How to get your children to learn Mandarin

[victorhart]

My latest blog post (www.mandarinexperiment.com) is about getting your small children to learn Chinese.

 

Some of you may balk at a total beginner such as myself giving such advice, but please understand that much of my post is tongue-in-cheek.

 

At any rate, I do believe that if parents, when they put their little kids in front of a TV set, would put on Chinese programming instead of Backyardigans, and stick to it over a few years, half the battle would be won.

 

And I believe I have found the perfect show for doing this. For those that don't want to read my blog, I'll spill the beans: Qiao Hu. I'm sure most 1 or 2 year olds would find it tolerable at least, and if they grew up watching it, wouldn't mind continuing to watch Chinese programs as they grew a bit older.

 

I'd be interested to know if anyone has experience or other ideas in this vein. Thanks!

[rkraft]

If I had a small child I would follow your experiment wholeheartedly.
Chinese people are so eager to learn about our culture and language, while we in the West hardly make any effort. As a result, a huge culture knows a lot about us while we know very little about them. Our ignorance (or negligence) can be a huge opportunity for the next generation.
Love your blog.

[miaomiao]

We recently had our kids start watching qiao hu. I am going to write a post soon on how we teach our kids Chinese.

http://www.teachkidschinese.com/2014/05/chinese-cartoon-smart-tiger-on-youtube.html

[victorhart]

rkraft - Thank you, I'm so glad you liked the blog and hope you will continue to visit it.

 

miaomiao - That is cool that you have also discovered Qiao Hu and that, as a native speaker, you can confirm its quality as a resource for kids! I would say it is akin to a Chinese person who wants to have their kids learn English discover Sesame Street. OK, maybe not quite the same quality, and for an even younger age group, but nonetheless it's perfect for learning Mandarin.

 

I'm also really pleased to have found your blog. Although the nature of my experiment won't allow me to use all the resources, I'm sure there is a lot on there (video links) that I can use. And although your blog is aimed at teaching kids, we are all children when learning a new language--at least, I believe that's the ideal attitude for a learner to adopt. In that vein, as a total beginner, I'm trying to watch Qiao Hu more and more in lieu of movies. I enjoy it much less, but I believe I will learn much more quickly.

 

I intend to put a link onto your blog from mine, as soon as I get around to creating links.

[victorhart]

In early 2015 I made a silly music video with my daughter with the Boonie Bears intro song.

 

I spent about 3 years without contact with Mandarin, but I've taken up my experiment again, learned a children's song, and made a second silly music video with my daughter.

 

Both of them are available here. 

 

I highly recommend The Dragon Tales album for children (or even adults) to pick up Mandarin.

[trevorld]

My 2-year old toddler is also learning Mandarin (but note that his māma, wàipó, and wàigōng are all native Mandarin speakers and he gets to listen to all of them in person or via wechat and he has Mandarin/English speaking playmates).

 

Personally my son is happy to watch "Fun Fun Elmo" in Mandarin in addition to Blippi, Sesame Street, and Tumble Leaf in English.  Other parents with bilingual children have reported success with the preschool audience with Peppa Pig (in either Mandarin or Cantonese). 

 

Instead of "The Dragon Tales" album did you mean the "Little Dragon Tales" album by The Shanghai Restoration Project?  Then I'd also recommend that - my son especially likes listening to 卖报歌 while 两只老虎 is an easy song for parents to learn to sing although sometimes my son just wants to listen to "Baby Shark" and "Bananaphone" in English.  I was able to download the album for free in the US via my public library (via Freegal).