Learning Chinese (Primary/Preschool)

[rosemummy]

Chenonceau:

laughingcat:

Oh my goodness! Speak fluently in 3-4 languages! :!:


I wonder at what age the child starts to be taught in so many languages? Are they only speaking only? What about the writing portion?

Not that difficult lah... The languages occur in families. If you know French, it's easy to pick up Spanish and Italian. The North Germanic languages occur in another family Norwegian, Swedish, Danish.

If you know French and Danish, then access to four other languages is greatly facilitated. It's also easier now that there are many many exchange programs and travel within the EU is much facilitated. It's easy enough to pick up Spanish and Italian of you are French because you just spend a summer in both countries and voilà! After, 1 week in Spain and Italy, I was speaking enough and reading enough to get myself understood.

We're planning a holiday to Italy. Many websites are in Italian, with my French base, I can roughly understand.

It's a bit like how we speak dialects in Singapore. Many of our Malays speak Mandarin, some Hokkien, English and Malay. Many Chinese speak Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien, English... these are about as different from each other as French, Spanish and Italian.

English and Mandarin are vastly different languages. Much easier to be bilingual French-Italian than English-Mandarin, I think.

I fully agree. It should not be difficult to read / write the European languages if you can speak since it's all aplphabet-based. But it's a different story with Asian languages, except for Bahasa.

[JRLam]

Chenonceau:

Hi... here is an update of some encouraging results from memorizing Chinese Compositions...


http://petunialee.blogspot.com/2011/01/reaching-tipping-point-for-chinese-part.html

Hi Chenonceau,

I am very keen to know how does the 1000 essay compendium series look like - I mean the standard of the language used, content, descriptive words etc. I am very desperate with my P5 boy's progress in mastering CL too. He attended Tien-Hsia's essay writing, has a 1-to-1 tutor (just started beginning of the year after pull him out from Berries). Somehow, he just seems to have mental block when it comes to write CL compo. I know it is due to his insufficient grasp of the CL vocab to express his thoughts. I do agree that reading is more effective, but it is just inefficient, and there are just too much other things he needs to work on now, not just CL I almost had a heart-attack when I read the most recent CL compo hw he did - it was like a P2 work!

If the 1000-essay's standard is just too difficult for him, I am contemplating for him to use those 'model' essays used by the Tien-Sia teacher as a leading whenever introducing a topic for every week....

And I do agree, he must be a willing party to understand the benefit of memorizing - which is hopefully it will come to the point when he has enough vocab to express himself, builds his confidence and roll from there ..

Would u mind, to scan 1 or 2 essays from the 1000-essay and PM me? I will like to compare the standard of these 1000-essay to those from local publications. Of course, pls do it at your convenience ...

Thank you in advance!

[Chenonceau]

JRLam:

Chenonceau:

Hi... here is an update of some encouraging results from memorizing Chinese Compositions...


http://petunialee.blogspot.com/2011/01/reaching-tipping-point-for-chinese-part.html

Hi Chenonceau,

I am very keen to know how does the 1000 essay compendium series look like - I mean the standard of the language used, content, descriptive words etc. I am very desperate with my P5 boy's progress in mastering CL too. He attended Tien-Hsia's essay writing, has a 1-to-1 tutor (just started beginning of the year after pull him out from Berries). Somehow, he just seems to have mental block when it comes to write CL compo. I know it is due to his insufficient grasp of the CL vocab to express his thoughts. I do agree that reading is more effective, but it is just inefficient, and there are just too much other things he needs to work on now, not just CL I almost had a heart-attack when I read the most recent CL compo hw he did - it was like a P2 work!

If the 1000-essay's standard is just too difficult for him, I am contemplating for him to use those 'model' essays used by the Tien-Sia teacher as a leading whenever introducing a topic for every week....

And I do agree, he must be a willing party to understand the benefit of memorizing - which is hopefully it will come to the point when he has enough vocab to express himself, builds his confidence and roll from there ..

Would u mind, to scan 1 or 2 essays from the 1000-essay and PM me? I will like to compare the standard of these 1000-essay to those from local publications. Of course, pls do it at your convenience ...

Thank you in advance!

I know how you feel... I am in the same situation.

I posted a pic here in this thread. Do let us know your son's progress.

http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14433&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=1130

[metz]

Chenonceau:

The R in \"rue\" starts at the back of the throat... like those old folks who clear their throats and then spit. You can practise by pretending to clear your throat of phlegm? Hee! No problem pronouncing the French R if you dun mind being gross. :lol:

Once you get it, then you tag on the \"u\" but this time, you shorten the R-at-the-back-of-the-throat to the length of a normal R (or even shorter) so you get just this very very light (almost imperceptible throat clearing). The \"u\" is pronounced exactly like \"fish\" in mandarin.

Haha, we have practising the 'R' sound. Hopefully, we won't get a sore throat from overdoing it. :lol:

Chenonceau:

Thanks for the references!! We have all the series you mentioned except 皮皮鲁. They are very entertaining. My son giggles and rolls around in bed laughing sometimes. He reads them before bed everyday.

Your little boy is doing very well in Chinese! :rahrah:

[metz]

laughingcat:

Oh my goodness! Speak fluently in 3-4 languages! :!:

I wonder at what age the child starts to be taught in so many languages? Are they only speaking only? What about the writing portion?

