Thank your for all the great advice. It is very encouraging to hear all of your stories. I know it will not be easy, but certainly it can be done. My hope is I will be able to finish a degree by the time my son starting first grade. I am still thinking what to study though, I am quite fortunate that my husband bring home a good enough income so I can choose something I am really interested in. I am excited about going back to school ... I think I am starting to feel tired playing with a 2 yo and watching sprout Network all the time... there is no simulation in my life at all. I also miss my working life very much, so I have no doubt it's time to do something for mysef. Thanks for the information and encouragement again. It helps a lot.

I came to the States 4 years ago and have one child now. With my son starting school next year, I want to go back to school as well, first to fulfill my dream of studying in a foreign country, second to prepare myself for a new job and build up my foundation here.

However, I don't know where to start, I already have a degree in Hong Kong, do I still need to show my SAT, or take any test to be admitted to a school?

Since my son turned 2, I have been leading a Cantonese preschool playdate for a group of 6 kids for about a year.  I have never done that before but I found that I can be a pretty good teacher indeed and I really enjoy it. Therefore, I want to be a teacher, may be a preschool teacher first, then I can also teach Cantonese plus some traditional crafts. I am thinking to obtain a degree in Early Childhood Development. Do you think that is the course I need ? is there anything else I should also consider?

My goal is to be independant one day, I love my husband but hate being to dependant on him. For those who immigrated to other countries, how did you build up your foundation? Could you please share your stories with us?

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Anyways, I worry more about quantity and frequency of language exposure vs confusing him.
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wenjonggal, you certainly have a point. But I think both consistency and frequency are important for learning a second language.

At a very young age, kids don't understand which language is English and which is Mandarin, they can only associate that language with the person who they speak to. So some kids would automatically switch to different language when they speak to different person. Some parents try to teach the kids two languagues and they mix two languages in everything they say e.g. Apple Ping Guo.  In some cases, the kid think "Apple Ping Guo" is one word.   

So I believe ideally, each parent should stick to only one language when they speak to the child. I agree with you that it is sometime impossible especially when you are around other people, but I try to overcome that fear and still talk to my son in Cantonese as much as possible, even around friends. Luckily, most of my friends are from a multi-cultural family so we are very used to each other speaking a foreign language to the kid.

So back to the Mandarin class, I am hoping to use that teacher as a figure so that my son can associate Mandarin with her, and then when I practice Mandarin with him at home, I can say something like "remember what teacher said?" After only two classes, I think he already started to get an idea of what Mandarin is like and that is a different language he is going to learn.   

wenjonggal , I totally agree with you, the teacher doesn't have to be a professional teacher to teach our kids. I am not a teacher and never received any teaching education, but I am teaching Cantonese to a group of 6 kids. I do that for free because I like to have other kids to learn together with my son. And be honest with you, I think my curriculum and activities we do in the playdate are as good as the Mandarin class, if not better. For example, the theme in our last playdate was about bugs, so we did a bug hunting (we put plastic bugs inside a tray, cover them with leaves, give the kids a bug box and ask them to "catch"  the bugs), a caterpillar turn into butterfly game (we make the kids crawl through a caterpillar tunnel and then ask them to pretend butterfly when they come out). All the parents are very involved, we discuss the curriculum together, assign tasks for each one, and most of the time we just use the toy we already have at home so it doesn't cost anything. I think I enjoy the Cantonese playdate more because I can be creative, do things that my son would enjoy, and I don't have to think whether I get my money worth or not.
Actually I speak Mandarin as well, but since I am already teaching my son Cantonese, I want a different person to teach him Mandarin. I heard one person can only speak to the child in one language otherwise the kid will be confused.
 

Hi,

I will like to get more informations from u on this home based private mandarin class. Maybe you could provide me wif  more informations at [email protected]

Thanks a lot!

Jessica

What kind of information do you want to know? I am happy to share, I live in Northern CA.

Rereading this, I am wondering if the $20 per hour is for the group, or per child? I find $20 per hour per child is expensive. When we found a private teacher for a group of 4 adoptive moms (adopting from china), she charged $20 per hour for 2 hours, ie $40 total, so it cost us $10 apiece, plus we had to buy a textbook and workbook.

We pay $20 for one on one with our at home teacher, just my son and I, for about 1.5 hours.

