How to Help Your Child Love Learning Chinese

Learning Mandarin as your second language can be a great investment to consider. As the number of speakers has increased significantly over the years, Mandarin is now widely accepted as the second language in several countries. As this trend continues, letting kids learn Mandarin from a young age is highly supported, especially since language acquisition during childhood is optimal.

However, teaching Mandarin to your children can also be another challenging hurdle. With the unlimited resources available for access, structuring a fun and engaging learning process for students requires much attention. One of the most effective Mandarin learning resources is using storybooks to teach Mandarin. These books provide vibrant visuals and clear sentences, making language learning engaging for children.

Chinese storybooks are usually designed with illustrated pages, ensuring a visually engaging content that can help children to immerse themselves in their readings. Using storybooks to teach Mandarin has been proven to be one of the most engaging Mandarin learning resources for children, as you will see in the following:

• Engaging Contents
  For children, learning through a rigid curriculum that demands full attention can be stressful, especially if you are planning to start your childrens’ learning journey at a young age. Chinese storybooks can help turn this stressful situation into something more enjoyable by incorporating illustrations, exciting plots, and different characters. With well-drawn visuals and appealing storytelling, children can be motivated to develop their interest in language learning.

• Building Vocabulary
  Chinese storybooks can help children learn new phrases and vocabulary while reading. This method is a total contrast from the traditional way of gathering vocabulary lists and memorizing them one by one. As children encounter new words while reading, they will not only learn to expand their vocabulary, but also understand the context of using them in sentences. This understanding is important to help children retain information better.

• Enhancing Multiple Skills at Once
  As children go through Chinese storybooks, they are not only learning new vocabularies, but it can also be utilized to help them develop their listening and speaking skills. These improvements can be achieved by encouraging children to read aloud, familiarizing them with pronunciation. Furthermore, learning through stories can also help kids to recognize grammar patterns in sentences.

• Boosting Creativity
  With an exciting plot and colourful visuals, storybooks can help stimulate childrens’ imagination, giving them the opportunity to explore new ideas. With the varying genres of Chinese storybooks, reading can also help children to expand their culture awareness.

To start your engaging learning journey, selecting Mandarin learning resources that are age-appropriate is crucial. Using storybooks to teach Mandarin helps children absorb language naturally while enjoying classic tales. Here are some excellent storybook examples that can help your children learn Mandarin!

• The Story of the Twelve Zodiac Animals (十二生肖的故事)
  This tale is inspired by the twelve Chinese zodiac signs. It follows the story of 12 animals competing against each other to determine their position in the Chinese zodiac cycle. Aside from introducing children to Chinese culture, this story will also teach the values of hard work, wisdom, and fairness.

• The Tale of Nian (年的故事)
  Bringing the classical tale regarding the origin of Chinese New Year, this storybook is very suitable for children who want to learn Mandarin while understanding more about Chinese culture. This story will also help children understand more about Chinese New Year traditions.

• A Magic Paint Brush (神笔马良)
  This story is another classic Chinese folktale that follows Ma Liang, a poor kid that loves to draw. One day, he is given a magic paint brush that can be used to help those in need. A Magic Paint Brush doesn’t only help children to expand their language acquisition, but also help develop their sense to offer help for those in need.

Given its simple vocabulary and grammar structure, storybooks can be used to learn Mandarin from a very young age. A few stories are even suitable for children ranging from 0-3 years old. However, it is important to note that storybooks must be used accordingly. As children grow older and have been exposed further to Chinese characters, it is recommended to increase the difficulty level of the reading books. Increasing the difficulty is an essential part of ensuring that children will be able to constantly expand their knowledge.

Learning through storybooks is one of the recommended ways to improve your children’s Mandarin skill. Combining both engaging storytelling and vibrant visual, learning through storybooks will give you a new experience in learning Mandarin. While using storybooks to teach Mandarin provides a strong foundation, combining them with other Mandarin learning resources such as interactive classes or language exchanges ensures a more well-rounded learning experience.