Menu
Menu
This week’s Parent Spotlight is Lan Xin and she has a multicultural family. Teaching child Chinese in a multicultural family is not easy. She didn’t start speaking consistently to her children until her daughter turned four this past spring. Now, after choosing to consistently speak Chinese to her two children and going over Sagebooks, her daughter is speaking short sentences in Chinese!
4-year-old daughter (started: in March 2017 at 4 years old; currently: on Confident Reader, Book 1)
2-year-old son (not applicable but planning on starting when he turns 3)
I was looking for something that would just be a ready to use curriculum. Otherwise, I would just be thinking about how to teach Chinese and probably just never have gotten started. Sagebooks seemed to fit that criteria and make teaching child Chinese easier.
We usually start off by reviewing the characters we covered already in the current book. Then we move on to cover three new characters each day. I usually have her read a sentence and then translate it in English. If she has trouble, I will explain the sentence and usage of the characters. I work full-time but we try to do this everyday and cover a book a week.
On weekends we use flash cards to review characters from the previous sets. When I read bedtime stories I try and point out characters/ sentences she will recognize.
I like that it teaches the most frequently used 500 characters. So that now after learning a little over 300 characters she can read picture books and have a general understanding of what it’s about.
I wish it covered more characters. Now I have to think about what to do after we finish with 500 characters. LOL.
I beat myself up a little for not starting earlier in teaching my kids Chinese. But what I learned is you can only do what you can do when you are open to it. I just was not in the mental space to to start any earlier than I did.
The other things to keep in mind are just starting and being consistent. If you want your kids to learn Chinese, just start and figure it out as you go. Be consistent and you will be surprised at where you will be in a couple of months.
Thank you for taking the time to share your experience with us, Lan! We love your advice on giving yourself grace and being okay with where you are at mentally and emotionally. Plus, it’s a lovely to see that parents don’t have to start at birth or their children will never speak or learn to read Chinese.
If you would like to be a featured parent, please let us know.
很多家長都已是我們 Facebook 群組【講媽 · 講爸園地】 的成員。歡迎你也加入我們，一起互相鼓勵和支持，共同為孩子的學習而努力。
Many parents are already part of our Facebook Group. If you’d like to take advantage of the collective wisdom of your fellow parents, please join us.
Sagebooks Hongkong promotes independent reading and life-long learning by nurturing the child’s confidence, autonomy and self-teaching abilities. Since 2006. Find out more About Us.
© 2020 Sagebooks Hongkong. All rights reserved.
Sagebooks Hongkong promotes independent reading and life-long learning by nurturing the child’s confidence, autonomy and self-teaching abilities. Since 2006. Find out more About Us.
© 2020 Sagebooks Hongkong. All rights reserved.
Sagebooks Hongkong promotes independent reading and life-long learning by nurturing the child’s confidence, autonomy, self-teaching abilities and mental health. Since 2006.
© 2023 Sagebooks Hongkong. All rights reserved.