Yes, it is $20/child/hour, that's why I hesitate so much. However, she is a really great teacher. She will make big poster for the songs and stories with ping ying so that the moms can follow. She gives us handout after each class, and a CD of all the songs we played in the session, however, she is also charging $20 material fee for every 12 classes. The other reason I think she is expensive because she repeats the same theme for 3 weeks and do mostly the same thing except one or two different activities. I understand kids learn from repetition, but repeating almost everything for 3 weeks also means less work and planning required on her part.

On the other hand, she is teaching at other community centers for $22/hour plus $30 material fee.

Currently we have 6 kids in the class, which is great, the class is always full of fun, the kids learn to take turn and learn through observing each other too. However, neither of them speak Mandarin so they still speak English when they play. I hope one day they will speak Mandarin to each other when they play, that would be cool.

wenjonggal, Karma to your post, it is really encouraging and make me believe a real teacher is better than DVD. In fact, I speak four languages and I learnt all of them at school, nothing from the DVD. I think DVD is a good supplement, but can't replace a real teacher.

Karma to everyone who replied to this thread, yes, if you can afford it, go for the real teacher.

If you can afford it DO IT. 
First hand interaction is great... I recently approached an immigration center and posted an ad on the board for a native foriegn language family to have a play date... KIds playing side by side they pick things up even if its not a formal class... My two year old in one day learned how to say my turn and MINE in Vitnamese and in Spanish.

I find that immigrants that respond to the ad are very receptive to a playdate, the kids have fun, and usually I get some great new recipes first hand.

I agree first hand interaction is great because the kids are not only learning the language, but also learning to be comfortable and confident in speaking that foreign language, also, they are learning other important communication skills in the class too.

Mandi, I like your idea about setting up playdate with the new immigrants. We are part of an American Asian Parents group and we have tired to set up some regular playdates with other Mandarin speaking families, the problem is that since everyone has been living in the States for some time already, they tend to switch to English very easily, and needless to say, the kids speak English too even though they speak Mandarin to their parents.

Also, I think it is important to expose the kids to that language frequently and regularly, which means you have to find the families who are willing to commit to the playdate, besides that, the kids should be around the same age, and be able to play well together...  finding the right families is really not that easy, but it certainly worth the effort.

My son is 2 and half now and we come across an opportunity to join a private Mandarin class with a few other families. We have found a Mandarin teacher who is willing to come to our house once a week to teach Mandarin. We already had a trial class with the teacher, she is really experienced, organized and engaging.  I think the kids all enjoyed the class.

However, the class is not cheap, it's like $20/hour plus $20 material fee every 12 classes. My dilemma is, there are so many Mandarin teaching products out there already, is it still worthwhile to pay so much more for a real teacher?

What do you think?

I appreciate reading the reviews of Memory Magic...I'm still undecided as to whether or not it's a product for my 3  & 1 yr old...I'm going to continue researching this.  Thanks!

I got this two weeks ago for our 2 years old. He does pretty well with the silly linking memory game, he can remember 7-10 cards in sequence order now. He doesn't understand the follow the dot game, but he likes the flashem game.

I think these games are interesting and a good mix to other right brain training activities. Your 3 years old will know how to play, but the 1 yr old may not understand the rule of the games. Overall, I think it worth the investment.

Hi, I am interested in trying this software too, when will the discount be avaliable and what kind of discount do you think we may get?

Thanks.

I personally would love to know more about SM. I have been on their website numerous times but theydo not sell any products to do right brain education at home and it seems to me that you cn only purchase their products if you are attending a SM school. Which I do not have in my area.

I wish I could teach my daughter those techniques. I only have tweddlewink at this point of time and she hardly looks at that when it is on.

Can any help in pointing me in the 'right' direction? 

I found this very useful website about the shichida method. There is even a resource center you can download some shichida activities. It doesn't have a ton like here at BK, but enough to help me to understand what is it like using the Shichida method, and make the material by myself later.

http://www.shichidaparents.com/rc/mandala.html

Also, if you want to buy Shichida flashcard, try ebay singapore, I found some flashcards there, but you have to ask if the seller will ship it to the States.

After doing some research on both methods, I think I actually like the Shichida method better, it seems more well rounded, and it focuses on training up the right brain so that the kid can acquire new skill and knowledge quicker. I like my kid to be able to read, but rather than making them memorize a vast amount of words, it seems that they will benefit even more through learning to memorize, speed reading etc. because that is the skill they can use in every aspect in their life, not just reading and calculating.

What do you all think?

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Here are the differences:

The Doman method focuses on intellectual and physical development. It is based on anecdotal evidence of children improving their capacities after repeated exposure to flashcards, music, foreign languages and kinesthetic vestibular exercises. The parents teach their children at home, with love and enthusiasm. It is a terrific program, but there is definitely something missing, as you yourself have found.

