For overseas children, how to learn Chinese? Is it enough to enroll in a class?
If it works, as parents, we don’t have to worry about our children learning Chinese, and we don’t have to study hard on the Internet.
To learn Chinese well, we must start from three aspects.
This is because the big tree of Chinese has to develop three roots in order to thrive.
Taking Chinese classes, Chinese online classes, conducting systematic Chinese learning, and completing homework with high quality are just one aspect, and what nourishes is only one of the roots.
There are two other roots, which are actually more important, and correspond to the other two aspects of learning Chinese well: Chinese small environment and Chinese parent-child reading.
1.Create a good Chinese environment
Language learning, with the blessing of the language environment, can get twice the result with half the effort.
Chinese families should make good use of their own advantages in creating a small Chinese environment.
First of all, you have to insist on speaking Chinese at home with your children since they were young. (Please click here to know more information about Chinese learning)
Singing Chinese nursery rhymes, listening to Chinese stories, watching Chinese children’s programs, these must also be arranged.
As the child grows older, in addition to insisting on communicating with the child in Chinese, it is necessary to further enrich the content of Chinese input, such as guiding the child to listen to Chinese audio programs and watch Chinese film and television programs.
How do you memorize the pronunciation of “one” and “no”, for example, “a person” and “a bird”, “I don’t want to go”, in different words?
“Two” and “two” are used as numerals and have the same meaning. When do you use which one?
In the online class of the first section of the first volume of “Chinese”, teacher Mi Lier showed two geese as an application after learning the Chinese characters “one” and “two”, leading the children to count “one, two, two” Big White Goose”.
Careful parents consulted, why not explain to the child that “two” should be said instead of “two”.
How to learn Chinese?
There are also quantifiers in Chinese, which are large in number and complicated in use.
Like these, although some linguists have summed up the rules, how many of us use them by memorizing the rules?
It’s all about listening a lot, and then speaking, and it’s natural to use it correctly.
A good small Chinese environment, in daily life, helps children accumulate oral vocabulary, strengthens their sense of Chinese language, and has a subtle influence on cultural background.
We also need to make more use of vacations, return to China to visit relatives and friends, and throw the children into a 24-hour full-Chinese environment to soak.
The child’s listening and speaking ability will improve at a speed visible to the naked eye.
In fact, these accumulations will not only reflect the children’s Chinese listening and speaking ability, but will also promote the overall development of all aspects of Chinese learning.
Perhaps before the child enters primary school, there will be pressure, and it is necessary to focus on the development of the child’s local language in order to start primary school life smoothly.
But you can’t completely throw Chinese aside because of this, but you should at least insist on speaking Chinese with your children.
Moreover, once the child has passed the local language and is able to cope with school life freely, it is time to shift the focus to Chinese learning.
- Insist on effective Chinese parent-child reading
How to learn Chinese?
It’s use, it’s communication.
First of all, parent-child reading in Chinese, if it is enjoyable, is a good time for parents and children to communicate and share in Chinese.
Listening to parents telling stories in Chinese and explaining some things softly, the feeling that Chinese brings to children is familiar, intimate and safe.
Secondly, Chinese parent-child reading also gives children an occasion to apply their Chinese learning.
From listening to stories at the beginning, children are gradually able to ask questions, express their thoughts, and discuss with their parents; words, a page of text, an entire article.
What you have learned is useful, and you can use it after learning. For any learning, it is the best positive feedback.
Chinese reading, and Chinese classroom learning promote each other and benefit each other.
The new words learned in Chinese class need to be repeated several times in different contexts, with different fonts and sizes, before they can be firmly remembered.
In Chinese characters, there are a large number of polysemous characters, which have different meanings when matched with different characters.
In Chinese classroom learning, it is usually difficult to cover multiple meanings, so it needs to be supplemented in reading.
A lot of reading is also a good way to cultivate your Chinese language sense and broaden your Chinese vocabulary.
In daily life, daily necessities, what you say to your children every day, are actually the limited ones that are repeated over and over again: get up, hurry up, eat, go to school, have you finished your homework, not now…
One of the most effective ways to accumulate vocabulary beyond the scope of daily life and more complex sentence structures is to persist in Chinese parent-child reading.
3.To take Chinese classes systematically and formally.
When it comes to learning Chinese, many people first think of enrolling in a Chinese class, finding a Chinese teacher, and taking Chinese classes.
There is nothing wrong with this. It is indeed necessary to study Chinese systematically and formally.
It is a necessary way to systematically learn Chinese language knowledge and comprehensively improve Chinese listening, speaking, reading and writing skills.
In terms of form, whether it is a weekend class or an online class at home, it is good to choose the one that is most suitable for your family situation in terms of teaching materials, teachers, homework, parental participation, cost-effectiveness, etc.
The reason why it ranks third is because the first two aspects are too important.
Parents should also be reminded that there is a wrong idea that Chinese classes are simply equated with learning to read and write.
Various literacy apps, in the promotion process, also mislead everyone to a certain extent.
How to learn Chinese?
As a parent, the worst thing is to throw a literacy app to the child, thinking that it is learning Chinese and can replace Chinese classes.
epilogue
To learn Chinese well, there are three aspects, which are: small Chinese environment, Chinese parent-child reading, and Chinese lessons.
In terms of importance, it is: create a good Chinese environment > insist on effective Chinese parent-child reading > take Chinese classes systematically and formally.
In other words, if parents have limited time and energy and cannot do all three aspects, then striving to do the top one will be more helpful for children to learn Chinese well.
If the first aspect can be achieved and a good Chinese environment is created, the child must at least have good Chinese listening and speaking skills.
Of the four things, listening, speaking, reading and writing, the child accounts for two of them. He is an illiterate who understands Chinese, which is actually pretty good.
If you can also achieve the second aspect and insist on parent-child reading in Chinese with your child, then the child should not only be able to listen and speak Chinese, but also have a good ability to think in Chinese, and also have a certain reading ability.
In the future, through systematic learning, it will be relatively easy to supplement the ability to read and write and express in Chinese.
On the other hand, if you ignore the first two aspects and regard learning Chinese as enrolling your child in a Chinese class and finding one-on-one lessons, and your child does not even have basic Chinese listening and speaking skills.
You can only learn Chinese like foreigners. Learn as a foreign language.
How much can a foreign language be learned by taking one or two classes a week and spending one or two hours in total?
I believe our parents, if we think back to our experience of learning English, we will understand.
Of course, compared to sending children to Chinese classes and finding a Chinese tutor, the two aspects of establishing a good Chinese environment and insisting on effective parent-child reading in Chinese require much more time and energy from parents.
It is precisely because of this that we say that parents’ persistent support and help is the key to whether children can learn Chinese.
So now do you know how to learn Chinese?