What are the processes through which non-Chinese speaking (NCS) children learn Chinese?
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The mother tongue of NCS children is not Chinese. Before entering kindergartens, they have little or no opportunity for Chinese exposure, so their “starting point” for learning Chinese is not the same as that of Chinese-speaking children..
After entering kindergartens, the process through which NCS children learn Chinese is essentially the same as that of Chinese-speaking children. They both start from listening and speaking, then learn words and phrases, and accumulate their language sense. They then learn to write strokes and simple components, and foster their ability and interest in reading..
However, when NCS children first start schooling, they are relatively more reticent than Chinese-speaking children, as they face an unfamiliar language environment. This is because they are being exposed to Chinese for the first time, and consequently they go through a longer “silent stage” when learning their second language. At this point, NCS children learn Chinese by observing and listening. Hence, teachers should try to increase their exposure to Chinese, encourage them to express themselves and exit the“silent stage” as soon as possible.
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After a period of listening and observation, NCS children will gradually progress from the“silent stage” to the “imitation stage”. They will begin to imitate their teacher’s speech and express their needs.
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In light of this stage, when teachers use keywords or frequently-used words to communicate with NCS children, they should slow down their speaking pace, enunciate clearly, or combine body language to demonstrate to children the proper pronunciation of Chinese words..
When NCS children make mistakes in intonation, teachers should guide them to try to pronounce words correctly, and enrich the content of their original speech or extend the conversation..
Teachers can request children to repeat language after their demonstration and correction to increase their chances of speaking, and strengthen their ability to make sentences out of words..
What are the difficulties NCS children face when learning Chinese?
The common difficulties NCS children face when learning Chinese are as follows:
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EnunciationNCS children might not be aware of the characteristic of “one syllable per character” in Chinese, nor might they grasp the concept of having different tones bringing different meanings, so they are less likely to understand the change in tones, for example, they might read 「凍」(cold) as「動」(move).
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Recognising characters (Structures of the characters)The first step of learning a language is to acquire its words. Children must accumulate a certain quantity of words in order to understand, communicate and use the language.
The mother tongues of NCS children are vastly different from Chinese, so they are likely to encounter difficulties or deviation. In addition, because some of the structures of Chinese characters are similar, for example, “大”(big), “天”(sky), “犬”(dog), and “太”(too/
very) , they are likely to mix them up.
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Writing charactersSome NCS children see Chinese characters as pictures. They imitate and copy, and memorise one character at a time, while not understanding the rule that the stroke order of Chinese characters proceeds from top to bottom, left to right, outside to inside. This is not conducive to the connection with what they have learned or to future application.
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Use of vocabularySince the commonly used language in an NCS family is not Chinese, schools might be the main or only place where NCS children are exposed to Chinese. As a result, they have fewer opportunities to use Chinese, and the spoken vocabulary they can speak and use is limited.
How to help NCS children overcome the difficulties in learning Chinese, and foster their ability and interest in learning Chinese?
To tie in with theme-based learning or learning through play, teachers can include suitable language learning elements to address needs:
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Focusing on the difficulties NCS children have when learning Chinese, and adopting suitable learning and teaching strategies:- Enunciation
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In Chinese, one character corresponds to one sound. Thus, when teachers are guiding NCS children to read, they can point at the characters while reading. They can also clap while reading. For instance, when teachers are reading the Chinese words “幼稚園” (kindergarten), they can slowly clap three times to establish in the children’s mind the concept of “one syllable per character”.v
Meanings are differentiated by tones in Chinese. Teachers can demonstrate repetitively, and ask children to repeat after them. In addition, teachers can also try to use comparisons to help children understand that various tones denote different meanings. For example, creating scenarios such as “The weather is so ‘cold’「 凍 」 that we need to ‘move’「動」”, so that children understand there is a difference between the tones and the meanings of 「凍」(cold) and「動」(move).
- Recognising characters
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When teachers are teaching related themes, they can design picture cards and character cards, and character-recognising games to assist NCS children to recognise characters. Teachers can also impress upon children keywords or frequently used characters in stories by pointing at the characters during storytelling.v
In addition, teachers can choose words which have more composites, and play word building games with NCS children. For example, the word “天” (sky) can be associated with “天空” (sky), “天晴” (sunny), “天氣” (weather), and “春天” (spring),etc.This exercise can increase their spoken vocabulary. Teachers can also let children read aloud a word repeatedly to deepen their memory of the character structure and its pronunciation.
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NCS children like to sing and they are musical. Teachers can teach children to recognise characters with the help of a melody when they teach children to sing children’s songs. The sentence structures of children’s songs tend to be repetitive, or they only change one or two words in each sentence, so they can be easily memorised. This is helpful for strengthening children’s character-recognition ability.- Writing characters
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NCS children tend to see Chinese characters as pictures. When they write, they have problems with strokes or confuse the left and right sides of the characters.Teachers should first teach children to break down the characters into radicals and components, then match different radicals and components into various characters, and then words.
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Teachers should let children learn frequently used radicals such as “氵”,“扌”, “忄”, “艹”, “口”, “言”, etc, then match them with different components to form a character. For example, the character
“語” can be broken down into the radical
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Teachers should progressively guide children to memorise different “radicals”and “components” so that they understand the basic principles of the structure of Chinese characters, instead of trying to memorise the characters individually. This lessens NCS children’s burden when recognising Chinese characters.
