Exams are often a perfect way to measure kids’ Chinese learning progress. In Chinese learning, taking the YCT test or HSK test is quite common to help understand children’s ability in using Mandarin. For many children, these exams can be a major factor of stress during their learning process. Without the right guidance from parents, this accumulating stress can hinder their ability in understanding Chinese. So, instead of pushing children harder, let’s first understand why learning Chinese can feel stressful and what parents can do to ease that pressure.

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Stress is a common feeling that children can feel upon learning something new, including learning Chinese. Before jumping to how you can help reduce stress, it is important to understand why your children can feel this way. Understanding children’s reasoning can help you come up with a better solution to help them reach better progress in the future. 

Information Overload

With the wide access of the internet nowadays, it becomes easier to find Chinese materials for your children to learn from. This means, you can provide them with various textbooks, videos, and even other digital media as their learning resources. But sometimes, this wide selection can cause children to feel overwhelmed, especially younger ones who are not able to filter out the right learning materials for them. This can cause children to be confused on where to start and can’t make genuine progress while learning Chinese.

Exam Pressure

Many parents measure children’s Chinese learning progress by looking at their exam results. Although this can be a solid indicator, exams can put more pressure on children, especially since they will be graded based on their answers. The fear of failure and a high expectation can cause children to worry about their ability in using Chinese. 

Incorrect Study Methods

Many parents still have the belief that longer study periods equals better Chinese language acquisition. However, this decision can often cause children to suffer from stress and lead to ineffectiveness. Instead of forcing children to learn Chinese for a long duration, parents should encourage their children to find the most effective learning method that can suit their needs better. 

Children are prone to stress when learning for Chinese exams which can hinder their performances. To reduce exam stress in Chinese learning, parents should focus less on scores and more on consistent, pressure-free exposure to the language. If you want to help your children avoid stress during Chinese exams, here are several practical tips that you can try to help them. 

Shorter Learning Sessions

Children usually have a shorter attention span and struggle greatly with studying for a longer period. Therefore, you can start helping your children reduce exam stress when learning Mandarin by encouraging learning sessions with shorter periods. With this method, children can have breaks between study sessions to help them achieve better Chinese language acquisition. 

Fun Learning Resources

Another way that you can do to help reduce children’s exam stress when learning Chinese is by using different resources to engage them in a fun way. Instead of relying on textbooks, you can introduce them to Chinese storybooks, interactive videos, or even other learning media. Providing them with various learning resources, especially when aided with visuals and easy-to-digest materials, can help children understand Chinese better and can associate it with their daily life. 

Switch Learning Environment

Providing a different learning environment is also another way to help your children feel less stress about their exams. For example, you can try enrolling them in Chinese enrichment classes with experienced teachers. This will provide them with a different learning approach to support using Chinese with other people. 

Many parents have the misconception that Chinese understanding should be measured solely by exam results. Therefore, they often unintentionally force their children to get better scores to prove sufficient language acquisition. However, learning Chinese isn’t only about exams. Instead of focusing solely on your children’s grade, a better method to ensure your children’s learning progress is by looking at how they can develop their skills by learning Chinese. Overall, learning Chinese for kids builds communication ability, emotional confidence, cultural awareness, and social adaptability. Those are skills that last well beyond the classroom.

Communication

Rather than getting good scores, one skill that children can develop when learning Chinese is communication skills. By learning this skill, children will learn how to express their needs and share their opinions. Learning Chinese is not only about memorizing vocabulary and understanding grammar, but also maintaining a natural flow of communication to help reach better understanding with Chinese speaking people. 

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Confidence

Learning Chinese is not only about getting good grades in exams, but also practical implementation that children can experience everyday. Usually, children are expected to learn Chinese by practicing what they’ve understood and learning from their mistakes. With the right environment, children can grow to be more confident with their skills after consistent practice. Therefore, children will be more likely to be more courageous in learning something new in the future. 

Social Skills 

Learning Chinese will give children the opportunity to expand their social network by interacting with other people with different cultural backgrounds. By mastering Chinese, children will have a greater chance to gain more Chinese speaking friends. Aside from that, learning Chinese will usually help children with responding to social situations better.

Learning Mandarin for children is not only about studying for an exam, but rather a journey of mastering the skills needed for communication. Aside from its main purpose in learning a new language, learning Chinese may also help your children expand their social skills and build confidence for the future. There are many ways that you can do to support a better learning experience for children that focuses on learning Chinese skills, one of them is through enrolling them in Chinese tuition. Learning through Chinese tuitions can help children get connected with peers and experienced teachers for an engaging learning experience. Learn more about how Elitekid can help your children learn Chinese skills by visiting our site.