Mandarin is the official language of China and Taiwan. It is the dialect of the majority in Mainland China and the Chinese overseas. Cantonese isn’t as commonly used since Britain’s turnover of Hong Kong to China. It may become a dialect that’s used among friends and family.or business purposes, Mandarin is more practical to understand.
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 things to watch. The learning pace in DVDs are carefully programmed to help your child remember what and phrases. Chinese songs on CDs however, are great to use while travelling or during 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 could be made that 1 parent will talk with the kids in Chinese and the other will talk with them in English. Kids have an incredible 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 that are learning or know Chinese is a fantastic way 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 mature hearing the native Chinese tones. Be careful in the hiring though. Truth to be told, there is a large number of people in the US from China who don’t possess the necessary papers but are working as nannies. Nannies also look after your children, so picking the right 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 available for adult English speakers. So far, I am not aware if you can find any online programs designed for English speaking children.
Chinese Private Schools
Traditionally, non-public Chinese schools teach a kid the Chinese language when 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 is probably not the easiest way for children to learn what and characters. Instead, the Montessori or ESL method may be used to interest the kids to understand Chinese. These methods place emphasis on using Chinese in conversation . Other programs that teach utilizing a lot of singing along with other fun activities will definitely make children learn Chinese easier.
Summer Camps
Chinese summer camps expose the kid to full immersion of the Chinese language. Summer camps may be a weekend trip in america, a full boarding school stay, or planing a trip to live for several weeks to China or Taiwan. You can find few sites that produce the largest list of Chinese summer camps available so keep tuned in 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 may be used at home to understand Chinese. These materials not only expose the kid to vocabulary or tones, but also show the wonder of Chinese culture. These materials can also be used for parents and children to spend time together.
Books
A big challenge to teaching Chinese from books is that certain parent/ adult should know how exactly to read it. For families that are starting to study from scratch together, bi-lingual books are a big help. Story books that may be read along with audio CDs are useful to understand 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 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 will also be exposed 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 a lot of common words. Bao Bei is a panda puppet that children should 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 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 can also learn songs to sing because of their children, such as for example 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.