My Kids are Learning Chinese Online

[Ribina]

For those of you like me with kids that are easily glued to their devices. I've found a way to put it to good use and learn something useful. It's called speaking ducks chinese and they love it. Does anyone else here have any good ideas for ipad time?

Learning flags, where countries are and their capitals - lots of good apps. I do it on my commute and know where all the countries and can name their capitals/ recognise their flags. Weirdly satisfying!

Learning flags sounds fun! Not sure how many I know, could be a competition :)

'Maths Ninja' for time tables (only up to 10's). Both of mine loved this game, learnt their times tables quicker than most. Had to do a bit of extra work but this was a great resource which they enjoyed 😊

Alternatively you can just control their screen time.
For my younger one - I just set the limits, my older one was involved in the discussion of what those limits should be.
Screentime is addictive and even adults have trouble controlling themselves. Kids need help and direction to learn to do it.

Doing extra math practice is obviously useful. Learning a bit of a language is a lot less so, as it is unlikely to stay with them.

@MMmomDD learning a bit of a language is a lot less useful? How so?

Because they will not retain much (or any) of the learning. Playing with a bit of Chinese characters and phrases is pretty much just a game and it’s not really the same as learning the language.
You may as well just give them other games to play.

It’s far better to try to limit children’s screen time. When screens aren’t available kids will play actual physical games and will have an incentive to read books. Far better for their development.

But you are assuming they have no ability to retain the information they learn. Being exposed to languages from an early age has a positive impact on their brains. You’ve also got to remember that we actually learn better when we play.
They might not remember it exactly as they get older but it’s ridiculous to just fob it off as essentially worthless.

Also, the OP didn’t ask for your opinion on what screen time she should allow her kid to have. It was a recommendation to those that use it

Strangely you can use screens to read books... for a lot of children the option to control the colours, the contrast, the font and sizing means that they read considerably more on a screen than using paper books.

Thing is - about children and learning another language - it takes a lot of effort and needs a lot more than some computer games.
Young kids are pragmatic and will use/learn another language language IF it’s needed to communicate with someone who can’t really communicate in their language.
Most parents with bi-lingual children will tell you how hard it is to creat enough of a language environment for the kids to speak it, even if the parent only uses that language with them daily.
My kids are multilingual. So this is a subject that I have always been interested in. And if you speak to any language specialists - they’ll tell you that there is absolutely no benefit from the kids playing with learning a little bit of Chinese, or any other language.
If it’s not a language that they use to communicate - it will not be retained.
So - sorry to say - kids playing with Chinese characters are just playing a game with symbols. They are not learning a language, and there is really no benefit for their brain development.
At around age 12, which coincides with transition to secondary school - kids start being able and may be curious to learn another language. They learn as adults at that age, by memorisation, etc.

As to reading books on the screens. Yes, possible, of course. And it works well for adults who use kindles for convinience.
However - best way to encourage kids to love reading is not to have too much screens in the early age, so that they learn to like stories and use their imagination.
At a young age - a page with text will always lose out to an interactive computer game, with bright colours and sounds.
More and more kids get exposed to the screens before they have been given a chance to like books. And sadly - those kids tend not to become readers.
Books just can’t compete with the visuals on the screen.

That’s not entirely true. Even if a child doesn’t become fluent in a language being exposed to another language still improves executive function and working memory and has benefits for young children.

@LondonGirl83 👍🏻 This all day.

I can’t see anyone here arguing that screens are better than books. My daughter has loads of screen time but she adores books and our house is filled with them because I do too. It’s an overall environment of positivity to the written word that is beneficial.

With regards to multilingual homes, I disagree. It’s not hard to create that environment if you flick between your native tongue and another from birth. Kids are sponges and far more adaptable than we often give them credit for.

