What does it say when you find yourself pondering…. “Should I just do his homework for him? He’ll take FOREVER! Or maybe not…my writing’s different? What if I use my left hand leh? Can, right?”
Damn! He’s only in kindergarten and here I am wondering if I should just do his homework for him. See lah…Chinese school lah…Chinese school lah. He doesn’t even LIKE Chinese…in fact, his mind is completely closed to the idea of taking on another language…ANY other language apart from English.
Well, maybe that’s because he’s still sharpening his English, I am thinking. But he speaks perfectly well in English for his age. In fact, his teachers say that his English (speaking only) is very good. reading….gosh…another headache.
He’s only six-years-old and there’s so much work to do! Honestly speaking, I am the kind of parent who feels sad when my child is tortured in this way. I think kids should have loads of fun and have fun learning too. The concept of drilling and punishing is beyond me. Although I admit that discipline, focus and repetition is important, it’s not EXACTLY the best way to do things, is it? I am just rambling on here because I am not even sure if I am doing the right thing.
But I know it’s important…I know, I know. What kind of person is he going to grow up to be if he doesn’t learn to be disciplined, right? Right. In the end, he had to sit through 2 hours of torture finishing off his homework because he missed one day of school.
Sigh…being a kid is no longer fun these days, huh?
It is a dilemma, isn’t it? I started out posting my comment here but it got too long, so I decided to post it as an entry in my blog instead. My 2 cents at http://weavinglinguine.blogspot.com/
I totally, totally TOTALLY agree with what you’ve written in your blog post!!! Me and his teacher are like oil and water these days because she thinks I am not ‘concerned’ enough about Josh’s work and discipline! She’s actually LECTURING me on how to raise a CLEVER BOY. Eeesssh! And I also missed out on the part where me and my husband had to scour through the internet to find the chinese words because we are BOTH mandarin-blind. We flip through dictionaries (we’re starting to understand how the Chinese dictionary works!) to find the meaning of the words. Have to come up with creative ways of helping him remember the characters (very graphic and comical!).
He’s only 6!!! Both me and husband scampering around like little bunny rabbits every night while Joshua is begging to play with his toy before he goes to sleep! And the chinese words they give is no kidding wan, ok? I mean, it’s REALLY REALLY tough…like with 65 strokes to write, ok? It’s got so many strokes that you can hardly see anything by the time he finishes writing it!
My poor baby!
If you have a choice, please send your kid to a Chinese School. You will never live to regret that. It is not easy to pick up a language once they are above 12 years old and near impossible when they start working. I suggest you read Harry Lee’s latest book on Learning Mandarin.
I know…I’ve thought about that as well. but if they really DID want to pick up a language, I am sure they can what, right? I know it’s a little bit more difficult than when they are kids lah…but seriously…the pressure and stress is something I really hate to see kids go through leh!
This Harry Lee’s book for adults too. Like you say, adults very hard to pick up a new language, so I want to see if I can pick it up as well. The brain a bit BLUNT at this age lah, you know!
Be tough Marsha..
Besides, kids brain take in new stuff easier while they r still young.
Instill the desire to face challenges while they can.
Then when they r older, they will thank u for the toughness they experienced next time, though they might blame u now. hehe..
not-really-reassuring-am-i,
ngy
ngy,
ha ha ha ha!!! I am tough! can pack a punch, you know! But when it comes to my kids, it’s a different thing altogether!
I never believed that the harsh way is the right way. I had this conversation with someone about using the ‘rotan’ (cane) earlier and this man believed that the CANE IS KING! I kept saying ‘luckily i am not your daughter’…which is true!
Although we should be tough when disciplining our kids, I don’t believe violence and threat is the way to go lor. Dunno, it’s just me lah. My parents very liberal and nice to us kids all the time wan. And I love their style…very casual and caring at the same time.
Using the cane too often will only make the kids run, hide, lie, cheat, and cunningly find ways to get around the punishment, right? Not meh?? I mean, ideally, what we want them to do is to be able to come up to us and discuss things when they get into trouble, not meh? If you always cane and always so tough, how do you think the kids are gonna react when they get into trouble? They lie and hide lah!
Somebody back me up here woi!!!
Mana pigi you olang semua when gua minta tolong woy!
The Harry Lee I am refering to is Singapore’s Minister Mentor Mr. Lee Kuan Yew. To be honest how many friends do you know who were English educated had managed to learn Mandarin although more than a dozen might have tried. Mandarin is a tonal language and you have to continue using the language or you will be out of touch. Both my children are in Chinese Schools and I don’t remember that they had to sleep past midnight and as far as I can recollect, not even once. By the way if you are looking for a Chinese-English Dictionary, find one based on strokes rather than radicals.
Just 30mins ago, I was going through my son’s chinese book with my mother-in-law twisting my tongue in ways I never thought possible! Yes, taksin, you’re right when you say it’s a tonal language. And the HanYinPinYin is not even accurate to begin with. Gosh….am I in deep, deep trouble or…am I in deep deep trouble??!!!
Marsha, is your son enjoying school? He’s 6, so technically, he’s not in “formal” school yet. If he already dislikes the language, how is he going to cope for the next 6 years in primary school? The homework is going to get more intense. Is learning Mandarin the only reason for sending him to a Chinese school?
mamamin, no, he’s not enjoying school and my thoughts are the same as yours. How in the world is he going to ever cope with the homework and the stress? And yes, also, basically the language is the primary reason why we’re sending him to a chinese school.
sad, isn’t it?
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