《微坛经典回顾之六》子女中文教育
2010-05-14
更新记录:
5/15/10:加入普通人#2043
[一帆♂ 2009-10-21 01:10:23]
(妈)1253.TO 秋叶: 最要紧的是做好自己该做的事请。以我的经验,教会子女说中文是一件非常非常重要的事情,TOP PRIORITY. 我在这方面不是太成功。没少费功夫,效果不佳。但至少儿子能讲和听中国话。一口普通话没有任何口音。不会写,不会读报纸和书,尽管05年大四时还从 GEORGE TOWN来到北京读了一个学期的中文。英语当然极棒。能当作家的那种。九十年代儿子每年春节联欢晚会上背诵大段整首唐诗的节目永远都轰动全场。然后大家会在表演结束后拥上来问我怎么教的。其情其境至今不忘。
儿子已工作四年,想读MBA。会申请哈佛之类的学校。我对他的唯一梦想就是他将来以精通中英文的第二代华人从事同中国有关的工作,甚至在中国工作。
THERE IS NO OTHER WAY BETTER THAN KEEPING YOUR KIDS BEING ABLE TO SPEAK CHINESE FOR REALIZING YOUR DREAM OF STAYING CLOSE TO YOUR MOTHERLAND, CHINA. OTHERWISE, YOUR KIDS WILL BECOME TOTAL AMERICANIZED, HAVING VERY LITTLE TO DO WITH CHINA IN THEIR FUTURE. THEN WHAT HAPPENS TO THEIR CHILDREN?
HERE IS MY LETTER TO MY SON RECENTLY. HOPE THIS is not wasting your time.
My dearst son:
The title "investing" reminds me your more immediate challenge: what you want to do with your job, with pursuing further study, etc.
It is a more serious investing, investing in a more profound way that will change, determine and position you for the rest of your life.
More fundamental question is and always has been: what you would like to do with your life? I am asking myself that question even today and may be for another 10 years to come, and hope you have your own answer earlier.
I am not really very concerned with your $K or so cash but quite happy you do have such a big amount saved. I will try my best to give you some ideas for that money. I am more interested in talking with you, discussing with you, brain storming with you about your next decision that you talked on skype two days ago.
Everyway you look at it, to go back to school is likely the best option. Your parents all had graduate degrees and we do not expect our child has anything less than that and would be happy to see our child do better, much better. MBA from a well known school will be equivalent to or better than a Ph.D. from a less known school in my opinion.
But what your parents want you to do or achieve is NOT all the reason. You are facing a world that works like this: higher degree, better school do mean something significant and you become more competitive the rest of your life.
You are doing much better already than us, of course. You know how proud we all are for you and you are, today, a model for your generation in our extended family. Most of my close friends are quite proud of you as you are aware.
But you still have challenges ahead of you that needs your focused attention to deal with.
Please consider the following when pondering on this important decision you are about to make:
1) What kind of job would excite you?
2) How to combine your job with what you like doing?
3) How to combine your job with helping people, influencing others and make a difference in the world?
4) How to become a real "expert" in your field that most excites you, interests you and rewards you? I am talking about a real "world class expert", after accumulation of 25 to 35 years devotion in that particular field you decide to get in.
I am most unsuccessful in all of the above but I am still trying, all the time, to find a way to make up a little.
Don't get me wrong. I am very happy with my life, family, job, etc. That is a different question. But as a father, I do want you to be wiser and achieving better life. I wish someone gave me this message when I was 26 years old.
4) Cost of going to school again is the least critical factor. Don't be too concerned, worried, or frustrated. Money is NOT the concern. I am very happy that I could say this to you, son.
The last thing I want to see regarding this is that you choose other option because of money concerns. Let me know what exactly you need and what is the best plan for us to help you on money matters.
Regarding how you position yourself, I would again emphasize the following for you pondering on:
1) Your bi-lingual, bi-cultural background. This is like a “Acres of diamonds" in your own backyard. You only need to be aware of it and utilize it.
2) The unlimited future for the US and China to work together in terms of industry, trade, area of interests which will give you unlimited type of careers to choose from.
3) If your future job provides an opportunity for you to utilize your Chinese skills, social, language wise, your value to your employer will be a lot larger, several times larger in fact. You know my own experience。
4) To learn more Chinese is the easiest and the most effective way to make yourself stand out in a big crowd because you have a lot of other advantages already.
