Mandarin after school club/childminder/babysitter

[SarahC99]

Hi everyone

I am moving to Bristol April 5th after living in Beijing for nearly 5 years with my
4 year old daughter Elsa. I am really keen to keep her Mandarin alive.

I have found the Avon Chinese School which is a great start but am also
looking for Mandarin speaking after school clubs/child minding groups (she may not
start school till Sept)/babysitters in Bristol (we will be living in
Clifton).

If you are aware of anything like this or simply know a Mandarin speaking family nearby that you could put me in touch with I'd be very grateful.

thank you so much!

Sarah

I would try www.bacwg.co.uk, not based in Clifton tough.

Though not tough.

Do you know which school your DD will be going to? Some of the primaries around Clifton have Chinese families with children at the schools (parents usually attached to the university), so you may be able to just arrange something informally in the playground.

Hi Sarah,

Think your mother might have been in touch with me a while back!

I have similar issue, sort of... My daughter is 3.5 years old and is adopted from China. I am very keen for her to learn Mandarin but I thought that the Bristol Chinese school was Cantonese speaking. If you have any success finding anything would love to hear. We also live in Clifton...

Hi thank you everyone for your ideas and tips - much appreciated.

Maindoors - yes, there is a mandarin speaking school the Avon Chinese school run by Liqun Ma. It's Saturdays 2-4 starting again april 24th. But your daughter might need to wait till next year - when I spoke to Liqun (who is lovely) she explained that they like to wait till nearly 5 so the children are used to a classroom setting. but I am sure she could give you the best advice.

I've actually just packed all my notes with contact details as I'm leaving in a few days but if you google her name and the school you should get their website and contact details. If you have any problems contact me on [email protected] and I'll unearth my notes! Also would love to meet up with you when we are settled in - maybe week of the 12th if you are free? Sarah

Hi Sarah, I am from Taiwan and living around Bath/Bristol area for more than 10 years. I have a daughter 3.5 year old. I meet up a friend of mine from China who has got two kids aged 4 & 2.5 on a regular basis. We are very keen to teach our children Chinese and try to create a Chinese speaking environment for them. I have loads materials (DVD, CD, books) for teaching kids Chinese. Would you like to meet up some time and kids can have more Chinese friends too?! Shu

Hi Sarah, Maindoors and Shu,

My daughter Holly just turned 3 last November, and I am also keen on her learning Mandarin. I do speak some Mandarin but has no one to practice with on a more consistent basis. I think it would be ideal for her to have a group of little friends that speak or trying to learn Mandarin, and hopefully she could immerse in Mandarin through that manner. Yes, I do intend to send her to learn Mandarin but unfortunately as discussed she could only do so closer to 5, which in my opinion a little late. Learning a second language is best around 3/4 years old.

I live in Sneyd Park by the Downs, not far from Clifton and would be interested to meet up with anyone who would like to do so. Look forward to some response.

Steph..x

Hi
I'm wanting to do the same thing. I studied Mandarin (but now it's a bit rusty)and lived in China and am keen for my children to learn.
I have a 3 and a half year old and a 16 month old. I would be very pleased to meet up Shu - please can you let me have more details? Alternatively/as well, I would be keen to meet up with some of the native English-speaking parents as a group and perhaps pay for someone (a Chinese student?) to come along and do some Chinese songs/speak Chinese - like a very informal playgroup. I am in south Bristol but could come north - let me know if you're interested and we can look at some options?

Hi all,
Just wanted to add my voice to this post. Sarah - hi - it's Lizi!
I am in the process of moving to Bristol with my four year old son, who is half Chinese. We've just come back from Beijing. My son speaks Mandarin fluently and I really want him to keep this up in Bristol (and go on to learn reading and writing). So, I'm very keen to meet other Chinese/Chinese-speaking families.
Exexpat, you mentioned some Bristol schools have Chinese families - do you know specifically which ones?
My email is [email protected].

Hi all, I am sorry that I didn't check/log in my account. I realised that Sarah's msg was left couple of years ago after posting mine. I didn't expect anyone would response to me.

A bit update our situation on the Chinese learning front, my daughter is 4 now and she is regularly attending Bath Chinese school( we live near Dyrham Park) on Saturday mornings for about 2 hours. Bath Chinese school offers several classes for different levels. The one we attend is very good, taught by a Taiwanese lady. Lessons are very lively and my daughter enjoys them. Before going to Bath Chinese school this September, I was very pleased that my daughter could fully understand me in Chinese and we could had little Chinese conversation. I am now even more impressed as Bath Chinese School even tries to teach kids to write the characters. Overall, highly recommended!

I am also very happy to meet up to share experience and let children have opportunities to talk/learn Chinese. Let me know if you guys have any regular group or we can sort something out.

I promise I will follow up this message this time. Shux