You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great. -Zig Ziglar
Alice is amazing. She does not speak Mandarin neither does her husband. But, her boy does. Actually this college freshman recently has decided to minor in Chinese.
How did Alice manage to get it started for her boy?
When she decided a few years ago that her boy should learn some Chinese she just started.
Yes, that was really what she did. She encounter some challenges at the beginning but she was able to solve them one after another.
And, she didn’t quit. She has been walking along with her boy on this Mandarin learning journey.
When I saw my boy’s school needed a more hands-on science program I started a Science Lab for the 6th and 7th graders after school.
No, I didn’t have a science or engineering background. What I did was just getting started.
It can be scary to try something you don’t know and something you are not familiar with. But, it can be exciting to try and to figure it out.
There are many parents whose native language is not Chinese have successfully introduced Mandarin Chinese to their children and many have been making good progress on the learning path. They don’t have Chinese speaking relatives. There are no Chinese-speaking neighbors, either. But, they made it work.
Start introducing Mandarin to your child with something simple and playful. You can start just with a song! How about try a few words with sentences?
Learning with your young child together is a wonderful experience. When you are trying something new they see you. You are having fun singing and they will follow along. When you copy a new word or a sentence they will be curious about it.
You are walking with them on the learning journey. It is more than just learning a new language but the many things you want to introduce to them in the coming years.
How to introduce Mandarin Chinese to your child?
First, get started!
If you are a parent whose native language is not Chinese you can consider “Let’s Learn Mandarin Chinese with Miss Panda!” audio album – it is now streaming on Amazon and Spotify in addition to its CD and MP3 format.
This is an audio album designed for parents whose native language is not Mandarin Chinese and who want to introduce basic Mandarin Chinese to the young kids (recommended for age 8 and under) in a playful, engaging, and interactive way. I use the Chinese English bilingual approach so you and your child can understand everything from the beginning. There is a companion learning guide to the album so you and your child can connect the spoken words with the written language.
Hope to see you and your little one in the program!
photo image by Stefanos Nikologianis
