Mandarin and Latin: Do you do both?

[JadeOrchidSong]

I am native Chinese speaker. I teach older ds7.5 Chinese 1 and 2 written by Dr. Ma Liping who also wrote the popular math book. It takes quite some efforts and time to teach Mandarin. I will start younger ds5.5 later this year.

 

I am thinking of adding Latin using Song School Latin. Will this be doable with both dss, or should I start older ds first now? Do you start a foreign language for two dc the same time?

J

[Laura Corin]

We lived in China for four years and are continuing the boys' Chinese now we live in Scotland. The boys also learn Latin. Personally, I would continue to work on Mandarin and come to Latin later. Both my boys started Latin at around nine and will be well prepared for high school Latin. As you say, Mandarin takes a lot of time and I think it's more valuable to get a really strong foundation in that.

 

Best wishes

 

Laura

[JadeOrchidSong]

Hi, Laura,

Thanks for your response. I wonder what you used before your current Chinese textbooks.

The Ma Liping Chinese does not have any pinyin until Grade 3 and my guy is only comprehending the listening part and not doing well with the reading and writing. Of course, that is the hardest part of Chinese.

J

[Laura Corin]

Hi, Laura,

Thanks for your response. I wonder what you used before your current Chinese textbooks.

 

My eldest has been working towards the GCSE Chinese exam - it's for high schoolers learning Chinese in the UK. For that we've been using a series of books called Chinese for GCSE. I wouldn't recommend them for little children - they are pretty plain and discuss things that small ones won't be interested in.

 

My younger child has just moved to Easy Steps to Chinese, which I think is okay. It has Pinyin and characters, and the progression seems fairly logical.

 

Best wishes

 

Laura

[cylau]

I am also a native speaker. I also currently using Liping Ma's book. I previously used Chinese Made Easy for kids, but ds did not do well in it. I now join a co-op and the class uses Liping Ma's book. This works much better than Chinese Made Easy, because of the daily cd exercise as well as the class reinforcement. I also started Latin with him, but ds said Chinese is harder. In hind sight, I would agree with Laura to start Latin later.

[JadeOrchidSong]

and disliked it, because it is boring to death!

I do like Ma Liping's CD a lot. My ds can recite the story in each text very well thanks to the daily CD. However, reading and writing is really a struggle. I sent him to Sat. Chinese school for a year and then since it is so fast-paced, I brought him for Chinese 2, but haven't been using the character cards and paragraph cards and he cannot read all the new words! I do like the way CD 2 teaches pinyin. It seems painless to master.

Cindi, which level is your dc now? Do you speak enough for the kids to learn to speak well? My dh is American and speaks fluent Chinese, but we mainly speak English. I am guilty of not speaking much with dc.

I am glad to find someone else who is a native Chinese speaker. Our kids are similar ages too!

J

[cylau]

He is in level one only. No, we don't speak Chinese enough for him to speak well. DH and I sometimes speak in Chinese to avoid the kids understanding us, but ds seems to pick up whatever he has learned in our conversation and piece them together, but he is wrong most of the time, because he has only done the first section (8 lesson?) in the first book. I heard from the teacher in co-op that Liping Ma's book is reading based. It doesn't emphysize on writing or pin-ying until later on.

[schang011]

Do you have a link for Ma Liping's book? We speak Mandarin and English at home so my kids understand Mandarin. But reading and writing is a struggle. We are also doing Latin, and compared to Mandarin it is much easier for them. We are using Practical Chinese and it is ok. Retention is not great, so I am looking for something different.

BTW, my kids are older, 10 and 12.

 

Glad to know other Mandarin speaking families here!

Shirley

[JadeOrchidSong]

Do you have a link for Ma Liping's book? We speak Mandarin and English at home so my kids understand Mandarin. But reading and writing is a struggle. We are also doing Latin, and compared to Mandarin it is much easier for them. We are using Practical Chinese and it is ok. Retention is not great, so I am looking for something different.

BTW, my kids are older, 10 and 12.

 

Glad to know other Mandarin speaking families here!

Shirley

Shirley,

You have to read and write fluently yourself to be able to teach this at home. You can start with Grade 1 even though your kids are older because it goes at a very fast pace and there is huge amount of reading in each lesson, especially for Grade 2. Why don't you check out the sample for each grade? You need to read Chinese to browse this site though. I do assume you read well.

Hope this helps.

 

http://www.mychineseschool.com/sample/yangben.php

for sample lessons

 

http://www.mychineseschool.com/cirric/goumai.php

For buying the books

[schang011]

Thanks for the link! This looks great. I grew up in Taiwan so I can read and write fluently, although I am finding myself forgetting more and more Chinese characters. : )

 

I have one question: can I get by with just one set of curriculum for both kids? I don't think they sell the practice books separately. It gets a bit expensive to buy 2.