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Teachers should first teach NCS children the common structures of Chinese characters, such as top and bottom, left and right, and inside and outside. Teachers can then help them develop habits of writing Chinese characters in stroke order from top to bottom, left to right, and outside to inside. However, when teachers teach children to write, they should create an inclusive learning atmosphere and review the overall structure of the characters instead of concentrating on miniscule details such as the order of the strokes, or the shape of the strokes. This avoids undermining children’s interest in learning to write, which hinders their learning.- Use of words
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Since NCS children have fewer opportunities to use Chinese in their everyday life, it is easier for them to forget what they have learned. Kindergartens should provide ample opportunities for NCS children to use Chinese, and encourage them to express their needs in Chinese. In addition, teachers should provide additional instances for NCS children to communicate and co-operate with local Chinese-speaking children to increase NCS children’s opportunities for using Chinese.v
Teachers should revise words with NCS children in order to consolidate what they have learned. In addition, when trying to enrich NCS children’s vocabulary, teachers should guide them to understand the relationships among words to improve their memory and usage. For example, when teaching the theme of “transportation”, teachers should categorise “buses”, “MTR”, “mini-buses”, and ‘trams” as “public transport”. When a teacher asks a child, “Which form of public transport do you take most frequently?” The child can recall related vocabulary from their memory more easily and apply it.- Emphasising building the rules of Chinese Language, and creating a rich Chinese Language environment
• Teachers should use clear, simple verbal instructions, such as “put down your school bag”, “sit down”, “stand up” and “wash your hands” to help NCS children establish classroom routines. Teachers should avoid using lengthy sentences or different phrases to express the same meaning. For instance, teachers sometimes say “sit down”, and at other times say “sit”. This avoids confusing NCS children and hindering their learning progress.
• When children understand classroom routines, teachers should put emphasis on building the rules of Chinese language and create a rich Chinese language environment. Schools are the main or even sole places where NCS children are exposed to Chinese, so teachers should use Chinese as much as possible, and body language or pictures should only be used as aids when needed. They should also avoid using English or other foreign languages as supplement to prevent children from becoming too dependent. If the medium of instruction of a school is English, Chinese teachers should speak only Chinese, so as to establish children’s awareness in differentiating languages.
• Kindergartens should make use of their space to exhibit materials with rich Chinese elements, or design meaningful and fun language games in the Language Corner.
Decorations in other corners can also include language learning elements, for example, to display Chinese sentences, frequently used radicals or components, etc., so that NCS children can immerse themselves in a rich Chinese learning environment.
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Arousing interest in learning ChineseNCS children lack confidence when using Chinese, and are not willing to speak actively.
Teachers can organise activities children are interested in according to their learning characteristics, such as sing-along, group games and quizzes. These can focus on learning difficulties and arouse their interest in learning Chinese. Such activities should also imitate real-life situations, so that NCS children can easily and naturally use Chinese through role-play.
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Fostering interest in reading and developing comprehension ability- When NCS children have accumulated a certain amount of vocabulary and grasped basic word order, teachers can use picture books as teaching aids to foster children’s interest in reading, and help them learn to expand their vocabulary and understand the characteristics of Chinese sentence structures. They can then gradually develop their abilities in listening and reading comprehension, thus enhancing their capacity for expression.
- Teachers should select picture books that match children’s life experiences, with suitable levels of difficulty of text, as well as repetitive sentences and predictable plots. They should also use appropriate strategies, such as the following:
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Listening carefully:Children like to listen to stories, because the content and plots of the stories are
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Observing pictures:Storybooks are usually complemented by pictures to help children understand the content of the story. Teachers should make good use of pictures to guide children to observe and say the names of things or the meaning of pictures, thereby increasing their speaking and expression abilities.
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Pointing and reading words and sentences:After teachers have led children in reading stories, they can point at the keywords, frequently used words, or the repeated sentences, and let children read after them. In this way, children can understand the meaning of the words and sentence patterns.
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Using reading strategies a PredictionTeachers can use the method of questioning, and make use of a book’s cover, title and illustrations to guide children in predicting the content of the story. This helps stimulate children’s thinking and expands their vocabulary.
a Retelling
Teachers can use different methods (such as verbal narration, sequencing of picture cards, role-playing, etc.) to encourage children to retell a story in their own words. This helps develop their verbal expression abilities (vocabulary and grammar) and strengthens their understanding of the story.
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Extended learning outside schoolTeachers should encourage NCS children to learn and use Chinese outside school, such as watching children’s television shows to enhance their Chinese listening ability.
They can also encourage children to notice road signs and different instructions on the streets, and learn commonly used words in everyday life. Teachers can ask children to prepare before school or extend their learning after school, for example, by asking them to collect words and picture cards related to the themes of learning.
What support measures and resources are available for helping NCS children learn Chinese?
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Non-Chinese Speaking Parent Information Package: Your Guide to Education in Hong Kong - e-versionhttp://www.edb.gov.hk/en/student-parents/ncs-students/support-to-student-and-parents/package/ncs-parent-information-package-chi_eng.html
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Tips for Parents of Non-Chinese Speaking Students—Kindergartenhttp://www.edb.gov.hk/attachment/en/student-parents/ncs-students/support-to-parents-and-students/Tips%20for%20Parents%20of%20Non-Chinese%20 Speaking%20Students_KG_Eng.pdf
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Lexical Items with English Explanations for Fundamental Chinese Learning in Hong Kong Schoolshttp://www.edbchinese.hk/lexlist_en/