Effective help in learning Chinese

1. Be patient and encouraging The first and most important tip: realising that getting comfortable with Chinese takes time, especially if your kid currently lacks confidence in Chinese. The process of helping your kid love learning Chinese will takes months, not weeks. So when your child refuses to read a Chinese book or speak Mandarin at the start, do not worry or express displeasure as this is normal. Instead, praise your kid for baby steps (e.g. saying a word in Chinese) and encourage him or her to keep on trying. 2. Read Chinese books with your kids Reading helps kids develop a love for languages and is an important step to helping them become effectively bilingual and confident Mandarin speakers. Select wholesome and age appropriate books – good quality picture books help pique interest in younger kids, while a strong plot will keep older kids enthralled. Start introducing Chinese books into bedtime reading sessions and soon habit will become second nature! Parents who c...

If you are a Chinese-speaking parent who is in the process of teaching your children Mandarin Chinese, you might find that your children are far more advanced in understanding daily conversations than they are in recognizing Chinese characters. This is a common occurrence in Chinese-American households, since it is far more natural to create a learning environment for your children to develop listening and speaking skills through daily conversation. On the other hand, reading and writing skills take more thoughtful effort to develop. In this article, we cover a few tried-and-true learning tips you can use to teach Chinese Characters to your kids. TEACHING CHINESE CHARACTERS TO KIDS: READING SKILLS No matter the age at which your children have started to learn Chinese, a solid grasp on Mandarin Chinese characters is crucial for developing reading skills. Children especially, are easily turned off by the steep learning curve of going from a phonogram-based language (English), ...

1. Memorise great Chinese composition startings and endings ( 开头 , 结尾 ) First impressions matter. Instead of taking time to craft a killer introduction, memorise choicy  Chinese composition startings  ( 开头 ) instead. These should only be a couple of lines long but make a big impact! Here are some Connected Learning Teachers’ favourite easy startings ( 开头 ): 回忆开头法 :   在我生活的长河里，经历了不少事情，它们像夜空中的繁星一般多，其中有一件事让我万分羞愧，至今难忘 。 人物开头法 :  小文是出了名的捣蛋鬼，胆子特别大，满肚子的坏主意。可自从发生了一件事后，他有了一百八十度的转变 。 点题开头法 :  如果你问我谁是我们班上最调皮捣蛋的同学，我会毫不犹豫地告诉你，那就是小文 。 天气开头法 :  今天天气晴朗，几缕白云在蓝天中慢慢地飘荡，微风轻轻地吹拂，让人心情格外舒畅 。 And here are some  great conclusions  ( 结尾 ): 所谓 “ 吃一堑，长一智 ” ，经过这次的教训，小文暗自下定决心要改过自新。再也不敢顽皮了 。 从这次考试的经历，我深深体会到 “ 天下无难事，只怕有心人 ” ，只要勇于挑战自己，发愤图强，世上就没有任何能难倒我们的事 。 “ 前事不忘，后事之师 ” ，经过这件事后，我学会了要尊重他人，做事要考虑后果，不要鲁莽行事 。 快乐的时光总是过得特别快，不知不觉已经是傍晚时分。我们虽然都很累，但是都很开心。大家度过了愉快的一天，希望下次能旧地重游 。 妈妈听了，竖起大拇指称赞她是一个懂事的好孩子。小丽满心欢喜，不禁眉开眼笑 。 We recommend asking your child to sit with their tutor o...

Practice reading Some of our students do well in other areas for Chinese, but don’t put in much effort for doing Chinese comprehension practices. That’s the main reason why many students lose marks for compre – many students find it daunting to read long passages. What we recommend is for students to try to understand as much as they can first. During exams, students have time to read the passage twice. They can scan through the passage to get a gist of it, and then read it once more to look at the details. When students encounter an unknown character or phrase, they should try to guess what it means. Then, they can highlight the characters or phrases they don’t understand, and then look it up after the practice is done.  You can  Line’s Chinese-English Dictionary  for more accurate translations, or Google Translate as well. This blog, Skritter,  also encourages students to focus on what they understand, rather than what they don’t get. You can generally g...