Children learning pinyin simplified in the US

[warrengoff]

My 8 yo daughter is quite fluent speaking Mandarin. My wife wants to send her to China to learn to read and write. I am terribly opposed to this as I cannot stand the thought of not seeing her daily. Likewise, despite the fact the education system in the PRC is supposed to be excellent, I worry she will fall behind in her English. My wife is Chinese and it is common for Chinese families to do this she says. Does anyone know a resource in the US or online to help. My daughter would benefit most with games.

Edited July 15, 2009 at 10:24 PM by warrengoff

[leeyah]

Your wife is absolutely right in what she's saying. I've heard it many times from the Chinese that a Chinese heritage child needs to learn to read and write in China at a young age, otherwise they are considered illiterate & foreigners. I won't dare to interfere with my own views or advocate anything here, but just provide some links to alternative ways of learning you mentioned, for simplified PRC Mandarin. Check out these online options:

http://www.echineselearning.com/services/kids-chinese/customized-classes.html

http://www.chinese4kids.net/

http://www.mtec123.com/

[jbradfor]

I can't speak to how common it is for families in the USA to send their children to China for a year, but my understanding is that it is common (or, at least, not unusual) in China for children to be raised by grandparents or other family members for some period of time while the parents are elsewhere working or for other reasons.

However, IMHO, that is irrelevant to your case. Just because millions of Chinese do something, doesn't mean that you have to. [Convincing your wife of that, however, is a different topic.]

It is also true that Chinese seem to have, ummm, "issues" about Chinese who can not speak (at least) Chinese. Partly it has to do with lost culture. Partly it has to do with what appears to me to be this weird belief among many Chinese that there is something genetic about learning Chinese, and just because one genetically Chinese (or part Chinese) one should be able to speak Chinese. But again, IMHO, so what? Just because others may have issues doesn't force you what to do.

Lastly, IMHO you're being selfish if you focus only on what you want. I think you should do what's best for your daughter.

There. It seems I'm a lot less shy than leeyah at interfering in the lives of random strangers!

[renzhe]

I don't think that an 8 year old girl will come back from China fully literate after a year. Based on many threads around here, it takes about 3 years of school to teach kids the basic 2,500 characters, and likely years more to get fully comfortable at reading more complex stuff.

Perhaps you could consider a compromise. Send her over for 3 months during summer holidays. That can give her lots of exposure to spoken language, taking her Mandarin to a new level due to immersion, and also give her a grounding in the most common few hundred characters. Then you can bring back videos, children books, comic books for kids, and similar material to keep her busy and reinforce that.

Then enroll her into a Chinese Sunday school. There should be one in all bigger cities.

EDIT: Just to clarify, I'm pretty sure that everyone here will encourage you to make sure your daughter can use Chinese, both spoken and written, at the native level. She has a great opportunity (Chinese family) and it's a part of her heritage. I just don't know if sending her over for a year (and thus separating her from the parents and her friends) is the best way.

Edited June 29, 2009 at 11:34 PM by renzhe

[kdavid]

despite the fact the education system in the PRC is supposed to be excellent

To what type of school is your wife considering sending your daughter?

I agree with an above poster that a year is not enough time to master the writing system. In primary school, children spend 60% of the 5 - 6 years they spend in primary school learning Chinese and Math. That's a huge amount of time.

You'll also need to consider that if she cannot read/write now, she'll already be way behind her peers. Children in middle-class families go to pre-school and kindergarten where they start learning pinyin and characters. Say the average student at your daughter's future school started learning at age 5, your daughter will be at least 3 years behind others.

Lastly, I'd take another, much deeper look, at your comment cited above. From what perspective are you saying that the education system here is "excellent"? In what terms?

I'll be a new father by the end of the summer. I've already started making plans to take my child home as soon as he/she is old enough to attend school, or home school him/her if I am not in a position to leave. There is no way I want my child attending school in this country.

[imron]

Another important thing to consider: in order to get your child literate, to a certain degree she has to be interested in becoming literate. You can send her to Chinese school on weekends, but there's a good chance not much will stick and she'll hate having to give up her weekend and as a result may lose all interest in putting in any effort to become literate (until she becomes an adult at which point she'll regret not having studied more).

I like the idea of visiting China over summer and bringing back a large number of books that will be appealing to her. Many books for children contain both pinyin and characters. Then it's a matter of helping her read them. In the beginning, your wife will have to play a large role here to help her out. If you foster a love of reading in your child, then she will spend her own time learning characters in order to read.

[Scoobyqueen]

It may be cultural in China to "send your kid away" but it sounds like your daughter is not living in a Chinese environment. It could be traumatic for her to have to be separated from you and she may resent you for it later. (Some children feel that way when sent to boarding school in the west). At eight years old she is still learning about behavioural and moral values and needs role models which are generally the parents.

[katyjo]

My children have been going to a Chinese immersion school for years. Some parents take the kids to Asia every summer. Kids in the west will always lag behind in their Chinese compared to the Kids in China. I don't think it matters if a parents really works at it. Most western children don't like to work so hard. Fun games are not going to help a child learn very much. I think reading Chinese books is the best way to learn to recognize characters and new vocabulary. My 8 year old enjoys reading bilingual Magic Tree House books. My 10 year old is trying her best to read Chinese Harry Potter. I say do the best you can at home and go to China as often as you can during school breaks/summer.

[Chen Jiu]

Have you considered going together? That way you could continue to teach her English.

Our daughter is only young but we are considering moving over there (from the UK) for a couple of years in the future to expose her to the culture and language. I'll need to take a drop in salary, but the experience for our daughter outweighs the financial sacrifice.

I'm not sure if I'd agree that the Chinese education is excellent, but for a short time that wouldn't be a huge issue. I personally wouldn't want my daughter exposed to that system for too long and prefer the creativity and social skills which the British system nurtures.

[warrengoff]

Thank you for all of your input. I'm sorry for my delay in replying. I forgot that I had changed email addresses. This continues to be a point of contention between my wife and me. Your responses have been very helpful. It seems to me that the consensus opinion is to do the best you can here and go to China as much as possible. We've been to China 3 times already, spending the summers. Moving to China is not an option for us at this time. Thanks again...

Edited July 15, 2009 at 10:25 PM by warrengoff