To get a higher degree from a "famous" school has been THE dream we had for you anyway since you came to the states at 5 years of age in 1988. Discuss with your mom to see if she has anything to tell you.
没有一个字提及“爱国”。用得着说教吗?
[一帆♂ 2009-10-21 19:10:23]
(妈)1299. To 注重事实:孩子五岁甚至八岁以后来美会好一些,如果家长持续不断地付出极大努力的话。美国出生的基本没戏,除非生长在华人圈子没人讲英语。主要原因1是没有环境,二是孩子没动力,上学交友都不用中文。所以很多人把孩子送进美国的中文学校。3是家长不重视或没时间没精力没好的方法。有条件的一定要:1)让孩子选中文为第一外语。2)尽可能多回去看爷爷奶奶,姥姥姥爷和其他家人。每回去一次中文都有很大提高。3)有可能的话坚持同孩子讲中文。朋友之中有非常成功的,孩子能看小说,读报纸。有的人完全放弃,任其自由发展。结果是将来孩子同中国的联系和感觉越来越来淡。 (赵小兰会讲中文吗?记不太清)我特别遗憾当初下了那么大功夫,因回北京工作而中断了对儿子的中文教育,有点前功半弃。儿子14岁时把“将进酒”,“蜀道难”,“梦游天姥吟留别”等30多首长短唐诗背得滚瓜烂熟,还有机会表演,今天一首都不会了。但背唐诗的经历对他讲中文没有口音起了决定作用。你在孩子身上的所有努力都不会白费。绝不仅仅是“爱国”的问题。双语的孩子无论在什么行业都更有竞争力。如果刻意策划,在特定的行业和岗位上,双语会使孩子拿到双倍甚至更多倍的收入。我们不就是希望孩子们能自食其力吗?双语能使他们的养家糊口精彩许多,同时报效两个“妈妈”,是我们的梦想。总而言之,中文教育是一石多鸟,一箭多雕的头等大事。放眼未来20年,会有越来越多的各个国家各个大陆的各色人等拼命学中文,挤破头去北京上海工作。我们可不能近水楼台不得月啊。
[语言教授♂ 2009-10-22 03:10:09]
(妈)1320. 海外华人的孩子在学习中文上,的确可能"近水楼台不得月",不过,办法还是很多的.除了大家已提到的,还可以考虑让孩子假期去北京语言大学之类的机构上短期速成班.国内这些专业性大学设有各种各样的短训班(一个月,两个月, 三个月,六个月...),而且在最近二十多年的对外中文教育方面积累了丰富的经验......连讲相声的大山之类的外国人都被调教得有模有样,何况那些有中国血缘的孩子们.其实,不少洋鬼子的中文非常棒,他们对中文用字的讲究,超过很多中国人,比如他能给你讲出"带领"与"率领"的区别,给你纠正"一蹴而就"的发音. 这都是咱们语言学院的功劳,哈哈......
[US Citizen♂ 2009-10-31 22:10:38]
(妈)2033. Study language doesn't have to be all book based. Multimedia is more effective. We let my son listen to audio tapes (later became CDs) and videos. When he study chess we let him read 孙子兵法 and let him watch 孙膑兵法 video. The most difficult is talking because most of his friends talk English all the time. When we talk to him in Chinese he responds with English. Once I joked to my wife 看来你那些史记资治通鉴要带到棺材里啦. Wife didn't give up, taught son word by word, phrase by phrase, sentence by sentence, and paragraph by paragraph, watched him passed Chinese language SAT subject test and then Chinese language AP test. Through all that years my wife's hair gradually turned white (tears), price paid so that my son won't forget his race.