In France, the students have choices in learning languages once they enter College (Singapore P5). During this time, they can chooseto study various languages such as Spanish, Germany, English, Italien and even Chinese etc... So, for a Singaporean kid studying in france, they would know English, French, Chinese and probably another fourth or more languages (depending on their interests).

It's not necessary a matter of early exposure. In fact, as long as the child has interests, he/she can self study a foreign language with the internet or books available. A friend's child gave up French in Secondary school, learnt Japanese on her own. Think she's working on Korean now. Even in France, some of the eldery are learning new languages on their own. A small minority are even learning Chinese.

[metz]

rosemummy:

Mind sharing how you do it? Maybe start another thread?

My girl is fluent in French, but like you, I can't speak a word.

Hi rosemummy,

I'm not qualified to start one as I'm still searching my way in learning this beautiful language. But I can certainly share some of the resources I have been relying on with you. But bear in mind, I'm not a systematic learner, as in I'm always looking out for the best and fastest way of learning the language. So, feel free to disagree with my approach.

For a start, you can check out http://www.languageguide.org/french/ . It introduces some basic vocabulary and grammar. To get a quick feel on the language and some of its quirks, I used an old copy of French for Dummies. But I believe any reference book would serve just as well, if not better.

Of all the resources, I find the http://www.amazon.co.uk/Michel-Thomas-Foundation-Course-French/dp/0340938919/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1301900083&sr=8-1url by Michel Thomas most useful. It helps me understand the sentence structure within a very short time and keeps prompting me on how to phrase words in French. Besides Michel Thomas, there is also another CD package http://www.amazon.co.uk/Collins-French-Paul-Noble/dp/0007363958/ref=pd_sim_b_57 available. It looks pretty interesting too.

I'm still on CD 2. But I would think these books would be good for training up the listening part - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0071603425/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?ie=UTF8&m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE and http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0071702334/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE (However, there might be some errors in this book.)

And if you practise speaking as much French as you can with your daughter, I believe you will be able to hold a simple conversation in French within a short time.

[rosemummy]

chamonix:

rosemummy:

Mind sharing how you do it? Maybe start another thread?

My girl is fluent in French, but like you, I can't speak a word.

Hi rosemummy,

I'm not qualified to start one as I'm still searching my way in learning this beautiful language. But I can certainly share some of the resources I have been relying on with you. But bear in mind, I'm not a systematic learner, as in I'm always looking out for the best and fastest way of learning the language. So, feel free to disagree with my approach.

For a start, you can check out http://www.languageguide.org/french/ . It introduces some basic vocabulary and grammar. To get a quick feel on the language and some of its quirks, I used an old copy of French for Dummies. But I believe any reference book would serve just as well, if not better.

Of all the resources, I find the http://www.amazon.co.uk/Michel-Thomas-Foundation-Course-French/dp/0340938919/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1301900083&sr=8-1url by Michel Thomas most useful. It helps me understand the sentence structure within a very short time and keeps prompting me on how to phrase words in French. Besides Michel Thomas, there is also another CD package http://www.amazon.co.uk/Collins-French-Paul-Noble/dp/0007363958/ref=pd_sim_b_57 available. It looks pretty interesting too.

I'm still on CD 2. But I would think these books would be good for training up the listening part - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0071603425/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?ie=UTF8&m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE and http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0071702334/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE (However, there might be some errors in this book.)

And if you practise speaking as much French as you can with your daughter, I believe you will be able to hold a simple conversation in French within a short time.

Thanks for your tips, chamonix. Not sure if I'll get down to doing it, when I still couldn't hold a decent conversation in Japanese after spending so much time there. I guess I'm too old and not sufficiently motivated to learn another language. That's why I think it's best to get the kids to learn as many languages as possible when they're young. No need for them to be really good at it - they can always take up refresher courses if they have use for them later.

I guess you're living in France now? I'm looking for some inputs on studying there for undergraduates in another thread.

[metz]

rosemummy:

Thanks for your tips, chamonix. Not sure if I'll get down to doing it, when I still couldn't hold a decent conversation in Japanese after spending so much time there. I guess I'm too old and not sufficiently motivated to learn another language. That's why I think it's best to get the kids to learn as many languages as possible when they're young. No need for them to be really good at it - they can always take up refresher courses if they have use for them later.

I guess you're living in France now? I'm looking for some inputs on studying there for undergraduates in another thread.

You are learning Japanese too? What a coincidence, me too! I tried taking courses twice; once after A levels and a second time when I was in the workforce. Sad to say, I wasn't motivated enough to venture beyond the elementary stage.

Most of the kids I know are either in primary or college. But I will surely ask around and see if I can dig out any info you need.

[rosemummy]

chamonix:

rosemummy:

You are learning Japanese too? What a coincidence, me too! I tried taking courses twice; once after A levels and a second time when I was in the workforce. Sad to say, I wasn't motivated enough to venture beyond the elementary stage.

Most of the kids I know are either in primary or college. But I will surely ask around and see if I can dig out any info you need.

Not really. Just that I had an office in Tokyo and had spent a bit of time there. Needed some knowledge to get by. The trouble is everyone assume that I'm Japanese and it can be embarrassing when they find that I can't quite speak it.

And thanks in advance for your offer.

[Chenonceau]

Here is an update on Little Boy’s memorization marathon. We have reached tipping point and are moving on to Phase 2. He now has enough word recognition to read stories that are age appropriate for pleasurewithout getting frustrated. So, we have stopped memorizing altogether in favour of copious reading. I have updated the 1st post with the weblink describing Phase 2 more clearly.