Frankly, do you think the word ‘xiao’ or smile in Mandarin is a tad too tough for a 4-year old to write? Though the meaning is straightforward, the word itself has so many strokes that even we adults find it difficult to remember to write, well at least for me, a yellow banana who speaks smattering Mandarin and can only write my own Chinese name and a handful of Chinese words.
The Mandarin enrichment class teacher had expected her to know how to write this word and her homework was to write a page full of the word ‘xiao’. Even after I had dotted the lines for Alycia to trace the word, she could still not remember the correct order of the strokes. She was merely tracing for the sake of completing her homework.
Now, I’m really worried how Alycia is going to catch up if I were to send her to a Chinese school in future. I know nuts about Mandarin and I don’t want to lead her blindly, just as how I had led her blindly on the use of the abacus, coz we were never taught how to use the abacus during our time. I guess I will have to send her for tuition in future.
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cant comment as i dono how to write myself. But according to hb, their syllabus now quite tough (as he sometimes help our neighbour’s son with his homework).
The only way for them to catch up easily is to send them to chinese tuition. At least, they can lead by people who understand chinese.
is Alycia in Chinese med or eng med kindy? if it is chinese med, then its supposed to be harder. my complained so many kindy i brought her to see that the chinese is not hard at all (she was a chinese teacher at kindy).
Alycia is turning 4 this yr? its gd to know more chinese characters cause when they go to std 1, the teachers expect them to know a lot of vocab (as per a few chinese teachers i met)
Chin Nee…. yup, I guess tuition is really unavoidable since both hubs and I do not know Mandarin.
Wen… Alycia is in a kindy that is gravitated towards Mandarin. Most of the students there eventually go to a Chinese school. Alycia just turned 4 yo and will be 5 yo in Dec this yr. She’s the youngest in the class.
The word may look complicated and I dont knw chinese. But after having my kids in Chinese school, i somehow lean that “knowing the strokes” is vital. The word “smile” in chinese mainly have the same stroke if u noticed..so if she has learn the basic strokes..the word just consists of the same repeated strokes..do u agree ? It’s good she starts early. the kindy Dan & Den went only starts the chinese tution at 5 years old and I think it’s too late as they have zero background in this language. Dont worry..ur girl will eventually cope by herself since she realise mum n dad cant help. just ensure she gets a good chinese tuition teacher. At the same time u will learn frm her, too. STart buying book and VCD or even kiddy songs in Mandarin to stir up more interest in her. she will be fine , having such a supportive and caring mum in u.
Wah you dont scare me eh. I also a banana and planning to send both my kids to a Chinese school. At the moment I still havent seen any Chinese writing for my girl.
Compared to my time, of course this is “tough” but because of the syllabus nowadays is so competitive. They expect kids at 4 yrs old to be able to write & read as Standard 1. This could make them loose their interest in studying at times, or put them into stress! I have a friend’s son whom in Chinese kindy at 5 & now he is standard 1 in Chinese primary school is so afraid that he might not be able to catch up, so he needs to remind himself to finish all the homeworks everyday. If you plan to send Alycia to Chinese school, I think the best way is to make her gets interested in Mandarin in a fun way and not to finish the homeworks just bcoz the teacher wanted her to. I’m also cracking my head now on how to make learning Mandarin a fun way! May be we could share!
this is going to be my future problem also cos i am more banana than you. I can only write my name ( i think i still remember la.. but i think errrr ) that one also very ugly…cham lor..
Shireen, for your info, my children don’t speak mandarin at home. Karl has been sent to a chinese primary school this year and after 2 months, I see him coping well. Previously, he hated Chinese but now, he told me he likes Chinese. Don’t worry too much, children learn very fast. Even the Malays and Indians who are sent to Chinese school can speak mandarin fluently and can read and write too. Their parents don’t know Chinese either.
I strongly encourage you to send your children to a Chinese school regardless of the heavy homework load and frustrating traffic. It’s worth, really! Think of their future. It would be an advantage if they know another language, especially when China is coming up strong.
Just my 2 cents.
Wah looks tough. I remember writing the same words when I took mandarin up (which I’ve seen abandoned!). Is Alycia in a chinese-ed kindy now? Leanne is and I think they are writing simpler words.
Walaueh, my 4 year old can’t even write his ABCs yet. At this stage, if you start her off early writing strokes, I think she will have no problem when she gets to Std 1.
ya,it’s difficult…
i don’t think my 4 yr old boy knows this word:)
oh ya, don’t worry about the stroke, she will know the sequence of the strokes automatically as time goes by.
for me, it is definately very difficult for a year old kid.
wow..she can sit down n write patiently n soo neat..I cannot imagine if Jeriel has that work…
I find the below site helpful for learning Chinese strokes: http://www.cchar.com/
If you have the ChineseStar program, just type the “hanyu pinyin” and insert the character in the textbox given. Click on “GB” (for Simplified Chinese), select either animation or stroke order, then press the “Go” button. Voila! the Chinese strokes are shown to you in an instant.
Dear Shireen…looking at the pic of yr girl writing her chinese characters….reminds me of my days… sitting with my 2 sons til midnight….for them to finish their pages of chinese writings…..at one time i thought i had made the wrong move of sending them to chinese school after seeing them spending most of their time on loads and loads of homework….while i..a banana too cannot really help them much….but after all these years ….looking back today i’m proud of my sons for knowing how to read and write chinese…eventhough they r more incline towards english…..so do not worry of starting them young…children will catch up fast in all the things they learn… with proper guidance …even for music….
Thanks everyone for all the comments, feedback, suggestions and sharing your experience with me. Really appreciate it.
ya..this remind me, when i’m in kindy, i hv to write “black” in this kind of exercise book, one whole page, write until i cry!! Nightmare for me, till today i still remember that!!!
that was my worry too when my kids started going to a chinese school. but look at them now, they write the characters so fast. Aly will eventually learn don’t worry. Btw, I got my kids chinese tutor, because none of us speak/write mandarin
Jona learn that word too, I think when he is 4 yrs old, last year….actually, now, I already enroll him for enrichment class for Mandarin…cause I, myself not capable of teaching in Mandarin…
very tough when you go in Chinese school. myself also Chinese educate, so I will send my kids to Chinese school as well.
my neighbor’s parents were study in Chinese school and they send both of their sons to English school, and now, they missed the opportunity to work in Taiwanese company(very high salary) coz they cant speak Chinese.