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The below blog is written by our lovely contributor Lucia Gu. She is a mum of two beautiful mixed-race children ( Chinese and Czech Republic). She shares her experiences and thinkings in teaching her mixed-race Australia born child Chinese. From this blog, we get to know her challenges and enlightenments from the process of teaching a home tongue language in a cross-culture environment and what comprises an effective learning experience for her child. We hope her insights can be helpful for all the parents who are trying to broaden their kids’ language skills and cultural foundation.
We are sharing this blog in bilingual form as the original is written in Chinese.
孩子学中文是我的心结，很多年费了很大气力，但中文的进步一直不尽人意。女儿经常是这样子，当我很努力地说中文，她就无情地把英文抛回给我。
My child’s Chinese learning is always a challenge in my heart. It took a lot of effort for many years, but the progress of her Chinese has not been satisfactory. My daughter is always like this.. when I speak Chinese to her, she throws English back to me mercilessly.
家有混血娃，没有说中文的祖辈，我就凭着一己之力每天坚持和她学习，但还是进步缓慢，达不到预期。上学前，她还能听懂大部分我说的话，中英文混杂地回答我。我就担心上学了以后，大部分时间在学校，她的听力和口语能力会下降。
When there is a mixed-race baby in the family, and there are no older generations who speaks Chinese, I insist on learning with her every day by my own efforts, but I still make slow progress and fail to meet expectations. Before school, she could understand most of what I said and answered me in a mixture of Chinese and English. I am worried that after going to school, her listening and speaking skills will decline most of the time in school.
所以我特别理解国内爸妈们教孩子英文的状态，没有语言大环境，凭着自己的坚持给孩子提供语言学习，真是不容易的事。
Therefore, I particularly understand the state of parents in teaching their children English back in China. When there is no desirable language environment, it is not easy to provide children with language learning with my persistence.
我发现，学习中文识字和自主阅读，对孩子的听力与口语非常有帮助，因为她把字的字型、发音、意义结合在一起，印象就更深刻了。事实显示，5岁以上的孩子不必把口语和自主阅读割裂开学习，两者是相互增强记忆的。
I found that learning Chinese literacy and autonomous reading is very helpful to children’s listening and speaking, because she combines the font, pronunciation, and meaning of the characters, and the impression is even more profound. Facts show that children over the age of 5 do not need to separate oral and autonomous reading for learning, as the two enhance each other’s memory.
去年疫情在家蹲着这一年，我们几乎每天都有中文学习的环节：用识字书还有app学习认字，用中文分级读物学习自主阅读，晚上睡前我给她们读中文绘本，平时尽量用中文对话。等我女儿上学后再学习拼音和写字。
Last year, when the pandemic requires us to stay at home, we had Chinese learning sessions almost every day: using literacy books and apps to learn to recognize characters and using graded Chinese reading materials to learn to read independently. I read Chinese picture books for them before going to bed at night. Chinese dialogue. I will teach my daughter to learn Chinese Pinyin and writing after she goes to school.
一开始我是有受挫感的，因为孩子进步很慢，一直只有输入、看不到什么输出。
In the beginning, I was frustrated because the child progressed very slowly. There were only input and no output.
但一年下来，我开始看到了些成果，她明显地兴趣增加了，对话和认字都更加主动，自己能认识的中文字也越来越多。
But one year later, I started to see some results. She increased her interest, she became more active in dialogue and word recognition, and she could recognize more and more Chinese characters.
这种积极性，和她识字量的积累分不开，认字多了，就对中文有了更多信心和兴趣。原来孩子的进步不是线性的，而是阶梯式的，默默积累到一定程度，她忽然就上了一个台阶。
This kind of enthusiasm is inseparable from her accumulation of literacy. As she learns more, she has more confidence and interest in Chinese. It turned out that the child’s progress was not linear, but stepwise. When she accumulated her vocabulary to a certain extent, she suddenly reached a higher level.
所以兴趣和信心这个东西，不是一开始就有的，但会随着进步而提升，因为做得好而更喜欢。一开始的过程很漫长，但是非常值得，坚持就是胜利。
Therefore, interest and confidence are not something we have at the beginning, but they will improve with progress, and your kid will like learning more because they do well. The initial process is very long, but it is very worthwhile, persistence is victory.
今天我把我们使用过的中文教材和app，分享我们的使用收获和体会到的局限，希望这些干货对你家孩子的中文自主阅读也会有帮助！
Today I will share the Chinese textbooks and apps we have used, and share our experience and limitations. I hope that these will also help your children’s Chinese self-reading!