Shichida’s method actually began with Doman’s method, but in the early 80’s he combined it with accelerated learning techniques (from Buzan, Rose, Lazonov, and others) because he felt that children could do much more than Doman’s method had touched upon. His particular interest was in the right brain, where he believed photographic memory, speed reading, computer-like math calculation, perfect pitch, instant multiple language acquisition, intuition and other unique abilities were located. He also believed that only children ages 0-6 had access to the right brain and that it closed soon after, if not exercised during those critical years of development. (We now know that this pathway can be reopened later with encouragement and gentle right brain play.)

In his experimental right brain classes he also found that the right brain pathway closed EARLY when a child sensed negative emotions, such as stress, fear, or boredom. Thus, the main foundation of his classes became assisting the child’s loving relationship with his parents and fun learning play with many different forms of stimulation.

Doman’s method works with inputting information with repeated exposure to images to help a child learn. Shichida maintains that the right brain soaks up every image, and so his emphasis is on strengthening a child’s learning abilities through memory enhancement and photographic imaging.

Two weeks ago I was a complete stranger to the term early learning, Domon, Shichida, flash cards etc. Before that, I just wanted my child to be happy, socialized, healthy, like many parents do. When my son was about 1 year old (he is 2 1/2 now), my sister in HK asked me am I teaching him to read? One of her friend is crazy about early learning, she started teaching her kid even before the baby was born, then she did the full Doman method. My answer to my sister is that I just want Ethan to be happy, average is ok, as long as he is happy.

Then I found Brillkids by accident when I was looking at some youtube videos. It blew my immediately, I found it very fasciating of how much a 2 year old can already achieve and most importantly, they are just as happy as other children. If there is a way to help our kids to be brilliant without hurting their happy spirit, I don't see why not. We are setting them up for success, a better life, and it is much easier to do it now then when they grow up.

The moms group that I belong, on the other hand, the opinion is half half. Some people, especially those in the education field, said that they are very upset with DVD like YBCR. The reason behind that is simply because they don't believe a baby is ready to learn to read. They think kids should not be taught anything until they go to school, otherwise, they will get bored at school.

I think they may have a valid point too, where are you going to put your kids if they are far ahead of the school schedule? Remember, if you put them in a higher grade, they are going to deal with much older kids or may be bullied because they are the smallest or youngest. Social life is a big part of our education too. A socialized kid has a much bigger chance to succeed.

There are two sides of a coin, so there is no need to be upset if other people don't agree with you, they have their point of view too. Just set your goal and do whatever you think is at your child's best interest. 
   

Just wonder if any of you has set the short / long term goals while teaching your kids? There are so many things we can do to teach our kids, but our time is so limited, if we are not clear about our goals, we could easily spend a lot of money and time on something that doesn't help us to get anywhere. let's share some of our goals, and update how well your goals been achieved.

Here are mind:

Short Term (Within 3 months)
My son is 29 months now, I am going to start the Doman method or LR next week (whichever he likes), I wish he will be able to read at least 30 words in 3 months.

I am going to show him the Chinese Wink and start him on a weekly private Mandarin lesson
, I wish he will be able to speak at least 30 Mandarin words in 3 months.


Medium term (in 2 years)
I wish he will be able to read and become trilingual by the time he is four. (he already speaks Cantonese and English now)
 

Long term (in 5 years)
I hope he will be ahead of the school schedule by the time he enters first grade, so that he can spend his time to develope whatever he likes to do, e.g. Music and sport etc.

I hope he will stay in the top 10% at his whole school career.

 
All in all, I don't expect him to become a super genius, I just want him to be a happy being, have a good career and good life when he grows up. It sounds easy, but in this competitive world, he has to be above average or super lucky to have a good life. Agree? 

Thank you for all the encouragement and tips. We are out of town right now but I can't wait to go back home and start teaching my son to read. I have done some extensive research on this subject for a week now and found it really fascinating. Yes, I am sure at 2 1/2 the window is still wide open. My challange would be though since my son likes to watch TV so much, it may be difficult to get him interested in flash cards or dots. But I am sure there must be a way.

I am new to this forum but I am already hooked to it, believe it or not, I spent hours reading all the posts, saving useful links, checking out product reviews and just purchased a memory magic and Wink Chinese. Lucky I am a SAHM because my son and me are going to become very busy. Thanks Brillkids and all of the wonderful educated moms in this forum.