For many parents, assisting children in learning Mandarin can be pretty challenging. Despite the need to find reliable sources, parents might also realize that children may show slower progress as time passes. This condition is totally normal in learning language and is usually known as learning plateau, where a learner will experience a stagnant improvement which hinder effectiveness in learning. Let’s find out about the why and how to help children break through the learning plateau while learning Mandarin. 

Learning language is a long-term process, where learners are expected to be able to show fluency as time passes. Through this long journey, learners are prone to learning plateaus. This significant pause during language acquisition is totally common among learners and can be highly associated with their understanding of the basic language skills. Here are a few reasons why learning plateau often occurs in learners from different fields, including children learning Mandarin. 

Learning Fatigue

This can happen when your children have been learning Mandarin for quite some time. When given constant new information, children will eventually reach their learning fatigue, where all the materials can seem to be overwhelming to them. As a result, this will hinder them greatly due to limited capacity in processing everything at once. 

Boredom 

Learning Mandarin as a child can be achieved through different learning styles. One of the commonly used methods of learning by parents is utilizing textbooks to help their children get reliable resources. Although textbooks are a valuable learning material that gives thorough explanations, learning solely by written text may cause children to be bored easily. As children’s capacity to focus is fairly limited, they are more prone to giving up on learning due to boredom. 

A Shift in Direction

The learning curve usually consists of a greater improvement in the beginning of the process, where children can have a burst in learning. The same progress can be seen in language acquisition, where mastering the basics is rather easier compared to advanced levels. As your children have understood the basics of Mandarin, shifting to the intermediate level or even higher may take a longer time since the materials get more complex. Once they’ve reached this level, children will need to adapt and adjust themselves before continuing their usual learning progress. 

Lack of Exposure

As children reach a more advanced level, they need to be constantly exposed to Mandarin. This exposure is important to promote immersion, where learning can be done through daily tasks such as reading books, communicating with friends, or even interacting with children’s favorite media. 

Considering how young children can be when they first start learning Mandarin, they often can’t figure out when they’re having a learning plateau. As parents, it is important to notice the signs of a learning plateau on children so that you can help them break through the cycle and advance their Mandarin skills. Here are a few noticeable signs of a learning plateau that you can identify. 

Frustration in Learning

Children who reach a learning plateau are reported to pay more attention to their inabilities rather than their achievements. This condition can lead children to a low self-esteem, where they feel like they can’t make any further progress in learning Mandarin. 

Lack of Progress and Enthusiasm

Children who are currently facing a learning plateau may show stagnant learning progress. This can be seen by how they haven’t shown any improvement despite the hours of learning they’ve carried out. If your children have tests to assess their Mandarin levels, their result may not show any sign of improvement, sometimes most children will even achieve less than before. Furthermore, children with a learning plateau will lose their motivation in learning and might want to stop altogether. 

Repetition 

Children that suffer from a learning plateau in Mandarin may find themselves repeating mistakes. Instead of learning from what they’ve done, children with a learning plateau will only maintain what they have known beforehand, causing their performance to hinder greatly. 

Although the learning plateau in Mandarin is commonly experienced by learners from all ages, breaking through the loop remains important. Understanding the way to help your children to break learning plateaus can help them get back on track. The objective of breaking this stage is to help children achieve better fluency in the future. Here are a few practical ways to help your children break the learning plateau. 

Let Them Rest

The most important thing to remember when it comes to learning something new, including Mandarin, is to realize that taking a proper rest can be classified as productivity. Since mental fatigue can lead to a learning plateau, children should be granted a well-rounded rest before they can shift back into a better condition. This applies greatly especially if your children’s learning intensity is considered high. 

Break Into Bite-Sized Portions

As the materials get more complex once your children have reached a better understanding in Mandarin, learning objectives can get more complicated than before. To encourage your children to learn without having too much burden, you can try breaking down materials into bite-sized portions and celebrate every little achievement they’ve managed to reach. For example, you can try breaking a longer text into smaller paragraphs and let children take their time in understanding every single one of them. 

Change the Learning Style

Learning style contributes a lot to children’s motivation in studying Mandarin. If you’re constantly encouraging your child to learn from textbooks, it can be a great time to try to shift the focus and find different learning materials. For example, you can try teaching them about Chinese idioms through the help of different Chinese storybooks. Alternatively, you can try making a simple game that requires children to implement their knowledge in Mandarin. Be sure to include small rewards to motivate children completing the activities. 

Structured Learning 

Unlike older learners, children may not be able to set their own schedule and pace to constantly improve in Mandarin. Although having freedom is still important, sometimes children need to have a specific goal and learning structure to help them progress, especially if you’re planning to help your children reach a higher level of Mandarin. Two significant strategies that may work is enrolling children in school that has Mandarin as one of their curriculum or try finding courses that offer structured curriculum to help children improve greatly. 

Discover Learning Partners and Mentors

Having peers with the same objective and capability can be another option that you can try to help children break out of their learning plateau. Learning partners can help children engage with Mandarin in a more casual way, where language acquisition can be carried out through simple conversations between one another. Aside from learning partners, mentors can also be a great addition to your children’s Mandarin learning journey, as they can provide children with active feedback to improve skills.

Falling into a plateau while learning Mandarin is considerably normal. This occurrence can be a sign of how children have mastered the basic skills needed to learn Mandarin, such as understanding Chinese Pinyin and commonly used vocabulary. Although learning plateau is considered normal in long-term learning, finding the solutions to help children break through this stage should be your top priority. As mentioned above, a solution worth trying is by incorporating fun learning activities to help children improve their productivity. In Elitekid, learning in an engaging way is highly important, especially in theme-based curriculum. This type of learning will not only focus on how children understand Mandarin, but also help them find connections between their knowledge and real-life situations. Visit our site and learn more on how to help children break through Mandarin learning plateaus.