Is ABCs’ Mandarin Still Good?

Most children who grew up in foreign countries, often stray far from the traditional Chinese culture. Therefore, most parents will create more environments related to China for their children as they grow up. However, what will they think of this kind of phenomenon? How is ABCs’ Mandarin?

Overseas Chinese schools are mostly weekend cram schools set up spontaneously by parents. Parents who bring their children to Chinese schools have different starting points. Some parents think that children who learn Chinese will have more job opportunities in the future. some want their children to treat Chinese as a “foreign language” after they go to middle school so that they can quickly pass the AP (American College Preparatory Course) exam and save money for tuition fees. More parents want their children’ / ABCs’ Mandarin to be kept the roots of the past culture.

The result was very disappointing. Children from many Chinese families who go to Chinese schools often lead a repetitive life. They go to school and have a rest then repeat. Furthermore,  the dropout rate is high. In American ABC: “I hate Chinese schools.” Is a very common expression. What kind of teaching is so horrible that children are so disgusted? In Shanghai and Beijing, I also saw many international schools. I haven’t heard that these children who are also living abroad hate English, German, French, and Japanese. Why did ABC’s Chinese teaching for overseas Chinese children fail so much?

1. Chinese Parents’ Thinking

A big reason for ABCs’ Mandarin situation is that Chinese parents are deeply victimized by the thinking of “only when they eat bitter, can they become adults”. They equate hardship with success while totally ignoring some contrary conclusions put forward by modern psychology and pedagogy. In recent decades, various teaching thoughts such as “discovery learning” and “Constructionist teaching” have linked the learning effect with intrinsic motivation. We need to study hard, but hard work is a bitter and bitter process.

Even if this learning method is effective in some cases, it is not worth promoting. Chinese Parents equate learning with “hardship”. They rationalize that to be an intellectual, you must opt for forced learning. They think that it is normal for children to be tired of learning, and forcing them to learn is not only normal but even necessary. Children are forced to study by their parents, Once they get rid of their parents’ bondage, they will shout for liberation and lose everything they have learned in previous years. Take Chinese learning as an example, parents will find that the only visible result of years of learning is children’s aversion to the culture and language of their home country. This kind of education completely drives children out of Chinese culture. This is not seeking the roots, but uprooting them.

2. Choices of Chinese Learning Textbooks

Children don’t have a satisfactory textbook in school either. In fact, such a textbook may never appear, and putting all hope into one textbook is not effective for teaching them how to read.. Teaching Reading in America is very developed. School districts, schools, and teachers have a lot of choices. Many books on the market can be recommended, and children have a lot of choices. This releases the pressure of being a magical textbook. Reading in the United States is also gradual.

What books are read at what age and at what level, and there are some mental challenges for children? Books like Harry Potter are just fifth-grade books here. You let American junior high school students who are used to reading big books, suddenly feel like an idiot when they read the boring and meaningless content of Chinese school textbooks, such as cats, dogs, and rabbits pulling radishes to the park. There is no challenge in content, and learners of language can’t pass the test. This double torture makes the children miserable.

How is ABCs learning Chinese? Obviously, this process is not so smooth. This is part of the problems and difficulties that ABCs has encountered in learning Chinese.

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