Julia Gabriel Bloggers’ Forum

Exciting News!

Julia Gabriel is a MEGA BIG   household brand for all Parents as they provide Premium childcare and education for children.

Therefore it was a real privilege when their PR company contacted me and wanted to do something with us! 🙂

What was the Julia Gabriel Forum about?

Well, when I was a kid, I told my mum once, “I’m not Chinese, I’m English”! (Of course I was referring to speaking and learning the language)

It was totally foreign, and understanding it alone was a REAL  CHORE! (remember writing and rewriting each character in those little boxes? And memorising them? ARRGH…)

As a parent, I was worried that my kids would say the same thing to me! (You know what they say: You reap what you sow!)

Basically, the team from Julia Gabriel was here to hear our concerns about Mandarin, and they were also ready to offer us helpful parenting tips to conquer our FEARS!

The topic of the day was therefore:

Mandarin and your Child!

Honestly, before meeting the JG staff, I was a bit apprehensive…

Are they going to make me read Chinese every  day to the kids?

Do I have to watch Channel 8 from today onwards?

Are they going to convince me that Chinese Enrichment classes are a must, since my Mandarin is so bad?

Well, the fears were allayed immediately when we met their staff.

Introducing:

Fiona Walker (Left) – CEO of Julia Gabriel for Learning, Chiltern House Child Care Centres and Julia Gabriel School of Education

Huang Ying (Right)– Head of Mandarin Department.

Tips for Parents

As educators, they gave us insights to what the ‘playing field’ was like. And, as parents themselves, they brought out valuable inputs that really matched our concerns! We heard personal experiences of how their kids learn Mandarin and the struggles they face at home and in school.

In fact, they were both quite inspirational! 🙂

Some quick highlights…

It was a BIG relief to know that even though Huang Ying was from China, she still had to make a great effort to make Chinese enjoyable to her child!

And it was heartening to hear that Fiona’s daughter enjoys Mandarin despite both parents not speaking a word of it!

….It was a Phew! If she can do it, we can do it too! (Or rather… we must be able to do it! Cos if we fail…quite embarrassing hor!)

So what did we learn about Mandarin and pre-schoolers? Tune in to my next post!