I’d rather my child sat and played with Chinese characters not fully grasping the concept than being forced to read a book they have no interest in quite frankly or watching damn YouTube videos of brats opening toys 😂

Multilingual homes and language environments are not the same as playing with Chinese characters on a screen.
OP’s children don’t have a Chinese language environment. They are not exposed to a little bit of a foreign language that can have a benefit for their brain development.
As much as OP wants to think that playing that game is better than some other game - it’s just not true.
If OP then also got a Chinese speaker coming over to play/talk with the kids - then this would be a language environment, albeit very minimal.

Starbuck8419 - your have a theoretical idea of what a multilingual home is. I live in one.
When kids are small and majority of their interactions are with you - yes - it’s not difficult. I speak my language to them, they respond. They get English at the nursery.
However, as their world opens up as they grow - and they spend an increasing amount of time at school and with their friends - a little bit of my language that I manage to give them is just not enough to get them speaking a language beyond a level of 5yo.
So - I have to work harder to make sure their language develops. I take them to my country to visit; I read them books, show movies; I take them to classes on my language; I have a helper at the house who only speaks my language.
And even then it’s a daily struggle where they need to be encouraged to speak a language that is not as native to them as the language they use 90% of their time.

All I am saying - OP’s children are not learning Chinese. Not with just playing a game. And there he little benefit, really.

Kids and screen time is a touchy subject as it gives parents reprieve; and/or takes a lot of effort to control. But, especially in the early age - it’s important. It is amazing what kids get up to when screens are not available.

I think op is pretty aware that little tommy isn’t going to start speaking Chinese in one or two years time fluently off the back of an app especially when he’s not practicing it in any other form however, you’ve completely neglected to consider the idea that it will be helping the child’s brain and learning in some way.

Screens are unfortunately a part of life. As with everything it’s a moderation and it’s quite amazing what children will learn with them too.

With regards to my idea of a multilingual home...it comes from being raised in one and raising my child in one. Nothing theoretical about it.

OP’s post title indicates that her children are learning Chinese. So - I am not sure she is aware that her kids aren’t actually learning the language. I think people in the UK, being largely monolingual - have a vague idea of minority language learning.

I’ll try one more time and then shut up. I have spent a lot of time with language researchers. My kids even participated in a multi-lingual vs mono-lingual speakers at UCL. So - there is definitely benefits to some of the brain processes for multilinguals.

This isn’t the case with OP’s children and those games are just games.
OP seems to worry at least somewhat about her kids screentime, but seems to think it’s OK because they are learning something useful. And that is simply not the case.

As to multilingual homes - Starbuck8419 seems to be unique. I have never seen a multilingual child of school age, or a teenager in the UK who is perfectly bilingual from just one parent speaking to them, and no other significant input - other family, trips, lessons, etc.
And by perfectly bilingual I mean a child who has a similar breadth of vocabulary and ability to read in both languages - and not at the toddler stage but by the time they are teens.

Ooh! Is it Mandarin?(I suspect so)
Or Cantonese?

Screens for children under the age of 2 isn’t beneficial at all and should be avoided according to most experts. After two, high quality educational screen time shared with an adult who can bring it to life can be beneficial according the the AAP who’ve researched the issue extensively.

My DD gets to watch Jolly Phonics and Number blocks twice a week and does coding on the iPad using Scratch Jr once a week as part of MamaCodes classes. We actively participate in her learning on all of these things. Over the course of a week she probably averages 30 min a day of screen time.

On long flights we let her binge watch Peppa Pig and Disney films as I’m only human!

I think we have a good balance for her age.

My daughter learns Spanish via a class so my comment on that was that partly learning a language is good even without becoming fluent for brain development. If the OPs app is helpful will really depend on the quality of the app but it’s wrong to be dismissive of all screen time as essentially garbage. It’s more nuanced than that like most things in life!

My dc is addicted to screen. I am a gamer, and my dc too. My dc spend so much time since about 2, watching me play game, using laptop/ipad/game console themselves. We watched French cartoon. Became interstead in learning French, so started Duolingo. Now, he gets Teacher commented he has massive English vocabulary over the years, all thanks to playing games.
I think people who are against children using online work/game are making children missing out a lot.