It is expected that in the near future, more online Primary 2 Chinese Tuition can be designed for overseas students and the most precious age for learning Chinese (4-8 years old), and develop a series of courses focusing on character recognition and reading.
So that more Overseas Chinese children are equipped with the ability to read Chinese on their own before English reading becomes the mainstream language.
As everyone knows, in the past three years, we have taken every step with trepidation.
Children have never been in kindergarten where they don’t need to do their homework, and now they are at the formal elementary school stage;
whether it is the choice of school and after-school classes, or the conflict of schedules for different talent classes and sports classes on weekends, I find that the road of bilingualism will only grow with time. It gets harder the older the child gets, not easier.
New challenges for overseas parents who want to create a bilingual environment for their children
Since the first language is the golden period of development from the age of 2, when my child was 2-3 years old, I set a goal: let the child go to a Chinese-English bilingual kindergarten.
At that time, I found some very good bilingual kindergartens, and I really hoped to send my children there, but because there were twins at home, I had to pay double the tuition fees. In the end, we turned to a kindergarten that took about 40 minutes by subway.
There were a lot of people on the subway during peak hours, and we had to go to work after taking the children to school.
Looking back, it was a heavy physical burden; but although it was hard, it was also because of that The school provides an all-weather Chinese teaching environment, which lays the foundation for children’s Chinese.
When they were 4 years old, they transferred to a public bilingual kindergarten middle class.
There are relatively many English-speaking students in public schools. One of the children of the author did not have much exposure to English before, so he had no choice in many English courses or group sports activities.
Fully understood, the willingness to participate is not very high.
Probably after the next semester, the child’s oral English and listening skills gradually accumulated, and he was more willing to participate in the English activities of the school.
When they were 5 years old, the children were transferred to a bilingual public elementary school with a good reputation and excellent academic performance. The requirements for English are particularly strict.
From the beginning of the big class, a lot of homework and weekly quizzes are arranged.
As for Chinese, considering that many students are not of Asian background, Chinese classes are taught from the simplest level.
Our family has always attached great importance to Primary 2 Chinese Tuition, so our children’s English level is not as good as that of ordinary American children; but the school’s emphasis on English made us have to practice English repeatedly at home to meet the school exams.
At the same time, because the Chinese taught in the school is too simple, we have to find Chinese tutors or difficult Chinese courses outside of class to keep the children’s Chinese continuous improvement, which has become a new challenge for parents.
Going with the flow vs. pushing aggressively, two real examples
Recently, I met an American father A in the community where I live. Before his daughter went to the English kindergarten to study in the small class, he spoke Chinese at home; after entering the small class, English instantly became the main language.
A hopes that the child’s Chinese level can at least chat easily with his wife’s Taiwanese family, instead of just saying hello, so he is afraid that the child and the mother’s family will not be able to continue to communicate due to language barriers.
When talking with A, we gave him suggestions for bilingual schools, but he had other considerations and did not adopt them;
in the end, we recommended some Chinese-dubbed cartoon programs suitable for young children, and A was not too active in wanting to subscribe to related streaming platforms.
In fact, the experience of A’s child is a story that most of us will hear in the United States——after the child attends an all-English school, he is unwilling to speak Chinese; the child’s willingness to learn is low, and parents usually give up this bilingualism. the road.
We have also met many friends of the same generation who came to the United States from Taiwan. They only require their children to be able to listen and speak Chinese, and they completely give up reading and writing.
It is also because of this that there are fewer and fewer parents who are willing to continue teaching their children Chinese as their children get older.
I often feel very lonely on the road of insisting on giving children a bilingual environment.
Another case is the mother B of my child’s Chinese after-school classmate. She recently told me that her grandfather passed away, and her sister and mother came to the city where she lived to attend the funeral.
Her two children can easily chat with her family in Primary 2 Chinese Tuition, which makes her feel that her persistence in Chinese education over the years has finally paid off.
B immigrated to the United States when she was in the second grade of elementary school.
Since her Taiwanese parents immigrated to the United States in the early 1990s, they have been busy with work and could not devote themselves to teaching her Chinese.
Pity. B’s main language has long been English. Her current Chinese ability is slowly accumulated because she is interested in Asian culture.
However, because she has not worked hard in reading and reading, she can only learn intermediate Chinese now.
Dialogue, and I am not very proficient in many Chinese vocabulary, so it is difficult to discuss many topics in depth.
B told me that she hopes that her children will have a Chinese language ability beyond her own.
On the one hand, they can communicate with family members in Taiwan, and on the other hand, they can use language to deepen their Asian identity.
There are actually many parents with a growth background like B, but few of them take Chinese as a “mission” as seriously as B, and are constantly looking for opportunities for their children to learn and speak Chinese.
Today, in order to allow children who have already attended an all-English school to maintain a certain level of Chinese, B arranges for children to take 7 online Chinese classes a week, including Taiwanese elementary school Mandarin courses, Chinese conversation classes, Chinese reading classes, Chinese Clay class; there are also some classes that are held 2-3 times a week, with different types of classes staggered each day.
The reason why B plans such a careful learning rhythm is because she deeply understands that if she wants to communicate fluently in Chinese, it is not enough to go to a Chinese school on weekends once a week. Knowledge (background knowledge) to construct.
Only in this way can the child have a conversation with Primary 2 Chinese Tuition Chinese-speaking family members or communicate with other Chinese-speaking adults.
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