5 steps to conquer Primary School Chinese! 华文，谁怕谁！

School has started. 

6.30am is the new routine. 

Homework replaces TV time.

E-device usage got cut down.

AND CHINESE LANGUAGE SAYS HELLO! 👋🏼

 

In my 8 years of teaching Chinese in a primary school, I have taught all primary levels and also different classes and students of different ability and progress. (And also personally experienced three rounds of curriculum changes.) Something in common is almost all parents/students seems to be always saying Chinese Language is so difficult or that having a good Chinese teacher makes a big difference. If the teacher is pretty and fun, even better! Heh heh...

However, all these aside, I feel the key for a child to improve or even to acquire the language is REINFORCEMENT. And reinforcement can come in several ways: revision before exams, tuition, remedial or simply talking about what have been learnt and have many bite size but effective revision daily.

It is quite obvious which one I prefer eh? :)

So as a parent, how do I know what I should be reinforcing with my kid daily? HOW??? Here are some steps, I feel, will be helpful. :)

Step 1:

UNDERSTAND THE TEXTBOOK

 

Have you taken a close look at these two pages before?

 

These two pages could possibly be the most important two pages that a parent should read before even starting the school year.

These two pages breakdown what will be taught in each chapter and what are the learning points.

If you wish to know how you can support, you need to first know what the teacher is teaching in class.

I will use chapter 4 as an example.

 

This is usually how the chapter starts.

On the right, there is a list of conversational vocabulary based on the theme. The theme for this chapter is most probably outdoor activities or hobbies.

There are 16 words but 1 to 12 are to be acquired by standard Chinese students and 13 to 16 are the additional vocabulary for the Higher Chinese students. For me, I usually just go through with my standard level class.

NOW, you DO NOT need to know how to WRITE all the 16 words. You only must be able to know how to SAY them upon relating them with the picture.

As for the yellow boxes and speech bubbles, those are conversation structures that students must learn so they can speak with the correct sentence and grammar structure. :)

Now, second part.

 

Using the vocabulary and conversation structures learnt, the students will have to be able to permutate, swapping the activities according to the people they are talking to.

Part 3, some theme-related extra readings.

 

Part 4, still expanding and building on the speech structures. Here, you will see the two requirements that the student has to meet. This is what you also have to support and reinforce AFTER the teacher has taught it.

 

The fifth part would be hanyu pinyin. The students will complete HYPY by first semester. Afterwhich, the foundation built should be able to support further Chinese language learning.

 

Sixth part! Building up on the chapter's HYPY.

 

Part 7! The segment that parents put most emphasis on. However, look closely at the small speech bubbles at the bottom.

One says, "我会认” while the other says “我会写”.

So what is the difference in requirement?

我会认 means students are only required to recognise and read it out accurately but should also be able to form the HYPY for the words.

我会写 requires all that 我会认 covers but on TOP of that, the student must know how to WRITE the word accurately.

 

Part 8 starts to use some of the words learnt in part 7 to make sentences but sometimes add on more words to learn. (Refer to the bottom again)

 

The ninth part of the chapter is on application and usually links to the last page of the chapter in the workbook.

 

Woah. I also had a shock on the number of parts I just broke the chapter down to!

Step 2:

UNDERSTAND THE HOMEWORK

There should only be two types of homework for what is learnt. Any additional could be what the teacher feel the students require. Either for stretching their ability if he/she feels the students can attain more OR to support or engage the children more in the theme or learning.

So the two types are: 习字 （writing book) and 活动本 (activity book).

习字will cover all the 我会写 words in the chapter. Take a look at the picture below, you can tally them with the textbook. :)

 

As for the activity book, there are again several parts but all to support what has been learnt in the text book.

Minus the listening activity, the other three pages reinforce the HYPY learnt.

 

The follow few pages covers the 我会认 and 我会写 vocabulary.

 

Last part of the chapter is usually application or a language activity.

 

After the homework given by the school, you may wish to give a bit of revision work. A BIT only ah! However, only those that can be written can be reinforced using an assessment book. For the conversation structure and the conversation vocabulary, it has to be practised by talking and chatting. You cannot skip the revision for these conversation skills as oral examination is taking up heavier weightage in time to come.

