Why should kids learn Mandarin?
- Mandarin, along with English and Spanish, is fast becoming the lingua-franca of the world. In fact, when our kids grow up, China may become one of the biggest economies, and Mandarin may be spoken by 1/4 of the world population.
- Mandarin is the gateway to accessing the rich 4000+ year old Chinese culture.
- Mandarin is a difficult language to learn later on in life. Early exposure helps the brain develop circuitries to attain native accent and fluency. The more Mandarin a child knows, the more they will learn once they can understand, read and write in it.
- Mandarin is useful for travel -- in East Asia and... Chinatowns.
- Mandarin will be a useful skill in the future job market.
Should infants and toddlers start early second language acquisition?
- Research shows that children are most receptive to language acquisition from birth till 5 years old. They absorb languages like sponge.
- From birth to 1-2yo, infant/toddler brains have no problem distinguishing different sounds in various languages. Languages learned now will have native accents.
- Children who know two or more languages:
- - are more mentally flexible since they have to choose between languages many times a day. This creates positive benefits on future creativity, divergent thinking, selective attention, and prolonged old-age mental functioning.
- - will learn additional languages more easily
- - will have a broader worldview and develop multiple cultural perspectives
- - have better metalinguistic awareness. They understand earlier that words are symbolic representation of a concept. E.g. multiple words mean "dog". This is beneficial to future reading and writing skills development.
- Learning a second or third language does not delay a child's language development. In fact, it will result in a larger total vocabulary, which aids with literacy later on.
Why is community a key value at Mandarin Play?
When our children have friends of all ages that speak Mandarin, they are more likely to consider it a regular language, rather than a special language. Regular language gets used more often, and spoken more willingly.
Knowledge becomes entrenched only when there's opportunity to use it. A big community begets more activities, and that begets more opportunity for practicing the language.
The availability of peers who use the language for communication is essential. Let's use peer pressure to our advantage in our children's language learning adventure.
Knowledge becomes entrenched only when there's opportunity to use it. A big community begets more activities, and that begets more opportunity for practicing the language.
The availability of peers who use the language for communication is essential. Let's use peer pressure to our advantage in our children's language learning adventure.
Why is fun a key value at Mandarin Play?
Mandarin is hard to learn so it has to be fun! Fun stuff stick better. When children have fun, they forget that they are learning. When children have fun with Mandarin, they will want to do more of it!
