Learning Chinese through Folk Songs & Rhymes

An innovative way of learning Chinese for Children

 

Introduction

An innovative way of learning Chinese - learning through songs and rhymes

 

Children can learn a language best when what they feel their learning enjoyable.  Learning through songs, rhymes and simple verses followed by role-playing and dialogues developed from such songs and rhymes is an effective way to develop phonemic awareness, expand vocabulary, master difficult sounds, and get fluency with less effort but more and pleasure than otherwise.

 

Many of the traditional Chinese folk songs and rhymes in this collection have been popular for generations. Our selecting strategy is to make each song immerse student in the language full of rhythms, rhymes and emphatic refrains. The rhyme and musicality would ease the burden of memorizing vocabulary and help create a natural flow of language leading to a stage of fluency.

 

The traditional Chinese folk songs and rhymes also contain a lot of history and culture which can be learned in an enjoyable way together with language.

 

Learning through Songs and Rhymes is a collection that contains 140 children’s songs and rhymes in Chinese, which are arranged by levels based on their length and difficulty. Each book contains 20 songs and rhymes together with 160 most frequently used words. English translation and pinyin are added to each of the songs and rhymes to facilitate the study. Students will focus on learning a few frequently used words or phrases they come across in each song or rhyme.  Furthermore, the class work, homework, computer flash programs and PowerPoint programs, as well as hands-on practice on our website, are all designed to reinforce our focused language learning process. For each month we shall have a different theme-based lesson plan in context with the songs and rhymes being learned in the month. 

 

Our exclusive Chinese learning website, www.waytochinese.com is getting a better shape day by day. More and more animated songs and rhymes with translation and pinyin are added on weekly basis. Children are encouraged to visit the website, where they are able to review what they have come across in class and learn a lot more by themselves

 

 

Content and objective:

 

· Develop speech and listening skills

· Recite the new songs and rhymes

· To build a strong language foundation in the most efficient way so children can hear, speak and manage the sounds

· To apply Chinese to daily life by learning short and basic conversations;

· Recognized basic Chinese characters and learn their usage

· Participate in creative activities and interact with other children and the teacher

· Acquire listening skills during story time and by following instructions given in Mandarin

· To sustain the child’s interest in learning the Chinese language.

 

Methods of teaching

Singing to young children and teaching them through songs is a universal concept.  Through rhymes, games, and activities, they express themselves with ease and pick up a lot of new words in their own language. The same method works when a child is learning a second language.

 

The songs and rhymes are arranged in three levels, based on its length and complexity - Easy, Intermediate and Challenging.

 

In the early stages, children will start songs that are easy and short.  There is no need to translate everything at this stage, rather just getting a few high frequent words with basic meaning, expressions and collocations.

 

For the intermediate level, there will be longer songs with more vocabulary in it. Children will start to understand the meaning of most parts of the songs and rhymes.  There will be substituting expanding vocabulary of standardized and patterned phrases.

 

Children will recite poems and listen and sing along with CDs. They will act out dialogues and have role-play for amusement.

 

Themes and language – A young learners' interest derives from the pleasure of a particular activity or events that occur around them.  Therefore, the teacher will encourage the class to exchange news, tell stories, and compose short plays and imaginary conversations.  Lessons are centered on a particular theme and incorporate interaction, communications, plays and stories.

 

Telling stories- Many rhymes and songs are elliptical and too condensed to be appreciated without some introduction. The simplest way of drawing the learner’s attention is by telling the piece as a story first.  In his/her introductory story, the teacher can relate the content of the song with familiar language and experiences.  The rhyme becomes a summary of a story that the learners understand and enjoy.

 

Drawing pictures- The children can draw or paint their own pictures to illustrate the words or stories and show what they understood.  They can try to tell the class what they have put in their pictures, compare the pictures and notice the differences.

 

Working with music and dance teachers - To learn the language through creative movement and actions, we work with dedicated instructors to incorporate dance and drama into the learning experience.

 

Small classes ensure maximum attention to every child and our ‘Chinese-only’ environment would motivate them to speak the language and build a strong foundation.

 

 

Class schedule: 

 

Tuesdays                     4 – 5:30PM

Thursdays                    4 – 5:30PM

Fridays                         4 – 5:30PM                 

Saturdays                    10 – 11:30AM

 

There will be 35 classes in total.

The first class starts on the second week of September and the last class ends on the second week of June, 2009.

 

Program polices:

 

o Children must be punctual.  Classes will start on time.

o Children are expected to complete their homework.

o We expect all children will attend every class except for an unexpected reason.

 

The 2008 Chinese New Year Performance and End of Year Performance (Dates will be posed)

                                                                                                                    

A Chinese year will begin on January 26. 2009. 

It will be the year of the OX.

 

Tuition:

 

 

 

            

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

$25 Barns & Nobles gift card for family and friends referral

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Online Registration

2008– 2009 

 

 

A letter to the Parents and Guardians on June 25, 2008 From Mrs. Wendy Zhang

 

 

 

Dear Parents and Guardians:

 

 

On behalf our Chinese class teachers, Lou Laoshi, Wu Laoshi and Zhou Laoshi, I would like to thank you for your trust and the opportunity you have given us to work with you and your children for the past school year.  It has been great pleasure and privilege to hear their singing and chanting in Chinese in class and on stage.  What most impressive and rewarding for us as well as for you is that our students have been showing their great enthusiasm and effort in learning the most difficult language.  With such enthusiasm and effort as the key factors in language learning, I truly believe that in the near future they will be able to speak Chinese fluently and impress any native Chinese speaker. 

 

We are expecting another productive year in September. At that time we will start using our innovative way of learning Chinese.  For the past several months, I worked very hard day and night to collect, organize and adapt a great number of Chinese traditional songs and rhymes, to each of them Pinyin and English translation is added. The samples of the class work and homework are attached hereto.  The students of the Monday class have used their self-designed learning materials and responded very well. 

 

             For the past several months, we have also been working diligently on our own Chinese learning website: www.waytochinese.com, which is now already in a decent shape. This website, which exclusively belongs to our program, is completely, 100 percent, created, designed and developed by our own amateur efforts. We plan in next school year to add a personal page for each of our students, who will be excited to see and hear on his/her own page his/her own work and voice in learning Chinese. Please visit our website from time to time and provide us with your comments, suggestions or advice. It is very likely that you would find changes in our website overnight after your much-appreciated suggestions.

 

I hereby wish our students and the families a healthy and refreshing summer. We look forward to seeing you in September. 

                                                                                          

 

                                                                                                                                               Sincerely,

                                                                                          

                                                                 Zhang Laoshi