About Learning Chinese

 

“No one but a child can construct his own machinery and so learn to perfection as many languages as he hears spoken about him.”
- Maria Montessori (The Discovery of the Child)

Unique, Bilingual Environment

Language is the foundation for the child’s learning in all other areas — in both English and Putonghua. In the early years at IMS the child begins to develop an instinctive sense of language through exposure to English and Putonghua with native-speaking teachers in the classroom environment. The Chinese language Program is patterned closely after the typical nativel anguage experience: first oral—with rhymes, philosophical stories andsongs—then character recognition and reading, then writing and grammar. With this early foundation, teachers encourage children to begin reading andwriting, then to write creatively, to interpret drama and to improve theirlanguage skills as they explore all disciplines.

The spoken language is the foundation for all creation of language in the child. From the point of entry to the Toddler or Casa dei Bambini program, spoken Chinese begins and remains a constant premise throughout the environment. As such, by giving your child opportunitiesto hear and to speak Chinese at home, you can support their process ofabsorbing another language.

The child at IMS is absorbing Chinese in the environment through spoken language, writing and reading. The parents’ ability to support the child at home varies from the native-speaker, to the newly arrived parent who wishes to exposet heir child to Chinese and to the parents who believe that both English and Mandarin are important languages for their children to learn but neither of which they speak as their native language. This is quite a diverse community, so notall of this will apply to you.

Language acquisition is ideally as natural a process aspossible for the young child. A young child associates the language spoken with the speaker, and so it is importantfor the adults in the environment not to mix languages when speaking with achild, especially the very young child. If you have the gift of bilingualism in your home, we encourage you topass this on to your child. Learning more than one language exposes a child to a concept of thinking in a different way, which increases creativity.

If you have the ability for one of more parent or caregiver to speak Putonghua in the home environment, this is the ideal situation for a child to gain fluency in a natural way, and we encourage you to try to have one person speak to your child exclusively in Putonghua if you havethis ability. If you do not have the natural environment where at least one adult can provide this environment naturally, we recommend bringing a tutor into your home, or trying to bring in some additional language resources through a variety of other means.

Television

If you subscribe to the Disney channels offered on NOW Broadband you can push the audio button on the remote controland set it to Audio 3, and listen to the program in Putonghua. The Disneychannel may be a bit too complicated for non-native speakers in terms oflanguage. Disney Playhouse, which offers programming for younger children, uses simple language and is therefore ideal for beginner levels. (Note: Not all programs are available in Putonghua.)

Videos

If you are traveling overseas or prefer videos / DVDs to television, ForeverEntertainment Company in the Yung Yip Building of 234 Wanchai Road offers avariety of children’s cartoons in Putonghua.

Flashcards

Flashcards are a good way of reviewing Chinese characters learned in class. IMS' Chinese teachers are always happy to help you go through the flashcards to pick out the ones that are most relevant to your child’s level. The Xin Ya (New Asia) publishing group offers flashcards using traditional Chinese characters. These can be found in the Children’s section of the Cosmo bookstore at 30 Johnston Road, Wanchai. Make sure you ask before buying whether the text is simplified or traditional. The IMS Chinese curriculum is based on traditional Chinese characters.

Hong Kong is one giant series of flashcards!  When you are out with your child, ask them to look at the signs around them and to pick out characters that they recognize. Get them to tell you what they mean and to use their index finger to write the character in the palm of your hand.

Books

The Casa classes use the Better Chinese series of books, which can be supported through their website, providing "read-along" services (which parents can enjoy as well!). If you would like to purchase a set for y our child to read at home or provide them with other supplementary materials, please visit www.betterchinese.com.

Below you can find other useful links:

Learn Chinese:

  • After School Chinese — a CCTV program designed for children to learn Chinese
  • Wikipedia - Chinese language
  • TimesOnline Chinese Course — the Chinese Week section includes a free Chinese online course as well as some other useful information
  • ClearChinese.com — learn Chinese for free:  a 15-unit Mandarin Chinese course.
  • BingChen.com — learn Chinese with Bing Chen from New York.
  • Online Chinese Tools — Erik Peterson provides Web tools to assist people studying and using the Chinese language, including CEDICT and Unihan dictionaries with lookup by English, Pinyin, Cantonese, character, or radical-stroke. Includes Chinese text annotator, character flashcards.etc.
  • ChinesePod.com — Learn Chinese with free daily podcasts.
  • Madarin Chinese Vocabulary Guide — A useful website with a list of commonly used Chinese Mandarin words. The words are categorized with pictures and corresponding pronunciation.
  • Chinese Language Learners — Features many useful studying tips and articles to help learning Chinese enjoyable.
  • Chinese Forums — An online community of people with an interest in Chinese language and culture.
  • Chinese in the News — Covers news articles on the Chinese language.
  • Writng Chinese Characters — Animations on how to write Chinese characters according to the stoke order (in Chinese)
  • Linese.com — Learn Chinese with native teachers while learning about Chinese culture-Direct from Beijing.  Online videos are available.
  • Semanda.com  — A website for learning basic Mandarin Chinese vocabulary using flashcards. Online flashcards and multiple choice quizzes in several subjects are available, as well as printable PDF flash cards.
  • Wordbuddy  — Website for learning Chinese vocabulary from other users who actually use them in life.

Chinese Reading and Listening

  • 听书网 — Online digital library with a big range of downloadable children's audio books (in Chinese)
  • 育心经典 — An educational center for children. Good supply of classical Chinese readings, songs, poems etc. (in Chinese)
  • 儿童图书馆 — An excellent online library for children. There are hundrends of children's audio books in flash form.
  • ShufaWest.com — Learn the Mandarin tones and test on how well you have learned.

Other Resources about China and Chinese Culture

Chinese Dictionaries