Chinese for children - bringing Beijing into your homeschool

June 29, 12:05 PMNorfolk Homeschooling ExaminerSherene Silverberg

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     Homeschoolers (and dog) learning in the comfort of their own home

Children Now Have Access To Learn Chinese From Native Teachers In China

Children asking their parents if they can learn Chinese are being told that they can’t. Parents looking for options with real, live teachers are consistently disappointed. If they’re lucky, they settle for tutoring from the teenager down the street who speaks Chinese, or send their children to a Saturday school where the non-ethnic-Chinese children are put together to learn but a few words and characters, while the Chinese children learn much more advanced speaking, reading, and writing. According to GuavaTalk President Steve Hwang, many parents would love to help their children learn Chinese, but just don’t have convenient, affordable access to good teachers.

GuavaTalk recently announced their “Chinese For Children” program that gives children ages 10 and older an opportunity to learn with teachers in Beijing, China, from their classroom or family room throughout the year. Children meet their teacher and fellow classmates online in a virtual classroom with audio, video, whiteboard, and presentation functions. Small group classes give children more personal attention and opportunities to speak Chinese with their peers than a traditional classroom, while also receiving correction and feedback from their teacher.

GuavaTalk can cooperate with schools that do not have a Chinese program to offer Chinese classes to their students. Homeschooling children can stay home to take a Chinese course. 

“I have learned SO much in this class – from saying simple things like ‘ni hao [hello]’, to saying sentences like ‘wo shi mei guo ren [I’m an American]’! I can say so much now!” said 10-year-old Jenna Ward after less than 4 weeks of class.

For schools that already have a Chinese program, GuavaTalk can supplement their classes with an online language lab focused on conversation, writing, or preparing for a standardized test like the AP Chinese exam. 

“I am not scared or embarrassed to speak Mandarin in front of my peers who are fluent in Mandarin. GuavaTalk has encouraged me to speak and write Mandarin more often than I used to, which has helped me improve,” said Jasmine Lee, an 11th grade AP Chinese student, after taking weekly language lab classes with GuavaTalk.

Enrollment in “Chinese For Children” is open now for classes starting this Fall. 

GuavaTalk is an online language acquisition company founded in 2007 to improve the Mandarin literacy of every student by teaching the usage of words in a true Mandarin-speaking community. The company provides Mandarin lessons to individuals and organizations serious about learning not just the mechanics of the language, but also understanding how to communicate in the context of culture.