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 is not as commonly used since Britain’s turnover of Hong Kong to China. It could become a dialect that is used among friends and family.or business purposes, Mandarin is more practical to understand.
Learning Chinese at Home
A great 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 son or daughter to the tones of Chinese with fun what to watch. The learning pace in DVDs are carefully programmed to help your child remember what and phrases. Chinese songs on CDs alternatively, are great to utilize while travelling or throughout your child’s relaxation time. For bigger children, Chinese stories on CDs could be played to expose them further to more Chinese vocabulary and sentence construction.
If one parent speaks Chinese, arrangements could be made that 1 parent will speak to the children in Chinese and the other will talk with them in English. Kids have an amazing ability to keep up with 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 would be to hire Chinese-speaking baby sitters. Local universities frequently have students that 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 grow up hearing the native Chinese tones. Be careful in the hiring though. Truth to find out, there is a large number of people in the US from China who don’t have the necessary papers but are working as nannies. Nannies also look after your children, so picking the proper person is extremely important, especially 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. Up to now, I am unaware if you can find any online programs available for English speaking children.
Chinese Private Schools
Traditionally, non-public Chinese schools teach a kid the Chinese language once the child is old enough to sit still and copy characters. Most schools still utilize the method of rote teaching found in China and Taiwan. Children in the US are very independent, which means rote method will not be the most effective way for children to learn the words and characters. Instead, the Montessori or ESL method may be used to interest the kids to learn Chinese. These methods place focus on using Chinese in conversation . Other programs that teach utilizing a lot of singing and other fun activities will certainly make children learn Chinese easier.
Summer Camps
Chinese summer camps expose the kid to full immersion of the Chinese language. Summer camps can be a weekend trip in the US, a full boarding school stay, or traveling to live for several weeks to China or Taiwan. You can find few sites that produce the biggest list of Chinese summer camps available so stay tuned for updates.
Learn Chinese Materials
There are a great number of products available in the market to greatly help children learn Chinese. Books, videos, audio CDs/ cassettes and software can be used at home to understand Chinese. These materials not only expose the child to vocabulary or tones, but additionally show the beauty of Chinese culture. These materials could also be used for parents and children to spend 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 which might be read alongside audio CDs are useful to learn the proper pronunciation. A great introductory book to reading and writing Chinese characters is Long is the Dragon. For smaller children, I Won’t Bite is an extremely interesting material. Kids will be able to touch and feel the various kinds of animal skin textures.
Videos
Videos teach through engaging visuals, songs, and repetitive vocabulary. Viewers may also be subjected to how different places and persons appear to be. In 1 DVD of the Follow Jade series, Teacher Jade goes 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 a lot of common words. Bao Bei is a panda puppet that children will like to study Chinese words.
Audio CDs
Chinese CDs can be grouped into 2:
o 100% Chinese songs and stories. Some do not have printed guides, others include a book/ booklet
o Learn-Chinese CDs specifically designed for 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 instance, the songs in Teach Me Chinese Book and CD are popular and sung in both English and Chinese. best ways to learn mandarin can also learn songs to sing because of their children, such as Happy Birthday. This series also comes with 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.