About this blog

The purpose of this blog is to share with parents information and ideas about young children learning Chinese as a second (or third) language. The intended audience is parents who are new to this endeavor, who may be experiencing for the first time what it is like to have a child learn a language which is likely unintelligible to the caregivers.

First, I think we should deal head-on with the obvious question, “Why would you want your child to learn Chinese?” (link here) In future posts, I hope to cover a range of ideas that come with the territory of having your child enrolled in Chinese classes a few times a week, daily, or in Saturday Chinese classes. I plan to post about topics such as: Chinese tones, accessible Chinese culture for young children, Chinese teachers, effective ways to learn Chinese, writing hàn zì (Chinese writing), expectations of parents and effective engagement of young learners.
 
Disclaimer: I myself am not a language expert nor do I have a Ph.D. in Linguistics from a famous university, so I am sure there are many readers who know much more about this area than I do. Please forgive me for painful ignorance. I approach this area from the perspective of myself as a parent, as we have raised two children who are functionally bilingual in English and Chinese. I am also a teacher with years of experience with multilingual children, and I continue to work daily with children who are learning Chinese as a second or third language. So, from both the classroom and parental perspective, I have many vignettes and stories to share. I also can provide viewpoint of the parents whose children I have supported in the goal of developing Chinese fluency.

If you want to know more about my background, please click here. I feel modest about any of my perceived accomplishments, but am fiercely proud of what my own children and my students have learned through their Chinese language journey.