Kids Land vs mandarin for munchkins - mandarin class

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pinklotus

New member
hello all

am seeking opinions from parents out there regarding these 2 institutions.

I have a 3 yo daughter whom speaks predominantly in English. She was in a bilingual school for Prenursery and now that we are moving her to ESF.. i am concern that her mandarin speaking capability will quickly erode.

I would like her to have fun whilst learning mandarin ie thru play, songs, building vocab along the way. Am not looking for her to have " poetic" ability so to speak.

I am not a mandarin speaking mom - however I do have some basic conversational speaking capability ( cant read or write putonghua though)

Any thoughts, advice, suggestions are welcome. Much appreciated !
 
We are also in the same boat. Our 3.5 yrs old is moving to ESF from a bilingual nursery. So we are also looking for some mandarin playgroup for her so that she can keep up with what she has learned at nursery..

We are looking for something around Shatin.

Please suggest. Thanks in advance.
 
My son is also starting K1 at ESF Hillside this September. He was at Woodland (Midlevels) before so not truly bilingual per se, but he's been going to Better Chinese in Causeway Bay for additional Mandarin exposure, and I find their classes/teachers to be quite good.
 
My son goes to Kidsland and I am happy with it. He plays games with the teacher, sings songs and does arts and crafts. There are no flashcards. I am not certain what he is learning, but he is not at a bilingual school, so I just really want him to like the language and get some exposure. The teacher is very good with him as he is a reluctant learner and very shy about speaking.

The children are grouped according to ability and there are a maximum of 4 per class. Unfortunately if there is nobody who is the same ability as your child then they have to have a private lesson which is a bit more expensive and not quite as fun as two children together. If you are looking for a more structured program (like learning characters), then Mandarin for Munchkins might be more appropriate.
 
thank you Peainpod and Portia for your feedback. i would love to explore bettermandarin but i am kinda hindered with the fact that i live in kowloon side. As such going to mandarin class in CWB is a bit of a track for me which is really a bummer. Hence I am sticking to central area.

Portia - i like the idea that the kids are grouped to according to their language ability and the maximum of 4 kids should be the magic number. I have been to one language centre here in kowloon where there are 6-8 kids per 1 teacher ratio.. and it was just a circus in the class. Learning some characters will be good but i just want my daughter to love the language speaking bit first and hopefully she will want to learn more as she proceeds.

anyone care to share abt mandarin for munchkins.. i see their write up at Playtime magazine all the time but am wondering if any parents have real life experience to share. thank you !
 
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