So after standing in Popular for a good 30min, flipping through one full shelf of P1 Chinese assessment books,

I found one that I would use.

 

It is $5.90.

I like because (1) it listed out the key learning items and offered the definition in both languages and also HYPY.

 

(2) the exercises are similar to the workbook's format.

 

And the amount of work is not too much. 

For me, P1 means only 7 years old. They need more sleep for their body and brain to develop well. :) so let's go easy with extra homework ya? :))

Step 3:

UNDERSTAND THE ASSESSMENT/GRADING/TEST

Currently, all primary schools are doing Holistic Assessment for at least P1 and P2. Hence, there is NO CA1, SA1, CA2 or SA2 for your child.

The students will be going through bite-size formative assessment, which is small checkpoints on how well your child has learnt the different skills or content in the year. Usually in a term, there will be about 3 components assessed. The components will cover one of the four skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking.

 

For P1, a good portion of the marks comes from speaking, which include components like reading aloud, show and tell, conversation or describing a scenario. Imagine you only focused on the writing! 

Also, you have to mark down the dates of the assessments and the chapters or components tested. 

For show and tell, the teacher will usually give some structure and practise with the class. Speak to your child to ensure that you are preparing and practising with him in the correct direction and instruction given by the teacher.

Step 4: 

UNDERSTAND HOW YOUR CHILD LEARNS

Many years back, when I was in school, my mum just made me read the passage many times and make sure I could recognise all the words and read them accurately. Then she would make me write all the new words that I have to learn and then give me spelling. 

Now, things are a bit different. Our children are growing up in a totally different world and their mind function differently too. Like it or not, attention span is shorter, they get disinterested faster, they disengage once they deem something as not fun or boring. So drilling may not be the way to go.

So observe to see what kind of learner your child is. For instance, I am a visual learner. I have to spell someone's name in my mind to remember it.

Got the information below from http://www.learning-styles-online.com/overview/ 

By recognizing and understanding your own learning styles, you can use techniques better suited to you. This improves the speed and quality of your learning.

 

The Seven Learning Styles

• Visual (spatial):You prefer using pictures, images, and spatial understanding.
• Aural (auditory-musical): You prefer using sound and music.
• Verbal (linguistic): You prefer using words, both in speech and writing.
• Physical (kinesthetic): You prefer using your body, hands and sense of touch.
• Logical (mathematical): You prefer using logic, reasoning and systems.
• Social (interpersonal): You prefer to learn in groups or with other people.
• Solitary (intrapersonal): You prefer to work alone and use self-study.

So which type of learner is your child?

Step 5:

PROVIDE THE ENVIRONMENT

Children who do not have anyone speaking mandarin at home, surely won't have an environment to practise speaking the language. 

I am not recommending tuition here but I do know of some enrichment centres who offer story telling sessions or speech and drama classes. These would be good platforms.

I'm gonna be a bit unconventional here but a bit of Chinese drama or cartoon is fine too BUT BUT BUT with you by the side to moderate and give guidance should there be any inappropriateness or deviation from our moral values. Also, to maximise the effectiveness, I always ask parents to have a short discussion about the character or the story plot after. :)

Now my Favourite point!

Providing the environment also include creating the positive vibes that learning Chinese is not hard, Chinese homework is not difficult, Chinese language is beautiful and interesting, being effectively billigual is cool, etc. What we say makes a big difference to how the child is going to perceive Chinese and the value of this language. Even if it is really difficult for you and your child, use it as a teachable moment to build resilience, to learn to set realistic targets, to bond by saying let's learn together. Turn the crisis into an opportunity! :)

Frankly, I love Chinese Language not because I am good at it. I love the language because my mum exposed me to the language using stories, comics, drama, songs, etc. She guided me to write short paragraphs and even sent them in to the newspaper for them to publish them. My first cheque in my life was from Zaobao when I was in Primary 1. It was only $8 for a short paragraph on 我的弟弟. My mum brought me to the bank and I personally banked it in and that was the first amount printed on my POSB bank book with the cute squirrel.

My final advice, face it positively, learn together and enjoy the language. :)