 

Thanks for your help!

Shirley

[JadeOrchidSong]

for your two kids because you can just use a Chinese character writing grid paper for your second child to use for the writing practice. The CD-ROM is THE best part of the program and your dc will learn to speak perfect Mandarin from listening to and reading along the text on the CD-ROM. They and you will also learn the pinyin on Grade 2 CD-ROM as summer homework. I love that part.

J

[schang011]

Thank you! I am excited about this curriculum, and you just saved me a lot of money! :001_smile:

 

Shirley

[crazyforlatin]

DD5 is learning Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish and Latin, but I haven't been teaching Mandarin that seriously to her due to lack of time. We use Youer Hanyu, which is reasonably priced (something like $30 at the shop, but more expensive at amazon.com). There is pinyin, characters, and colorful pictures, but there are no English translations. However, we take a class on Saturdays and the teacher translates them for the kids. I have to say that DD prefers Spanish and Latin and find them easy to learn; I learned Cantonese so that I could speak it with her daily, so that's not too hard for her, but Mandarin has not been a priority for me, so I've neglected to practice it with her. Of course, characters are just plain hard for both of us. I need to find a book or something that is more exciting or that will help us remember characters.

Edited June 1, 2010 by crazyforlatin

[elfinbaby]

I have not researched Chinese extensively but I know it's in our future. We homeschool with a number of Asian families and one of them is using this software to teach her children.

 

http://www.iqchinese.com/store/Scripts/default.asp

[JadeOrchidSong]

I wonder how you do this. I am kind of burned out teaching Mandarin. Ds7.5 was doing Ma Liping 2, but there are so many new words and he doesn't retain well. I stopped at 2/3 of Ma Liping 2.

There is not a textbook that offers bite sized lessons and I am tired of having such a boulder to chew each time and don't know where to start and where to stop. I really want to do Latin because I think it is easier and more rewarding when you can do it in bite size as in Prima Latina or other programs. There are just so many good Latin programs that would allow you to teach in small bites that it will be doable and will get done. Sorry I am venting.

I really get stressed out thinking about teaching Mandarin. I feel guilty if I stop simply because I am Chinese and they are young and can pick it up more easily than when they are in their teens. And there are many kids that learn Chinese in MN even when their parents don't speak it.

I really need some good encouragement.

J

[JadeOrchidSong]

:bigear:

[Diviya]

Hi J,

I am not an expert, but thought I would offer my opinion anyway :). I think what is most important about (and the main reason for) teaching a modern foreign language at this age, is the exposure to the spoken word. The reading and writing are not that important now; they can be learned later if and when they are needed. But being able to hear the tones, and speaking without an accent, those are much harder, and maybe even impossible, to acquire later. I'd suggest that you, as a native speaker, simply schedule time in your day to speak with your son in Chinese (maybe 20 mins, 3x a week). Have simple conversations. He can ask you to tell him words he doesn't know, and those can be his new vocabulary words. From what I understand, there's not a lot of grammar in mandarin, so seeing the words is not as important. I think this would take the stress out of it for you, while still keeping what is important. You could also just speak Chinese to him at non-school times? Latin is taught for a completely different reason; that's why the reading and writing are important for it.

Hope that helps,

[JadeOrchidSong]

Thanks, Diviya. I feel encouraged.

I don't speak enough Chinese to my kids. I feel so guilty. I always try to remember to do it. I used to read Chinese stories to them every day. Maybe I should resume that. My older son has very good listening comprehension though. Ma Liping Chinese 2 has long stories in each lesson and ds can understand almost every word/sentence when he listens to the story the first time on the CD-ROM. I think maybe I could continue by building on his listening and speaking now rather than also achieving reading and writing.

I am very eager to start Latin. I just love the idea and there are good programs out there for my two boys to learn together. I am thinking of Prima Latin as a spine and Minimus as reading enrichment. What do you think?

J

[Diviya]

I think if you and your dc are eager to start Latin, there is no harm in trying it out. I also think there is no harm in waiting until later if it would be hard to fit into the schedule. I have regretfully decided to wait until later, just in the interests of simplifying. We will continue with mandarin, which is really hard for me to teach as a non speaker! I'm still looking for a good curriculum! We are going to try spanish also, figuring its a good age for them to pick it up. I think Latin is worthwhile, but really you lose nothing IMO by waiting.

Good luck! I'm happy to be a sounding board if you want to discuss more!

Edited July 5, 2010 by Diviya