What's your way for Child to learn Chinese language?

[Jieranlly]

Hello, I'm from Chicago, IL in America, My son is 8 years, many times, he said he were very interested in the Chinese traditional culture and Chinese language, I guess I should do something for him, I wanna help him to learn Chinese language from now on, so, do you have any good suggestion in respect of the way of learning Chinese for kids, Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated!

 

 

 

[edelweis]

Do you speak Chinese yourself?

If you don't, I recommend that you look into classes for children, perhaps at a Confucius institute, or other kind of school.

Chinese is very different from English and it is difficult to self-study or tutor a child if you don't speak Chinese yourself.

[Demonic_Duck]

On the other hand, learning together could also be a good mother-son bonding activity if you're also interested for yourself. Not sure if "parent-child language classes" are a thing (though you could always get a joint private tutor). Also, if they're not a thing... I smell a business opportunity!

[Hofmann]

For reference, Dual Language Immersion (DLI) is the best I can think of. DLI teaches grade-level academic content in the target language for at least half of the school day. First language proficiency and academic achievement ends up being higher than monolingual first language users (Collier and Thomas, 2004). It might be too late for your son though; most people start in first grade, and just throwing him in will not make him catch up.

 

Features of DLI (Fortune, T., & D. Tedick (Eds.). (2008). Pathways to Multilingualism: Evolving Perspectives on Immersion Education. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.):

• instructional use of the immersion language (IL) to teach subject matter for at least 50% of the preschool or elementary day (typically up to grade 5 or 6); if continued at the middle/secondary level a minimum of two year-long content courses is customary; and during that time all instruction occurs in the IL

   

• promotion of additive bi- or multilingualism and bi- or multilingual literacy with sustained and enriched instruction through at least two languages

   

• employment of teachers who are fully proficient in the languages they use for instruction

   

• reliance on support for the majority language in the community at large for majority language speakers and home language support for the minority language for minority language speakers

   

• clear separation of teacher use of one language versus another for sustained periods of time.

   

• curriculum is content-driven and language-attentive

   

• language, culture, and content are integrated

   

• classroom tasks are designed to challenge students both cognitively and linguistically

   

• instructional strategies reflect linguistically and developmentally-appropriate scaffolding and elicit frequent use of the immersion language

   

• classroom interactional dynamics encourage peer-peer communication

   

• cooperative learning techniques seek to build more equitable and socially respectful student relationships

   

[gaogaozhan]

Start from simple games.

Kids learn faster that way.

Eg, flash cards, Chinese chess, etc.

[geraldc]

Find your local Chinese school. Most overseas Chinese communities have a school for their kids, in the UK it's normally on Saturday or Sunday mornings held in a local school.

[roddy]

OP turned out to not be in Chicago, but in an online school in Guangzhou she later recommended. Ban stick deployed.

[Shelley]

Ah, that explains the patchy English, I did have my suspicions.

[Mucturose]

The fact that your child is interested is, I believe, half the battle and I agree that this type of interest deserves support. That said, I'd also say that how you give this support  depends on the exact age of your child. I've witnessed very young kids, kindergarden aged and younger, learn incredible amounts of both Mandarin and English though forms of immersive study. This style of learning, however, might not be as effective for older students. I'm just basing this on what I've observed while pursuing my own studies so I'm certainly no expert on the subject. 

That said, in my experience it seems like the earlier one starts learning a language, especially one that, opposite to the study of most Romance languages, grows progressively more complex and expansive the deeper one digs, the more fluency one stands to gain.

[Shelley]

@ Mucturose  I suggest you read the whole topic more carefully.