Then, after so many years in Singapore, we still couldn't. Not that we're not learning at all. But I guess the will is not strong enough yet to master the language. I know... Shame on us.
However! After much deliberation, we decided that our two kids shall return to the light. They shall learn Chinese. *shaking in fear* We braces ourselves to the fact that their grades will be pulled down by this subject. The benefit outweighs this fact as what we've seen.
So, now my eldest is P3. We do struggle with it. And dear daughter has lovingly told me that of course she can't do well because mommy can't teach her at home. Oh well... But, I think, I hope, I can fairly say that she is on the surviving side. She got higher Chinese, and in school she got into the best Chinese class.
This post is not to gloat. But I do hope to share our journey with families in similar situation.
We started Chinese lesson for her from 18 months plus (!) This kiasu-ness is because I think language exposure is best to be started as early as possible. I chose one of the best language school in town.
[Verdict] At this age, we don't have to go to the best. Go to the most fun. Consider the fact whether the school allows the use of non-Chinese language in teaching. Pure 100% Chinese only scared my kid.
The trauma is such that we keep it on hold until she was in nursery (4 years old). That time, thankfully, we got a great recommendation for a Chinese tutor from her kindergarten. Our son has started his lesson with the same tutor too, at around the same age
[Verdict] Private tutors are great at supporting a specific area that we need to enhance. Parents need to closely monitor because they are not running based on any firm lesson plan. Make use of the flexibility well by specifying clearly what you want. Share with them the school exam dates and school works progress (both, good and bad). Lastly, monitor so that the kid is not doing homework or writing work at lesson time. It will be much more effective to use the time to converse, to learn new thing, to fix mistakes.
Our younger son started Berries at 3 years old mark. This is the youngest age Berries accepted. Daughter started from 5 years old there, after the kindergarten fed back that she still doesn't speak enough Chinese.
[Verdict] Comparing son and daughter, true enough, he can recognize character and listen to the language fairly better. Before P1, Berries is seemingly all play. The kids go home happily clutching a little toy or artwork or food related to the lesson.
How about home then?
Be prepared to help them. At the very least, the effort both supporting the kids morally, and showing them the "there's a will, there's a way".
I am a great fan of Pleco, available for both Apple and Android. The OCR is great. That's the first add-on I purchased. Moving on, I ended up buying the whole bundle. The handwriting recognition and flash card are excellent too. You don't need other apps once you have this, I think.
Before Pleco, I used Besta electronic dictionary to painstakingly translating word by word of her Chinese reading. After she entered P1, I realized that the pinyin tone is slightly different for a few words. Fret not, Pleco pinyin tone is so far matched the Primary textbook.
Armed with electronic dictionary and Google Translate (better to translate lengthy text efficiently), I still help the kids with their homework, miraculously. Lucky, Chinese grammar is quite simple.
Other than that, we also invested in a lot of Chinese books. A bit heart breaking to see the books are seldom touched. But at least when the mood strikes, the environment is ready. After some times, seems like both kids are slowly warming up to Chinese.
Kid no 2 is lucky. I have no 1 as guinea pig. So after observing her weak point in primary, now I started the younger one on comprehension earlier. It forced him to read Chinese slowly but surely. Otherwise, the jump from P2 to P3 curriculum is too wide. Seems like from character recognition they need to jump to composition.
Well, can't say much beyond P3. So I need to end this here. Good luck :)
