Kids in Singapore have fun learning Chinese the Han way

In Singapore, two languages that should come naturally to our children are Chinese and English, especially the former since it is our mother tongue.

However, more often than not, focus on learning English takes precedence over the acquisition of Chinese language skills.

It’s unfortunate that the learning of Chinese has taken a backseat, as studies have shown that learning to think, express and communicate in one’s mother tongue help increase learning and creative expression.

But learning one’s mother tongue goes beyond this type of education. It is also an integral component of a person’s cultural heritage, around which core values and beliefs are formed and are passed on from one generation to the next.

In the past, one of the ways children learned to converse fluently in their mother tongue was through communication and interaction with extended family, including grandparents.

However, now, many children miss out on this important method of learning their mother tongue due to the family unit becoming smaller; in other words, the replacement of the extended family with the nuclear family.

Even though our children learn Chinese in school as their mother tongue, they sometimes have limited skills in the language due to the lack of exposure to Chinese in its natural form in their home environment.

And despite Chinese being taught in schools, kids tend to think of it as just another subject to study, rather than part of their cultural heritage.

So how do we get our children to think differently about Chinese and enjoy learning it?

There’s an effective, and most importantly, fun and interesting way of doing so!

Han Language Centre: The fun way for kids to learn Chinese

Han Language Centre is Singapore’s largest chain of private Chinese learning schools, with 20 centres islandwide and a 23-year track record of teaching excellence.

Mr Ann Jong Juan – who has over 45 years of teaching experience in the Chinese language — is the founder and principal of Han Language Centre.

Mr Ann’s acute understanding of a student’s academic and personal needs has allowed him to develop unique and systematic teaching methods that makes Chinese interesting for each child, thus placing Han Language Centre as a forerunner in Chinese education in Singapore.

The curriculum

Guided by his many years of teaching experience, Mr Ann designed Han Language Centre’s curriculum himself.  Mr Ann not only performs research and writes the course materials, but he also observes his students so he can better understand their problems and find solutions to them.

The curriculum supplements Ministry of Education requirements such as cultural passages, idioms, proverbs, famous sayings, poems, and famous names.

What’s more, teaching materials are revised annually or even re-written if significant changes in MOE requirements have been made, so that students will always receive materials most relevant to the MOE curriculum.

Here is a snapshot of some of the courses on offer at Han Language Centre that will have your kids laughing and smiling as they learn:

• Pre-School Fun Learning Chinese Programme (K1-K2): Your child will learn Chinese the fun way, through tongue twisters, listening to stories, songs, games and poems, thereby creating a happy learning environment.

• Tuition programme: This programme is for students who need gradual improvement to strengthen their foundation in Chinese. It follows the school text book curriculum to solve immediate language problems, leading to a boost in your child’s confidence levels.

• Enrichment Plus: Here, your child will spend increased time reading and practicing under the foundation of the Centre’s enrichment course in order to strengthen his Chinese skills and confidence.

• Composition and Comprehension Course: This course aims to enhance your child’s writing and comprehension skills, revising various popular examination topics and following the school essay writing curriculum to solve problems and obtain higher marks with confidence.

• Oral and Listening Comprehension Course: Especially for students who have no Mandarin speaking environment at home, this course increases listening ability, conversation and reading opportunities by using interesting teaching materials.

• HanZi800: This is an education app based on a specially developed, story-centric pedagogy designed around 800 core Chinese characters. Suitable for kids aged 6-10, this course accelerates and improves their Chinese literacy through animated storytelling, practices and quiz games.

• First Aided Course for Composition Writing: This course is for students who need to develop more skills in Chinese Language standard. Students will develop their composition abilities through learning methods such as adopting simple sentences and using short conversations.

Highly skilled teachers

Teachers are an integral component of how well your child learns any subject. You can rest assured that your child is in good hands with the teachers at Han Language Centre.

The teachers are selected from well-known universities and teacher training colleges from Singapore, China, Malaysia and Taiwan.

They are provided with a yearly training programme, so that they can stay updated on the local education system. Most importantly, this improves the teaching and learning experience for both teachers and students.

While there are more than 200 teaching and admin staff at Han Language Centre, about 25% of them are Master Degree holders, 65% of them are Degree holders, and 10% of hold a Diploma qualification.

Parents, you needn’t look any further than Han Language Centre to give your child the best in Chinese language education.

Visit HAN Language Centre’s website at www.hanlanguage.edu.sg for more information!