Claire can read pretty well, but after 15 months of English enrichment, I'm resigned to the fact that Claire reads by sight and will prob remain that way. I don't mind that much, but it means a lot more work for me coz she cannot employ both phonics and sight reading methods, so she will need a lot more exposure to materials and closer supervision.
To give her and her teacher some credit, she does try, but I know her first instinct is to read by sight, and she just stumbles badly whenever she sees new words. I hope she will improve as time goes by, otherwise I worry that she will suffer with spelling because she has to memorize everything. =(
And her grammar is nothing short of appalling, because she is so used to speaking in singlish. Ah, long process to change that.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Teaching Chinese
So it's back to the drawing board with Claire's Chinese progress again, after the husband vetoed the idea of Chinese enrichment.
I have to admit that the idea of Chinese enrichment was a bit extra on my part, as I don't consider Claire's Chinese to be that bad. At the very least, I am very sure she is not a potato, though the increasing amount of English she uses worries me a little. However, she does get daily exposure to the language, so it is not that bad. Also, for some very weird and unfathomable reason she has a slight Cantonese accent - considering that she has NO exposure to Cantonese, that is indeed very strange.
But recently, with the change in school environment and probably natural development, Claire's spoken Chinese has taken a bit of a beating. From an almost totally Chinese class, she has switched to a school with an international population who mainly use English as a common communication tool, and she is at the age where she is communicating more with her friends, so I guess it is inevitable. She forgets simple terms and resorts to mixing English in to make herself understood. Oh well.
I haven't been the most hardworking at her Chinese either, though I have two different sets of Chinese readers, plus miscellaneous Chinese storybooks. I suppose I could have been a little more disciplined and more regular at Chinese, sob sob.
Anyway I don't think it's too late, for now I will try to work out a regular schedule to rotate English and Chinese. Unfortunately even with the amount of English exposure she has her English is still appalling, but that is for another post. =( But the bottom line is that I don't think I can stop supervising her English.
Must say that I'm a little ashamed of myself for letting her Chinese fall to shreds. =(
Good thing is, she likes the latest set of Chinese storybooks I bought her, so she's willing to listen to the stories.
I have to admit that the idea of Chinese enrichment was a bit extra on my part, as I don't consider Claire's Chinese to be that bad. At the very least, I am very sure she is not a potato, though the increasing amount of English she uses worries me a little. However, she does get daily exposure to the language, so it is not that bad. Also, for some very weird and unfathomable reason she has a slight Cantonese accent - considering that she has NO exposure to Cantonese, that is indeed very strange.
But recently, with the change in school environment and probably natural development, Claire's spoken Chinese has taken a bit of a beating. From an almost totally Chinese class, she has switched to a school with an international population who mainly use English as a common communication tool, and she is at the age where she is communicating more with her friends, so I guess it is inevitable. She forgets simple terms and resorts to mixing English in to make herself understood. Oh well.
I haven't been the most hardworking at her Chinese either, though I have two different sets of Chinese readers, plus miscellaneous Chinese storybooks. I suppose I could have been a little more disciplined and more regular at Chinese, sob sob.
Anyway I don't think it's too late, for now I will try to work out a regular schedule to rotate English and Chinese. Unfortunately even with the amount of English exposure she has her English is still appalling, but that is for another post. =( But the bottom line is that I don't think I can stop supervising her English.
Must say that I'm a little ashamed of myself for letting her Chinese fall to shreds. =(
Good thing is, she likes the latest set of Chinese storybooks I bought her, so she's willing to listen to the stories.
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