Tips for resources for teaching 5 and 6 year old English speakers Chinese.

[Shadowdh]

Hi there all, if anyone could provide a list of resources (books, cards etc) for teaching English speaking children that are 5 and 6 years old I would be eternally grateful. My Childrens school is developing a Mandarin program for the younger children and the head teacher has asked me if I could suggest any suitable resources. I have a couple of kids books and some cards (thank you Elina) that will be useful but am hoping that I can tap the vast pool of knowledge to be found here. Thanks in advance.

[davidj]

It would probably be worth contacting the UK Federation of Chinese Schools, either directly or some of its local members. The local schools may or may resent the competition, of course (although they are generally charities or other not for profits), but the Federation seems to have an outreach brief and seems to publish some text books itself, although I don't know if they cover simplified Chinese/PinYin, based on a very quick check of the site.

[Shadowdh]

Thanks for the site David... have looked at it and it has some useful info...

Does anyone else have any suggestions for internet based resources or textbooks or anything that may help teaching 5 and 6 year olds Mandarin...

[atitarev]

If you have a chance to get to a Kinokunya bookstore, try them.

I've seen a set of Mandarin textbooks for English-speaking little kids in Singapore's Kinokunya. They do exist and they are not bad. They are not just cards but phrases, sentences with word lists.

The books were not quite cheap and it was a low priority, so unfortunately, I don't remember the title.

Check bilingual books, they may be too advanced but they work for bilingual families.

http://www.languagelizard.com

My son is only 4 but I am thinking of teaching him some Chinese later, I did teach my daughter some Japanese before (not that I am fluent in these 2 languages)

[Shadowdh]

Thanks for the tip Anatoli, I will take a look...

[davidj]

In London, you should, of course be looking in Guang Hwa in Little Newport Place, which is where all my adult classes assumed one bought ones books, or Grant and Cutlers in Great Marlborough Street, which had quite a bit of children's material, although possibly more GCSE stuff, the last time I looked.

You should probably also look in the Charing Cross library Chinese collection, to get an idea of what is available. (Note the Chinese on this web page is broken. The page isn't in the declared character set and none of the other common encodings result in anything sensible. I think the last time I tried reporting a problem I failed to reach anyone suitable.)

[rob07]

If you have a chance to get to a Kinokunya bookstore, try them.

Yes, these are great bookstores. But I think it is spelt Kinokuniya.

[Shadowdh]

David, thanks again, Grant and Cutler is on my list, but I did forget about Guang Hwa...

Rob.. thanks for the heads up...

[parth]

Hi Well I am not well versed with books though but I might reccomend chinese tutoring sites that are available try these and see which fit your need:

www.chineseforsmartkids.com

www.betterchinese.com

www.chinese4kids.com

All of these offer products at different prices and ranges, you can sift through their offering and see which one works best.