Growing up in Ohio as one of the few Asian families locally, my family was always asked how we kept up the kids’ Chinese skills. Many of them were trying to encourage the same literacy in their kids, though some had also “given up”, speaking Chinese to their kids only to have them speak English back.
After I had my own kids and started working on a trilingual environment for my children, I really started to appreciate the challenges of raising a Chinese speaking kid in a non-Chinese environment. Everything seems to be conspiring against my goal, including:
- Lack of Chinese socialization (with other kids willing to speak Chinese) – We socialize typically with Asian Americans, and conversation is often in English among the parents. Even if we did start speaking Chinese, it’s not easy to encourage the kids to do it.
- My inability to make learning fun – Sometimes I revert to the traditional model of asking my child to practice writing Chinese characters. This is something my own mother actually never made me do, and for practicing a second language at home, has little hope.
- Traditional vs Simplified – Having come from a Taiwanese family and grown up learning traditional Chinese, I can write more naturally by hand with traditional characters. Traditional characters, though they have more strokes, often have more pictorial meaning. Admittedly there’s a certain righteous quality to wanting to keep traditional characters alive as well. It also should be a bit easier to learn simplified characters after knowing traditional. Simplified characters may seem easier to write because of the fewer number of strokes, though with the way children’s brains develop, they can definitely learn both. The choice often comes down to parental preference.
- Motivation – Children have notoriously short attention spans and are highly skilled at living in the moment. Getting them to see the long term benefits of language learning is hard, though you can certainly try. Inspiring a child to learn requires motivating them, sometimes with gentle guidance and creating an environment that makes learning possible. This is not an effortless task for most.
Being multilingual has incredible benefits by actually changing brain structure. Multilingualism helps young developing brains improve memory, information processing, decision making, multitasking, executive cognitive function, and more.
- Start Young – Kids have a natural thirst for knowledge (before school and rote learning often knocks it out of them). Some kids might even find flash cards fun. You’ll likely find a bit less resistance if presented early and relatively naturally.
- Maximize Exposure – One of my friends posted labels and signs around the house with Chinese characters like “door”, “television”. Maybe not the best home decor, but kids see it everyday!
- Seek Natural Motivation – Leverage the tools that your kid likes. For example if she likes singing or dancing, find Chinese songs or dances. If she is a fan of Thomas and Friends, play Thomas and Friends in Chinese on youtube for her.
- Use the native speakers in your life – Grandparents who speak natively should only be speaking Chinese to the kids. This is the easiest way to “force” the issue, when there is no other option. Even for grandparents who do understand English, if they stick to speaking Chinese especially at a young age, the kids typically follow.
- Promote literacy – Our goals in order of priority are spoken Chinese, recognizing characters, and writing. Reading and writing reinforce understanding and any effort is usually better than done. If we could give our kids pen pals that would be great, but in absence of that, my oldest has gotten access to an internet messenger where she can write (using the handwriting keyboard) facebook messenger
- Apps – Screen time is a privilege in our family with limits, but with Chinese apps the kids get more free reign to “play.” Currently the apps on rotation are the iHuman and Monkey King apps.
- Online tutoring – Even if you don’t have access to native speakers, there are a ton online for hire. Classes are individualized and can be tailored as needed. If you just want a teachers to focus on conversational Chinese, it’s entirely up to you. Platforms like italki allow filtering for teachers with experience teaching kids as young as preschool age.
- Chinese Schools – Cities with an organized population of Chinese people often have a local community association and local Chinese schools. Google your city and Chinese school to find options.
- Song – Kids have a natural love for music and enjoy singing along. Print out the lyrics or follow along with them online and kids may start recognizing characters
- Incentives – Pizza Hut’s Book it program has been a notoriously successful program in encouraging young readers. You can create your own sticker chart and prize system for extra fun
- Toys – Blocks like these that have Chinese characters are just another way to introduce characters
- Books – A collection of Chinese books at home offers a wonderful learning environment for kids. Picture books, comic books, and books that come with sound are a fun way to introduce kids to other worlds.
- Podcasts – During screen free time, you can play stories through audio podcasts for kids
- Subscription services – Ciaohu is a little tiger cartoon that offers a monthly subscription for learning materials including DVDs and age appropriate workbooks.
- Be Persistent – Even if you don’t start very young, children are still a bit more open and malleable. You may have to be a bit more stubborn than your child, who can wear you down. But tools to learn language have exploded along with the internet, and you can find a pathway that works for your child!