中文分级读物:四五快读- 我的体会是，如果孩子的中文听说都没问题的话，还是可以用它来学习识字的。它的优点是每册后面有字卡。
Graded Chinese Readings: Four-Five Fast Reading-My experience is that if your child has no problems listening and speaking Chinese, he/she can still use it to learn literacy. Its advantage is that there are word cards at the back of each volume.
学前快读600字- 我们还没有开始用，不过听说比四五快读好用，因为它是有课文的，加上了插画，就有了故事语境，孩子们朗读会顺畅一点。再加上课后有些贴纸小练习，孩子学习的积极性就高一些。
Read 600 Words Fast before Preschool-we haven’t started using it yet, but I heard that it is easier to read than Four-Five Fast Reading because it has texts. With illustrations, there is a story context, and children will read aloud smoothly. Coupled with some small sticker exercises after class, children are more motivated to learn.
迪士尼儿童自读书系列-我们用了一阵子就没有用下去了，孩子比较喜欢看图书里的图画，同一个字从复太多次了，故事情节相对来说就是比较简单。我是用这个鼓励孩子自主阅读，她会有信心和对读中文书更感兴趣。
Disney Children’s Self-Reading Series-We have used it for a while and it is useless. Children prefer to read pictures in books. The same word is repeated too many times. The storyline is relatively simple. I use this to encourage children to read independently. She will be confident and more interested in reading Chinese books.
这一年，我感觉对孩子最有效的中文学习方式，就是中文分级阅读和识字app的结合，这样进入中文自主阅读是最快的。分级阅读能够把字和词放到语境里面，而识字app可以强化对字型和读音的记忆。
This year, I feel that the most effective way to learn Chinese for children is the combination of graded Chinese reading and a literacy app. This way, it is the fastest to enter Chinese autonomous reading. Graded reading can put words and words into the context, and the literacy app can strengthen the memory of fonts and pronunciation.
中文识字app： 洪恩识字app-我们使用的是洪恩识字，因为有很多游戏，所以孩子很喜欢，她玩得很积极，这是最大的优点，坚持使用了挺长时间。
但一段时间之后，我发现有一些问题，这个app是纯粹由游戏构成的，孩子经常只顾着玩游戏，识字方面记得不够牢固。玩完了以后我提问时，她有时学过的字已经忘了。另外一个缺陷是洪恩识字没有跟读功能，对混血宝宝需要加强读音记忆这一点，是个硬伤。
Chinese literacy app: Hong En Literacy app-we use Hong En Literacy app. Because there are many games, the child likes it very much. She plays very actively. This is the biggest advantage. I insist on using it for a long time.
But after a while, I discovered that there are some problems. This app is purely made up of games. Children often just play games and don’t remember well in terms of literacy. When I asked questions after playing, she forgot the words she sometimes learned. Another flaw is that Hong En’s literacy does not have the ability to follow-up. It is a flaw in the need for mixed-race babies to strengthen their pronunciation and memory.
我们目前的中文学习大概是这样的形式：《四五快读》周一到周五每天认3个生字，学习完了奖励一个星星，等她集到7颗星星，就给个surprice – 糖果。 每天晚上读中文书，目前在读米小圈的日记中文绘本给她读，她特别向往上学，所以我给她读关于小学生的故事书。
Our current Chinese learning is probably in the form: “Four-Five Quick Reading” recognizes 3 new words every day from Monday to Friday, and rewards one star after learning. When she has 7 stars, she will be rewarded a surprise-candy. I read Chinese books every night. I am currently reading Mi Xiaoquan’s Diary Chinese picture book to her. She is particularly yearning to go to school, so I read her a storybook about elementary school students.
总结一下：每天学中文的时间不长（10-15分钟），但长期坚持，量变就会产生质变。
To summarize: the time to learn Chinese every day is not long (10-15 minutes), but if you persist for a long time, quantitative changes will produce qualitative changes.
识字和阅读也增强了她的文化自豪感，我和她说你是中国人，你必须要学好中文，要会读会写，否则你就是一个文盲！我对她说学好了中文，妈妈以后带你回中国去Disneyland哦！
Literacy and reading have also enhanced her cultural pride. I told her that you are Chinese and you must learn Chinese well and know how to read and write, otherwise, you are illiterate! I told her that I learned Chinese well, and my mother will take you back to China to Disneyland in the future!
对我来说，远在异地，养育着跨文化的孩子，但中国文化是我的根。最能让我这个妈妈感到安慰和开心的事，莫过于通过中文学习，让我看到中国文化的营养正在注入孩子的血液中。
For me, I am far away from my hometown and raising cross-cultural children, but Chinese culture is my root. The most comforting and happy thing for me being a mother is by going through Chinese learning, I can see that the nourishment of Chinese culture is being injected into the child’s blood.