Learn Chinese Mandarin London - Chinese Course for Adults and Children - Chinese Translation - Business Mandarin Course London - An Interview with the School House Magazine

An Interview with the School House Magazine

The article appreared in the School House Magazine (March 2008)

How young do you think a child should start learning a second language? Can they start too young?
For Mandarin we think the best age to learn is from 3 years, as the language part of their brain is still adaptable, as Mandarin is a tonal language, which children adapt easily where adults struggle. (We introduce tones early, given this is what is so difficult to master when older and what is so easy for young children to pick up, and we make the most of the rhythmic, sing-song elements of Mandarin)

Does the Link Chinese Academy supply teachers to a lot of schools? Rough idea of how many?
Yes we supply teachers to many London schools - around 10 since we started to provide teachers to schools last year, and they are all running very well, schools are very enthusiastic about the courses as the response from the students and especially parents has been excellent.

Is Mandarin a language that most children can learn or do they need a particular linguistic aptitude to cope with it? Have you encountered any children who really take to the language, and if so can you give examples of their proficiency, any prizes they might have won etc?
Most children can learn but they do show different capabilities, especially on the tones - aural children normally do better, quite like how they learn singing.
Most of our students (English students with no Chinese backgrounds) who are between 12- 15 have made some tremendous progress in very short period of time and they are preparing to take Mandarin GCSE exams and their chances of getting A+ is huge from their mock exam results.

过新年，穿新衣！ New Year New Clothes, Chinese New Year Party

Why do you think Mandarin has become so popular for small children?
Because schools and parents see Chinese as an advantage for their children, they think it is a useful and important language for their future.
What benefits to their general education to they receive by learning a language at such an early age? Does it make learning other languages easier later on?
It will give them experience in learning other languages, being able to master the PINYIN (Chinese phonetics) and tones will improve their pronunciation and hearing skills which are key for learning any new language.

Does it have benefits in other subjects?
What I can see is the art (from the Chinese calligraphy, paper cutting training) and music (from the Mandarin tone training).

Does it make them more aware of cultural diversity? - your website speaks of introducing children to Chinese culture, for instance. How is that done in the lessons?
Yes language and culture are always connected; children learn the Chinese custom, Chinese way of thinking while they learn the language.
We Integrates culture in the classes by use of different learning styles - e.g. learning by doing through calligraphy, songs, paper cutting, and Chinese traditional celebrations etc…Our principle is: LEARNING EXPERIENCE + CULTURAL EXPERIENCE.