Learning a 2nd Language

In our bilingual society, it is not acceptable to find a child who can’t speak/listen to a 2nd language. We are coming to terms with this now.

Gone are those days (my days, at least) of pride (?!?!?) when we proclaim we failed our 2nd language spelling, we got ungraded in the year-end examinations, and of course, the ultimate fun bit—we are not alone, the whole class too! Unless you are from the mission schools where I came from.

Fast forward to the 21st century. I had this same silly pride over my kids. I mean, no one speaks Mandarin to them at home. Grandma and Grandpa don’t, Popo and Gong Gong don’t, even Ah Zou & Ah Tai (both Great-grandma) use smattering English with the kids! We were quite convinced the excellent award-winning world-acclaimed Singapore education system will rise to the occasion and do its job!

Well, Nicole is 5 yrs old. She goes to a pre-school, which has mandarin classes since she was 3. Through the past years, her teachers gave us these comments:

“Ohhh she speaks very well!”

“No one speaks Mandarin at home? We can’t tell!”

These were such FANTASTIC comments! No one ever said that about me! We concluded it was not necessary to have additional  classes for Mandarin.

What savingss$$!

Nathan. He is 3 yrs old. He goes to the same pre-school, which has mandarin classes too. This year, he had his first taste of Mandarin. (we didn’t try anything since Nicole was ok without trying) His teacher’s comment:

“He spoke one sentence in Mandarin today, what a good boy!”

Wahahah! That got me thinking, we better start considering additional classes? This boy is not picking up Mandarin like his sister! The above comment came in October…last quarter of the year!

Nadine. She is 2 yrs old. She’ll start school next year. After that comment from Nathan’s teacher, we decided to immerse her in some Mandarin. We tried with the basic—using her Chinese name. Her response?

“No. No wan”                                                                                                                            

“NO NO NO” 

Sigh… and we’ve tried this daily for three weeks. Even Nicole and Nathan have chipped in, they use Chinese to call her. It’s now a frustrated and exasperated NO from her.

So THE question arose. Do we need to send them for extra classes? Nicole speaks well, but apparently can’t read all the words off the “Berries” textbook for K1. (Her friends from church can, although I’m not sure it’s necessary that a 5YO can read these words:

?, ?, ?, ?

I’ve no doubts that my children would need mandarin tuition. But starting before they go primary school is really something I don’t want to do. We are not expecting As for Mandarin. Is the standard really so high in Primary School that you need a thorough foundation at pre-school? I mean isn’t it enough if the child can understand mandarin, speak simple sentences? Is reciting Chinese poetry necessary?

I know I can do better in exposing them to Mandarin. And we will do that. My wife reads Mandarin stories to them at bedtime weekly. We try to have a Mandarin only hour each day. They watch Disney Playhouse in Mandarin. We will try to have Mandarin a part of our lives, and not a foreign entity found in school.

So till Nicole goes to Primary One, we will work hard to give them Mandarin exposure. In these growing years, we want to be a part of their journey learning Mandarin. In the future, there’ll be many chances when they will be on their own learning.

I’ll post the steps and ideas we are embarking on our family’s Mandarin life classes next. Meanwhile, if you have any ideas, please comment!

In case you are wondering, the above words in Mandarin are short, heavy, hot, thirsty. Some browsers are non-Mandarin, so you may just see three Question Marks 🙂