were wild geese “flying” from the back of the auditorium towards the stage where “Ooohs and Ahhs” filled the auditorium.

Of course, in this famous story by Hans Christian Andersen, the issues on bullying and being different were discussed. Values such as teamwork and compassion were also demonstrated when autumn leaves floated down from the ceiling and the audience was encouraged to pick them up to “cover” the poor ugly duckling and protect him from cold.

The Ugly Duckling 丑小鸭 is certainly a great production to bring your children to where they can soak up (almost) an hour of fun learning Mandarin! The Ugly Duckling 丑小鸭 will run until 1 August at DBS Arts Centre. Tickets are available through SISTIC.

Event Dates

Fri, 10 Jul to Sat, 1 Aug 2015
Mon - Fri : 10am
Fri(17 Jul):11am & 2pm
Sat: 11am, 2pm

Venue

DBS Arts Centre - Home of SRT

Disclaimer: We were invited by SRT to watch the play in order to give our opinions about it. All opinions are strictly ours. 

If you have enjoyed this post, please follow me on my Facebook Page where I share my parenting thoughts, food photos (be prepared for tons of them!), early shout outs for giveaways and interact with you, my readers! You can also follow me on Pinterest and Instagram!  

Your Thoughts #5 - 华语,原来可以这样学!

I had a rocky start to introducing Dumpling to the Chinese language as she was about 15-16 odd months old. It was the first time I did a Chinese read-aloud for her. I still recall her look of shock as she mumbled to ask me what I was saying. It has never occurred to me that it would be hard introducing another language to Dumpling but at that moment,  I realised my folly. That also started my home support on Chinese learning.

Chinese, to me, is based on 听，说，认， 读， 写 。Before a child can speak it, the child needs to be able hear it constantly. Listening is fundamental as the child can then pick up vocabulary, pronunciation, etc.

Oracy is the next most important area as I believe that being proficient in Chinese is a life skill. To me, it is more than being able to read but to be able to have a language that is useful in our daily lives. The 'progress' for this, comes in various tiers; knowing what to say, how to say and having the confidence to use the language are 3 entirely different matters.

Dumpling has been attending Chinese Speech and Drama workshops during the holidays for the past 2 over years having done theatrical plays such as Alice in Variouslands, Little Red Riding Hood most recently, Hua Mu Lan.

I have the pleasure of knowing Daphne Low, founder of Apple Pie Language, from these workshops and I have learnt so much from her. Today, I am pleased to share a short chat that I had with Daphne on Apple Pie, her views on the language and tips to support this language at the homefront.

Me: I understand that Apple Pie started in 2003. Why made you decide to start a Chinese enrichment centre and naming it Apple Pie? Why is Chinese so close to your heart?

Daphne: Learning the Chinese language should be an enjoyable experience. I have the fondest memories of learning and communicating in this language from young with my family and friends and that's why Chinese is so close to my heart. Thinking of my early school years and personal experience reminds me of tucking and savouring one of my favorite desserts - Apple Pie. Sweet, warm and totally enjoyable. :)

With our students, I wish for them to have the same experience - where they will enjoy the learning process as much as we enjoy teaching them. And through the unique delivery of our programme, I would say that we’ve made a difference when we hear our students and their parents say ‘华语,原来可以这样学!’  Where there is a positive association with the language and that they see that Chinese can be learnt in a fun manner.

Me: It is very common these days to see young children reply and communicate mainly in English instead of Mandarin. What do you feel of such a phenomenon?

Daphne: Most Singaporeans are well educated and the common language used at home is English. Hence the first language that the child come into contact with will naturally be English and that will become his/her main language for communication. As there is a lack of providing a Mandarin speaking environment at home, the child does not have chance to practise the language hence, this becomes a vicious cycle as the child will not be able to pick up the language.

Me: Do you think Chinese is hard for children to acquire and why?

Daphne: Yes. As shared here, there are many factors that make Chinese very difficult to learn. For example the characters (Hanzi) used in the writing system seem to be archaic and obscure. Every word is a different symbol and it’s not phonetic so it gives you no clues as to how it is pronounced. The tone system also is a challenge because Mandarin has four tones. One other reason is, Mandarin has a large number of homophones. For example, the pronunciation “shì” is associated with over thirty distinct morphemes.

