Before baby was born I decided that I wanted to teach my daughter Chinese. I didn’t know how to or even where to start. I know of 2 sets of parents who are raising their child with multiple languages, so I asked them for advice. They basically said to just constantly talk to your child in the preferred language and they will start to pick it up. It was the best advice. Children pick up languages fast. My parents were worried that if she only learned Chinese, what will she do when she’s in daycare or how will she communicate with her father. Well her father should talk more English to her then. My job is to teach her Chinese. How I started teaching my daughter Chinese from a CBC. She’s picked up about a handful of chinese words and learning more everyday.
How I started teaching my daughter Chinese
My daughter is 15 months old now. She probably has 20 Chinese words she understands and can say back to me.
- I’ve been talking to her constantly in Cantonese. I started talking Chinese to her ever since she was born.
- I’m always trying to learn new Chinese nursery rhymes. My parents never taught me any Chinese nursery rhymes so I had to learn them. I learned by listening to Spotify and YouTube. Also I asked my mom for help to understand and hear the words properly in the Chinese songs. I memorized about 10 different Chinese – Cantonese and Mandarin nursery rhymes, ones I never knew before – find more about that here.
- My mom started teaching her body parts which has been very effective – find more about that here.
I’m not a professional teacher or any sort of educator but my daughter understands about 20 different Chinese words and by constantly following the above she will continue to learn more. This is how I started teaching my daughter Chinese. Hope any beginner or non-speaker can benefit from what I have to post. I know you probably won’t be able to constantly talk to her but #2 and #3 are possible. I’ll post body parts, words and nursery rhymes that I’ve been singing to her.
Mommy Dragon