BTW, it's not just Chinese teaching children the Chinese language. Indians and Caucasians teach their children Chinese too. Some of my son't Indian schoolmates can understand basic Chinese and pass the SAT/AP Chinese test too. My son's chess teacher, German American, brought my son a copy of 毛主席语录. I laughed so hard and told him "you know? I used to be able to recite 2/3 of that little book from memory". It is now on the bookshelf next to the Bible, and many other books. "To play chess is like fighting a war, 在战略上要藐视敌人, 在战术上要重视敌人, that's the way to win", so he told my son. My son doesn't like fighting. 以琴会友 is a lot better than 刀兵相见 ... but these can all be used to encourage/coerce children study Chinese harder
[普通人♀ 2009-11-01 00:11:02]
(妈)2043. US Citizen,琢人,一帆,和想让孩子们学中文的朋友们。
US Citizen,非常佩服您太太逆水行舟坚持不懈教育孩子学中文的执着和毅力,是我的榜样, 用video是一个好方法, 图书馆有一些中文的带子,很有限,好像没看到<<孙子兵法>>的video,到时回国看看。还有一帆这方面的观点和方法也很赞同。。
在海外没有语镜,没有动力,加之中文难学,让孩子们学中文真是困难重重,如逆水行舟,但我的想法是不能放弃,再难再累再苦,再没时间也得上,原因有4:
1)孩子们身上流着中华民族的血脉,黑头发,黄皮肤,但没有中华文化和思想,不能称作中国人的后代。
2)作为父母有责任,不能让祖先的语言和文化在自己手中断掉
3)中国文明是世界上"四大古文明"现今唯一留存下来的文明,可见其生命力之辉煌和强大。五千年的中华文化真是博大精深,不是吹的,也不是盖的,是经过五千年的洗炼,锤打,磨砺,积淀和印证的,世世代代传承下来的,其中叠加,聚积和蕴涵的能量,真理和真善美慧可想而知。我觉得(随着中国在历史上的再次崛起)有如此强大生命力的中华文化一定能成为世界文化的主流,引导世界文化的潮流。
4)"六书"造字的中文方块字是世界上唯一蕴涵深刻哲理和丰富内涵的优美文字。中国的诗词歌赋,琴棋书画实在是太美了, 不能欣赏和享受,一是可惜,二是遗憾.
现在我能做的就是让孩子们识字,相当于交给他们一把钥匙,从而开启中华文化的宝库。所以我从3500个常用汉字入手,结合经典文章和诗词歌赋等"强迫"学习,(结合<<弟子规>>班的学习,他们已经能够背诵<<弟子规>>,部分<<三字经>>了)。没有时间怎么办?我把上班时间前移调整到3:00pm下班,这样回家挤出45分钟"专时专用"给老大学习中文。我相信坚持下去一定会有效果的。
[读者瞎支招♂ 2009-12-04 22:29:34]
(妈)4658. 琢人,兰馨,化石:
孩子学中文说中文的最佳办法是:
送回中国,夏令营带中午语文及文化课。别怕他们英文赶不上。
对不起,又瞎支一招。告诉你们这个属于经验之谈。
[读者瞎支招♂ 2009-12-04 23:46:42]
(妈)4666. 兰馨,
关于学中文==>夏令营
1。大城市安全,小孩安全第一。
2。中文课(学语文,念中国方块字加汉语拼音。千万不要再学注音符号了,注音符号落伍太久太久了)
3。一定要加“文化课”。
文化课为各种活动性中国文化实习:中华乐器,武术,毛笔字,舞蹈,相声,各地参观,日记,......
环境 活动 语言==>才能真正掌握。
在英语环境内,回家家长坚持只讲中文,小孩没有"说"不会的。
怪小孩不“说”中文 (没有谈写中文),完全是家长的错误!!!
[读者瞎支招♂ 2009-12-05 13:04:22]
(妈)4709. 无名小卒,
1。中文夏令营最高级为全(美)(英)(澳)(...)中文学校协会组织的所谓“精英团”,由被名校录取的高中毕业生组成。据悉,规格最高。
2。由中国侨联组织的某某年的联合各地(省)的全国海外学生夏令营。
3。任何以州,省组织的与侨联挂钩的夏令营不错。包括地区华人协会,同乡会,中文学校...等等。
4。任何以市侨联挂钩的夏令营也可以。
本人认为不要再往下了。
年龄以生活能够自理为原则,当然参加夏令营本身锻炼自理能力。各地对年龄要求不一,你需要打听。目前没有听到出事的例子。夏令营期间,家长亲戚帮不上什么忙。当然,附近有亲戚朋友最好。万一需要,可救急。
[读者瞎支招♂ 2009-12-09 22:17:21]
(妈)5139. 接上次“瞎招”(新网虫可检索):将小孩送回中国夏令营后,如果时间正好,在一个月之内(如果提前报好名,意思是不要离夏令营后回美国太久),回来让小孩抓紧考SAT中文,大多800分,没问题(800分并非满分,可以错几题)。也可以说是体会。
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