Many experts say that the prime time for children to learn a language is between the ages of 3 and 6, and the earlier they learn bilingualism, the better they will be in terms of language, cognition, memory, reading and social development than monolingual children. Some studies have even found that babies begin language learning in the womb, can identify their mother’s speech patterns and exhibit those traits at birth.
Although infants and young children do not speak at the beginning, or speak always babble, but when children learn language, they first rely on sound to develop the ability to “listen” and “speak”, and then slowly understand the meaning of the word, so parents please do not think that children do not understand or can not speak, what we should do is learning Chinese for kids.
5 Visual Methods to Activate Kids to Learn:
1. Sing a song
Children are mostly lively and memorizing the pronunciation and combination of characters in the form of singing melody will be a very good effect! Children like singing and dancing very much. When teaching children Chinese, they can learn well with some simple children’s songs
2. Dancing
Lots of kids like dancing too! Some kindergarten teachers can tell that if they teach their children Chinese through dancing, the children respond well. They can also go to Youtube to find related nursery rhymes based on the lessons!
3. Cartoon
The cartoon seemed more attractive than listening to the class, so you can use the cartoon as teaching material. The kids will respond well, and they will watch cartoons with great concentration. I really recommend Martha and Bear for beginners, because the dialogue is not much, it is easier for beginners to understand, there are many videos on YouTube!
4. Drawing a Picture
If your kid didn’t like to write, you can drew pictures with him and tried to get him to write. For example: you can draw the airport on the picture by yourself, then maybe he will draw a bigger airport than yours, and finally under your painstaking guidance, he finally wrote!
5. Game
You can play some games when you teach your kids Chinese, such as teaching red, blue and other colours, then ask them at home to find the colour of things to show you, such as red apple, blue kettle and so on. Once you taught the word “toy”, asked the children to take their favourite toys to show you, they will be very happy to take the toy, but also to learn the word.
5 Tips for Parents to Guide their Kids:
1. Let children be a happy learner
Please don’t take it for granted that your child “learns” Chinese. Play with your child while learning Chinese. As a parent, you should first treat learning Chinese as fun, and then your child will feel that it is fun.
2. Encourage your child to speak Chinese confidently
Just like when we were learning English, we would not dare to speak because we were afraid that we would be scolded and laughed at if we made mistakes. Take the initiative to guide your child to speak Chinese. The key is to give praise and encouragement to your child so that he or she will not be afraid or ashamed to speak Chinese.
3. Talk to your child and respond positively
Encourage your child to speak Chinese and listen to and respond to it so that he can feel the joy of speaking and will naturally be willing to speak more.
4. Don’t worry about children confusing Chinese with English
Many parents worry that if THEY let their children speak Chinese at an early age, they will not be able to learn English after they enter school. Or confusion and maladaptation? Don’t underestimate the potential of your children’s language skills. Can, roughly speaking, the former is the only child in a completely Chinese environment (contact said Chinese parents only) stage, after their entrance, talking to expand to only speak English, my teachers and classmates when they are in English environment, English will be growing by leaps and bounds, and a school I learned Chinese are likely to greatly step backwards.
For example, I can only speak Chinese at home. When American children go to school, they officially enter an All-English environment and wave their sleeves with Chinese. After school, the usage rate of English will be much higher than that of Chinese, so have a Chinese-only environment, so that children can still have the opportunity to use Chinese every day, do not succumb to English communication. After all, language is a thing that can be easily lost. As long as you don’t practice and use it, you really can’t take a cloud away with you.
5. Enhance learning motivation through environmental influences
For example, let the children go back to Asia to attend summer camp or go back home to visit relatives and play. Because of being in a Chinese-only environment, I have to force myself to speak Chinese and broaden my children’s horizons. The concept is like a study tour from Asia to the US where we have to speak English to live because we are in an English-speaking environment.
And another way to fall into the Chineses-only environment is like you can participate in the Chinese tutor class like the institution called “Classover”, they have well-educated native-speaker teachers to teach your kids Chinese in the live Class online and you can have interaction with the whole class, that would be very helpful for your kids to learn Chinese.
Finally, after you know how to best guide and teach your kids Chinese in a visual way and also have a deep understanding in educating them, I would like share some daily tips on teaching Chinese at home or anywhere. Since learning in daily life is the key to developing your child’s Chinese ability.
● Praise more than blame. Don’t let children associate learning Chinese with being scolded.
● Learn Chinese with children’s favorite things, such as cartoons.
● Arrange Play dates in Chinese.
● Use a Flash Card with small print.
● Learn through play. For example, take pictures of flowers and color them and remember the names of the flowers.
● Start with short, overlapping words and match body language.
● Combine vocabulary for daily life, such as bathing, washing hands, eating, dressing and so on.
● Read Chinese children’s books, listen to children’s rhymes, sing children’s songs and watch TV together.