Mandarin may be the official language of China and Taiwan. It is the dialect of almost all in Mainland China and the Chinese overseas. Cantonese isn’t as popular since Britain’s turnover of Hong Kong to China. It could become a dialect that is used among family and friends.or business purposes, Mandarin is more practical to learn.
Learning Chinese at Home
A terrific way to start your kids in learning the Chinese Language is through Learn Chinese DVDs and videos and audio CDs. These DVDs are specially made to optimally expose your child to the tones of Chinese with fun what to watch. The training pace in DVDs are carefully programmed to help your child remember what and phrases. Chinese songs on CDs on the other hand, are great to use while travelling or throughout your child’s relaxation time. For bigger children, Chinese stories on CDs can be played to expose them further to more Chinese vocabulary and sentence construction.
If one parent speaks Chinese, arrangements can be made that 1 parent will speak to the kids in Chinese and another will talk with them in English. Kids have an incredible ability to match each parent’s language.
Exposing Children to Native Chinese Speakers
o Chinese tutors are available to instruct children and even the entire family to speak Chinese. Check online or newspaper ads for available tutors.
o Play dates with children who are learning or already know Chinese is a fantastic solution to expose your kids.
o Another option is to hire Chinese-speaking baby sitters. Local universities often have students who are half-Chinese or spouses of Chinese. This can be an option you can try.
o Other families get au pairs from China.
o Some families hire Chinese nannies to ensure the children mature hearing the native Chinese tones. Be cautious in the hiring though. Truth to find out, there is a large numbers of people in america from China who don’t possess the necessary papers but will work as nannies. Nannies also care for your children, so picking the proper person is extremely important, particularly if they live with you. Friends of ours have been through multiple nannies and it had not been a good experience.
Learning Chinese Online
You can find online Chinese programs designed for adult English speakers. So far, I am unaware if you can find any online programs designed for English speaking children.
Chinese Private Schools
Traditionally, non-public Chinese schools teach a child the Chinese language once the child is old enough to sit still and copy characters. Most schools still use the method of rote teaching found in China and Taiwan. Children in the US are very independent, therefore the rote method may not be the easiest way for children to learn the words and characters. Instead, the Montessori or ESL method may be used to interest the kids to understand Chinese. These methods place focus on using Chinese in conversation . Other programs that teach utilizing a lot of singing and other fun activities will definitely make children learn Chinese easier.
Summer Camps
Chinese summer camps expose the child to full immersion of the Chinese language. Summer camps might be a weekend trip in the US, a full boarding school stay, or traveling to live for a number of weeks to China or Taiwan. You can find few sites that produce the largest list of Chinese summer camps available so stay tuned for updates.
Learn Chinese Materials
There are a lot of products available for sale to help children learn Chinese. Books, videos, audio CDs/ cassettes and software can be used at home to learn Chinese . These materials not merely expose the child to vocabulary or tones, but additionally show the beauty of Chinese culture. These materials can also be used for parents and children to invest time together.
Books
A big challenge to teaching Chinese from books is that one parent/ adult should know how exactly to read it. For families that are starting to learn from scratch together, bi-lingual books are a big help. Story books that could be read alongside audio CDs are useful to learn the proper pronunciation. An excellent introductory book to reading and writing Chinese characters is Long may be the Dragon. For smaller children, I WILL NOT Bite is an extremely interesting material. Kids should be able to touch and feel the various kinds of animal skin textures.
Videos
Videos teach through engaging visuals, songs, and repetitive vocabulary. Viewers will also be subjected to how different places and persons appear to be. In 1 DVD of the Follow Jade series, Teacher Jade would go to a Chinese Kindergarten. Children can compare how their very own school and classmates look like. The Bao Bei series has 5 enjoyable videos that teach Chinese vocabulary of plenty of common words. Bao Bei is really a panda puppet that children will like to study Chinese words.
Audio CDs
Chinese CDs could be grouped into 2:
o 100% Chinese songs and stories. Some do not have printed guides, others add a book/ booklet
o Learn-Chinese CDs specifically designed for all those learning Chinese as another language. These CDs usually include books, booklets with Chinese, English and Pinyin. Songs are sung in both Chinese and English, or booklets show the English translations. For example, the songs in Teach Me Chinese Book and CD are popular and sung in both English and Chinese. Parents may also learn songs to sing for their children, such as Happy Birthday. This series also has a Teacher Guide. Other Learn Chinese Book and CD series such as Sing and Learn Chinese Series and Let’s Sing Chinese also engages its listeners with interesting songs.