Introduce Chinese to Children Through Songs: Ni Hao and Number Songs are the first songs all my kids learn on the first day of school. The excitement level goes up as the number goes up! You may also like to read Teach Chinese Through Songs: Sing, Rap, Speak!
Singing, Dancing and Finger Play
Singing, dancing, and finger play are lots of fun for young children. Kids enjoy rhythmic patterns and music. It is a joyful shared experience when you sing with your little ones. You clap our hands, stomp our feet, jump up and down to express the fun you are having when you sing. The giggles and laughter from kids are happy signals that they are enjoying the learning experience. Introduce Chinese to children through songs is a lot of fun.
YouTube Miss Panda Chinese channel
Music is a wonderful tool to introduce a language to young children.
Infants, toddlers, and preschoolers all love music. Babies can recognize a song before they can talk. Tots enjoy wiggle to the music. Preschoolers love singing and they show their enthusiasm by singing loudly. Have you ever played a lullaby album at night to soothe your precious one? My kids used to ask for the same lullaby songs every night. Then they started humming the tune and singing with it. When my daughter was a toddler every time I started singing the “Ugly Little Duckling” song and she would start waddling! This happens to my babies and tots Chinese immersion program and in my programs in the elementary schools. Songs and music are a universal language.
Chinese Play Time at Home
Start your own Chinese Play Time at home. Listen to the songs or mini-lessons in the car and at home. Listen to your selected songs and sing with your young learner(s). Take your time and be patient. When your young learners see you hum, sing and follow the audio program s/he will feel you are doing this together. This is bonding on the new learning journey. When your young learner is ready s/he will join you and sing along.
Always remember how long it takes for a baby to say the first word in his/her native language. This also applies to a new target language (Chinese). If you are new to this bilingual/multilingual parenting journey you will enjoy this article – 8 Tips to Boost Your Family’s Multilingual journey.
Use visual tools to supplement the songs so young learners can associate the spoken language with the written form- early literacy skill building.
For non-Chinese speaking parents here are the resources you can choose from to start with your daily Chinese routine.
Youtube Miss Panda Chinese channel – Miss Panda’s Happy Chinese Playgroup
Let’s Learn Mandarin Chinese with Miss Panda audio album (in CD & MP3 -MP3 available worldwide on iTunes and Amazon.com). There are twelve engaging lessons covers over 100 most commonly used words, phrases, and sentences in this album. Each lesson has a storyline and it leads to a related song or rhyme to reinforce the learning. This program is carefully designed for children and families with no Chinese language background or with limited Chinese. There is a separate Companion Learning Guide (PDF file) to this audio album with over 100 flashcards that you can use as Word Wall. In addition, there are resources like Who Speaks Mandarin Chinese? Chinese pronunciation Chart, Tones in Chinese, Zhuyin to Pinyin Conversion Chart, and Field Trip Ideas included in this companion guide.
A Little Mandarin – Chinese Children’s Classics audio album. This is a collection of classic Chinese children’s songs and it is one of the best Chinese children’s music albums with professional production. The producer and the vocalist for the album, Toni sings every song beautifully in Mandarin Chinese.
Chinese and English Nursery Rhymes: Share and Sing in Two Language. This English-Chinese bilingual book comes with an audio CD and the songs are sung by a mother-daughter duo in English and Chinese.
Little Dragon Tales: Chinese Children’s Songs audio album consists 12 classic Chinese children’s songs with a modern touch.
Top 3 Tips for a successful Chinese play time
Sing together!
Let’s sing in different styles. How about singing a song with a low voice? A high voice? A baby voice?
Use Toys!
Got blocks? When you sing the number song stack up the blocks, count the cars, count the dolls according to the numbers.
Wiggle together!
Create your moves with the lyrics. The sillier the better. Music and movements work wonderfully together.
Share a good time!
Are you having a great time? Wonderful! Let’s make it a routine and have a Chinese play time every day!
Now watch the video above. Let’s sing the Chinese “Hello!” and “Number” songs together! Ready, set, sing!
You might also enjoy…
Listen to Chinese Songs with a Smart Speakers
15+ Chinese Cartoons for Kids
Raising A Bilingual Child in English and Chinese: 11 Activities for the Year
Chinese Story Time: The Very Hungry Caterpillar & Book Activity
Chinese Story Time: Good Night Gorilla & Book Activity
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Amanda, I love all your fun, and singing methods to teach another language. This is a great post!
Thank you for submitting this post to last month’s multilingual carnival! http://discoveringtheworldthroughmysonseyes.blogspot.com/2013/10/raising-multilingual-children-blogging.html
Thank you very much, Frances! What a pleasure to join all the bilingual families and learn from them!