Like Magic, Mandarin Chinese is here

                        Aspire Southfields,337 Merton Road, London

SW18 5JU

Every Tuesday

16:00 to 17:00     

Tuesday Classes

Start from 23rd April 2019, end on 09th July 2019. 

Half term break on 28th  May.

It’s me, Mrs Lu. Ever since I became a teacher in 2004 that has been my name.

Today I came across a lovely mum. She shared her concern with me that she can’t understand her 4 year old boy. She said she has been having nerve racking moments every day. What shall we do if we keep having conflicts with our kids because of understanding problem?

A good way to understand your child is by listening to and watching your boy or girl and their peers. There are many methods to listen to and to watch kids, but the foundation is usually through interactive activities. It’s great for parents to get involved in interactive activities, but avoid being dominant in these activities. If you often have nerve racking moments, the first step you need to take is to break the bad habit bit by bit. Normally it takes two months to form a good habit, it varies widely depending on individual circumstances.

I will post more articles about how to listen to and watch kids on this website. In the meantime, it might help to read Jean Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development.

Regards,
Yours

Mrs Lu

We all know learning is cumulative. Everything new is based on something we have just learned. We also know that it is very important for kids to revise their work during homework. remember and digest what they have learned but we face a big challenge to make a kid sit himself/herself at a desk.

To encourage our kids to do homework, there are some questions we have to ask ourselves first. One of the more important is “do we have a dedicated study space or room with a desk and chair?”

Through my teaching, I came across a family with more than 7 bedrooms, but every room is crowded with stuff (toys, books etc.) It’s hard to say which room is for playing, which for studying, which for sleeping. With so much stuff, homework gets lost easily and the kids get distracted every few minutes. In this kind of environment, kids can’t tell when its time to play and when to study. This leads to a serious fight after parents ask “why have you not done your homework?”.

A lot of how kids act comes down to psychology shaped by their environment. Simply providing a room with a desk, a chair, a pencil, papers and an eraser before homework can reap great rewards. This should then be maintained so that kids gain good habits when studying and so you should see them sitting in their chair studying for hours.

The Lantern Festival is coming soon!

The Lantern Festival(元宵节 yuan xiao jie) is a Chinese festival celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first month in Lunar Calendar. It marks the final day of the traditional Chinese New Year celebrations, and falls on some day in February or early March in the Gregorian calendar. As early as the Western Han Dynasty (206 BCE-CE 25), it had become a festival with great significance.

Kids have their own way to speak, in a humorous and amazing way.

While I was on my way to work, I came across a short conversation between a little girl (about 3 years old ) and her mum. The mum was pointing to a big crane in front of them. She said ‘Look, Natasha, look at the crane, isn’t it big and tall?’. ‘Yes, it is big, it is as big as mummy’.

While I was teaching a 4 year old boy. We were practicing using the Chinese word for ‘plant’. So I gave an example; I said ‘ I planted a tree in my garden’. Then I asked the boy to make a sentence with the word ‘plant’. He said calmly ‘ I planted a daddy at home’.

There is another funny and genius conversation between my student and me. One day I was teaching a 3 three year old boy Chinese tones, the boy got the four Chinese tones correct in just a few minutes. I was impressed and praised him by asking him ‘Could you tell me why you are so clever?’. He answered very proudly and immediately ‘ Because I learnt super a lot of things’.

Have you heard any funny, humorous and genius kids’ word? Sure, you did. Post it here, we will laugh and enjoy together.