Sharlene has very little interest in learning Mandarin. I realized this sometime last year when she chooses to read only the English and Bahasa school books most of the time. Her Chinese school book is always left behind and she will only look at it when I told her to do so. I am starting to worry as this year she has more Chinese books. Needless to say, there will be more mandarin homework as well. I’m just so afraid she can’t pick up this language if she doesn’t show much interest in learning now. Sharlene’s nanny is currently coaching her in her Mandarin homework and hopefully under her guidance she’s able to improve.
Just before the school closes for holidays last year, Sharlene’s class teacher told me that whenever she speaks to her or asks her question in Mandarin, she would reply and answer her in English. I suppose she understood the question at that time otherwise she would not have answered her teacher. Looks like I really have to 'zhiang hua yue' (speak mandarin) with her more often.
The pre-school that she is attending focuses mainly in Chinese, even the Principal and teachers speak to the students in Mandarin. I even noticed that majority of Sharlene’s peers speak good Mandarin. Hubby and I intend to enroll her in a Chinese primary school, as we really want her to learn and be able to speak Mandarin. It’s always good to know an extra language, don’t you agree with me? At the moment she can only speak a smattering of Mandarin. I am trying my best to speak more Mandarin with her nowadays. Sometimes when she doesn’t understand what I’m saying she would show me her blurry stare or totally ignore my existence. But apart from that it’s quite fun to converse with her in Mandarin.
Yesterday she gave me a pleasant surprise. She was riding her tricycle in front of the house when I arrived home. I got down from my car to open the gate. At that time she was pointing her finger at something on the ground and said Mummy, ‘ni kan che li’ (look at here). I was elated that she uttered those words and I quickly walked towards her direction to see what she's trying to show me. Guess what she’s pointing at? Hah…it’s a pile of dog droppings!! Yucks, and luckily she didn’t run over it with her tricycle.
Anyway, that's surely a good start and I hope she uses more of this language everyday. :)
Friday, January 09, 2009
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8 comments:
it will take time :) sharlene reminded me when i was her age too!
i have 3 awards for u!
http://kristieblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/threesome.html
It is a good start that Sharlene started to show interest in Mandarin.
Does she likes mandarin nursery song (VCD)?
Hmm... both hubby and I are "bananas". So our mandarin are half tong! :P
Kristie: Thanks for the awards, will pick it up soon :)
Joanne: I think she has 1 or 2 mandarin VCDs but she still prefers her non-chinese VCDs.
Doreen: My mandarin is not that fantastic too ;)
Kids her age pick up new language super fast. When my mil came back in April to help me out when I delivered Baby C, my gals learnt Mandarin in just weeks. Now they speak quite fluent Mandarin. The key is to keep conversing with them in Mandarin, else they would lose touch.
With her kindy environment, I think it's a matter of time b4 she starts to converse in Mand. I'm even more worried for XY coz her kindy is Eng based but we're planning to send her to a Chn pri sch. But luckily they try to focus more Mand for Yr 6 students.
ooo..i c. Maybe she needs some finds it more easier to speak and understand Eng than mandarin..
Give her some time..I am sure she can do it.
i will have the same issues when keira goes to school also.. you're right must speak more mandarin at home, but not used to it!
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