Consistency and Learning Mandarin
The young piano student stood up and bowed to the audience. The young girl was not alone. Her Dad held her hand and bowed with her together.
Before the duo started playing the father made a quick announcement. He told everyone that he was rusty with playing the piano since he had not been playing for years. But, when his daughter invited him to play with her for her first-ever recital. He decided to practice with her together.
It was a beautiful duet, a daughter and father team. Big smiles on the young girl and the father as they stood by the grand piano as people gave a big hand to celebrate their achievement.
The father said he practiced with his daughter every day. He even made the practice like a game so the daily routine does not get dull. He also mentioned that he had to practice more alone because he needed to brush up reading the notes and moving his fingers on the piano. In the end, he said, his lovely wife is ready to give the piano a try for the next recital with their daughter.
Consistency and learning are a duet as well. Each needs the other so the learner can move forward and make progress.
It sounds simple. Practice. Daily. Practice. Every day.
The challenge is the actual doing when a child is young and she relies on parents to help her with the daily practice and the target language (Mandarin) input.
There is a reason why the kids in an immersion Chinese school is making more progress than the kids in the once a week Chinese program. There is a reason why the kids who have comprehensible Chinese input at home are making more progress than the kids who have none Chinese input at home after each Mandarin class. There is a reason why it is possible for children with no Chinese-speaking parents can also learn Chinese well.
Consistency and the time a child is exposed to Mandarin Chinese (target language input) are the keys.
The comprehensible Chinese input can be from the English-Chinese bilingual program on streaming, podcast, books with audio support, age-appropriate children’s TV shows, and everyday Chinese topics with audio support for families who are new to Mandarin.
Learning starts with a resource that you can understand and follow. Then you can share the new language, Mandarin Chinese with your child in a simple way or you can learn together. More importantly, you and your child can start using the target language expressions whenever you can.
Consistency is showing up every day.
It needs practice. Consistency is where you turn on the English Chinese bilingual audio track in the car on the way to school or on the way home with your child. It is singing the Happy Time is Shower Time in Mandarin when your child is taking a bath. It is to have fun with your child in Mandarin. The progress will come as you build consistency in providing Mandarin Chinese input to your child every day.
Patience is not simply the ability to wait – it’s how we behave while we’re waiting. – Joyce Meyer
Consistency and Learning work well with learning an instrument, playing a sport, and a new language.
Tools to use for parents to guide kids to play in Mandarin
First Mandarin Sounds: an awesome Chinese word book Now available – Traditional Chinese. Simplified Chinese
“Let’s Learn Mandarin Chinese with Miss Panda!” audio streaming album on Amazon, iTunes, Spotify
Play and Learning digital books by topics
Image by Bruce Hong
Consistency and Learning Mandarin Chinese