Cantonese/Mandarin Tutor

[may]

Hi! dragonmama,

I'm interested in joining your playgroup. My son is 3 1/2 yrs old.
I live in Pokfulam. Whereabout your place?
May I know the playgroup will be conducted in English or in Chinese?


Sylvia,

I think playgroup is not enough for your kids to learn Chinese since Chinese is difficult to learn compare with English. However, if u do not except too much, it still can create an atmosphere for them to learn Chinese.
It is worthy for u to find a private tutor for your kids because they can learn together at the same time. 2 is the right time to start because if they start at the age 4+, I'm afraid their Cantonese will have accent. This is my own experiences when I was a private Chinese tutor 8 years ago. (Of course, now I'm busy with my kid and my own career and will not take private students any more). However, I can share with u some methods for teaching children Chinese if you can read Chinese.

 

[chrisil]

Thanks May,

I think I need to have a tutor for my sons. Will have it during the summer holiday.
And I'm afraid I can't read Chinese. Thanks anyway...

 

[dragonmama]

May,

I think it will depends our children language capacity, I think it any has a higher chance that we are going to conduct the PG in any languages.

emilyc,
How old is your children, I would like to join you as well, please check your email.

Smak,

please leave me your email, as I do receive email from other moms in Hong Kong, and their babies' age are quite close to yours.

Sylvia,
I think we can help you, as me and my daughter went back to Sydney because the outbreak of SARS for couple months last year. She shifted to a English speaking kid in 2 weeks time, when we came back here last september, she has a bit difficult to pick up Cantonese, and she has no problem in speaking these 2 languages now. BTW, I think most kids are really start to know Chinese when they reach the age of 4, unless you send your kid to those very-pushy Traditional Chinese school. So just relax.

 

[smak]

my email is: [email protected]

Thanks!

 

[may]

dragonmama, emilyc,

Here is my email address:
[email protected]

I'm interested in joining your playgroups. Pls let me know the details.
Thanks!


dragonmama,sylvia,emily,

I think it's better for each of us(moms) speak only one language during the gathering so that our kids can learn different language from us.
For example,emily speak Japanese,sylvia speak English and I speak Cantonese. Emily talk to the kids in Japanese even though they don't understand Japanese, I talk to sylvia's kids in Cantonese even though they don't understand Cantonese in the beginning,so that everyone can learn another language . What do u think?

 

[Guan]

Hi!

My Mandarin teacher advised me that 1 hour a week isn't sufficient to teach kids (especially the under 5's) Mandarin (or any language for that matter) as they have short attention and retention. The key to succesful learning of a new/foreign language is repetition. Instead, she recommends 1/2 hour every day would be more effective.

I think she's right from personal experience. I've tried to learn Mandarin for several years on a once-a-week (and on-off) basis, but I haven't been able to master the language.

I have a 9 month old daughter and would like to expose her to Mandarin and Cantonese. Would anyone be interested for their babies to share a Mandarin playgroup with a Mandarin teacher for 1/2 an hour every weekday?

Peng

 

[chrisil]

Hi dragonmama, emilyc, & may;
Thank so much for the great plan for our kids! But I'm afraid we have to leave HK for a while, because my husband's grandmother just passed away. Will be back around middle of July tough.
So pls e-mail me: [email protected] for any update regarding the playgroup.

See ya....

 

[may]

sylvia_sp,

Sorry to hear about that!

If u still want to find a Cantonese/ Mandrain tutor when u come back, pls let me know, I know a teacher who love kids very much. She is good at handling babies and young children,but I'm not sure whether she still will take private students or not.

One of my neighbour employs a part-time local nanny to come to their house every afternoon. Take care of the children+cook while her domestic helper is doing the household. The children pick up Cantonese very fast! It's also a good method since employ a tutor is costly than employ a nanny.

 

[dragonmama]

Hi, all moms,

Please check your email.:bounce: :bounce:

 

[dragonmama]

sylvia_sp, may, smak, emilyc,

I have send you moms an email about the playgroup, I think we can start with this summer holiday, and can be extended to new kindy term will start again in Sept.

Hope u moms will replay me soon.

dragonmama:burnout: