Chinese as Second Language / Chinesisch als Fremdsprache

Learning Chinese as a Second Language for Kids – Chinesisch als Fremdsprache für Kinder

On 04.11.2017, I started a new class for children learning Chinese as a second language in Familienzentrum Baden - Karussell. It has been a year and a half since I stopped teaching, due to the arrival of my second child.

I was excited and nervous about how the lesson would turn out. And because the children have zero knowledge about Chinese, the lesson had to be really simple and needs no (or almost no) explanation.

Here's what I (or we, with the children) did.

First, we sang a simple greeting song, 你好。Then I taught them three action words, stand, sit and turn around, applying the Total Physical Response approach known to all language teachers. At this point, they seem a bit more relaxed.

After the warm-up, we played a simple game, called 'Traffic Light', for them to learn the name of colors. A child will be 'the Traffic Light', holding two ice-cream sticks made lights. When a child lifts a 'green light', he should shout it, and the other kids will run towards him; and when he shouts 'red light', they should freeze. Who reaches the 'Traffic Light' first wins.

The next game was the 'Rock-Scissors-Paper' game. We were outdoor behind the family center with a nice long hopscotch in the form of a snake. Every time they play, they either remain / proceed to the next number until they finish at the snake's tail. So, you can imagine, they would have repeated the phrase 'Rock-Scissors-Paper' in Chinese for at least twenty times.

Finally, we bid farewell with a goodbye song, '再见'. All in all, I think it went well. =D

"Traffic Light" game for learning Chinese
"Traffic Light" game for learning Chinese
Rock-Scissors-Paper game
Rock-Scissors-Paper game