Me: What do you think is the biggest stumbling block for children to learn Chinese?

Daphne: A lack of fun and stress-free environment for children to practise the language.

Me: Do you have any tips to share for parents to support this development better?

Daphne: Here's are some recommendations:

1.       If you can, speak Mandarin to your child at home
This is important because learning and the usage of Mandarin should be beyond the classroom setting and where children are able to "see" it as a practical life skill. The more they use it, they better they become at it.

2.       Read Chinese story books to your child
Like the English language, reading is very important as it is through reading that children are exposed to vocabulary and good sentence structure. You can make it fun by reading with emotion and acting out various roles in the story.

3.       Enrol your child in a Speech and Drama class
Speech and Drama is one of the most fun experiences your children will ever have the pleasure of experiencing. Whether they are standing up on a stage, delivering a speech with quotes by Albert Einstein 100 years ago, or merely reading a passage from a book, they will begin to develop their language skills. Research has suggested that drama techniques provide an interesting way of motivating language learning in children.

These classes are fun and can assist in strengthening a child’s communication skills, to speak more persuasively, boost confidence in public speaking, build self esteem, learn leadership skills, increase ability to adapt and improvise, overcome shyness, become more assertive, build awareness of social skills, make friends and understand people. Adults are judged on how they express themselves and their style of speech every day. Drama classes are a perfect way for children to develop these skill

An extremely experienced teacher, Daphne Low has more than 10 years of Chinese Language teaching experience under her belt having taught pre-schoolers and primary school students.

Her forte lies in designing lively Chinese Speech and Drama lessons as well enrichment programs and she has conducted Chinese Enrichment Programmes at private schools such as Agape Student Care Centre and MOE schools such as Hwa Chong Institution and Rulang Primary School etc.

Presently as the founder of Apple Pie Language, she plays an instrumental role in the company as a Programme Designer, Teacher-trainer as well as the Marketing Director.

Daphne is passionate in achieving her greater vision of offering parents and children a nurturing and safe environment to bond, learn and develop through dramatic play.

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Nurturing a love for Chinese #4 - Play it!

Having established a regular habit of reading Chinese titles, singing together with Dumpling and speaking more Mandarin to her, the routine somewhat became a tad more 'natural'. To extend the usage of the language, I started doing crafts and played games to her where we communicated in Mandarin. 

Here's a fun idea which we enjoyed very much when Dumpling was young. I'd recycle some old cardboard boxes and we will make our own paper 'puppets' and act out the story as I read a loud. If your kiddo is young, the objective is to expose them to the sound of the language as well as to various vocabulary - 贴纸，黄色， 鸭子，大灰狼，小猪，木屋，石砖, etc. to asking them questions (and thus encouraging them to think and reply in Mandarin) 池塘里的水是什么颜色？

As Dumpling gets older, I am trying to get her to communicate more in Mandarin and in complete sentences. We are using the below for a Chinese story telling game!  

In each box, there are 9 different dice with 6 pictures on each side. We'd pick out 3 (randomly) and roll them and form a story based on the images. 

"有一天，一只小蜜蜂迷了路。辛好它找到了一台手机，可以打电话回家."
(A bee lost his way one day. Fortuntately, he found a mobile phone and was able to call home)

The next player can then roll another 3 dice and continue the story from there:

"当小蜜蜂要打电话时, 却发生了一件奇怪的事情! 一阵大风把它吹到埃及去！" 
(Just as he was about to make the call, something strange happened! A gust of wind swept him up and blew him to Egypt!)

Of course, Dumpling is not that fluent in Mandarin and there are many terms which she is not sure of. And that's the entire aim of this game - to expand her vocabulary, to let her imagination run wild and most importantly, have fun using it! :) 

This is part of a 10-part series:

Part 1: Read Read Read (books of a different kind)

Part 2: Speak It, Use It

Part 3: Watch It! 

Part 5: Write it! (小书 Small Book)

Linking up:

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