Teacher for Chinese - 3 year old

I am really in need for a professional teacher who can teach my daughter basic Cantonese Conversation, and perhaps basic chinese characters, and some Mandarin even better. I would prefer a teacher who can come to my house. Any recommendations much appreciated!


We speak totally English at home, and my 3 year old is going to a local school starting September, I am very worried without any Cantonese basics, she won't want to go to the new school !

Hi ~ I've been using Timeswell New Mandarin for about 2 years now, and they've also provided a tutor for my son (nearly 3) for about half a year. The lessons are about $260 per hour. You can call the manager Amy Wong on 2203 4389 and she'll arrange a tutor to come to your home.

SnowRose - Is this his only exposure to Mandarin? have you found that 1 hour a week has made a difference for your son? Does he understand and use the language more?

Our situation is a bit complicated! But I'll try to be brief!


Okay, my hubby is from the Mainland, but he's a banker working crazy hours so he doesn't get much time to speak Putonghua with the kiddies. My in-laws speak only Chinese and visit 1-2 times per year for 3 months each time. I speak "can communicate" Mandarin and am still learning. So basically, no, the lesson is not his only exposure to Chinese.


We play Baby Einstein DVDs in Mandarin and I try my best to go through the Chinese language materials we picked up in China with my boys. The older boy is getting a bit old for Baby Einstein now but we do use his Early Education Machine which we got in the PRC. I'm always pestering my in-laws to come back and visit us as well.


Lastly, we send our son to Woodlands Montessori Bilingual class. He had to go in the English-only group until there was a place available but they did arrange a twice-weekly Mnadarin sessions.


The reason why we have the Mandarin tutor is to "top up" his Chinese. The Mandarin taught at Woodlands is really easy and he already knows it. We find the private lessons worthwhile and yes, it has made a difference.


I'm a teacher myself and before I got my PCEd I did a year working in a private tutorial school for little ones. I found those not exposed to English at home would progress at a slower pace, but they did still progress.


If a parent wishes their child to learn Chinese but can't speak it themselves I'd definitely recommend DVDs as a back up. For under 3s, Baby Einstein (available at Mothercare and Bumps to Babes) and Little Linguist (available at Bookazine, I got mine from Prince's Building branch). For older children, many Disney DVDs have a choice of languages. We got Tarzan (from HMV, I think) and there's a choice of English, Mandarin and Cantonese. Obviously check the back of the box to see what options there are.


If possible, you could pop over to Shenzhen and get an Early Education Machine for about RMB300. Basically, it's just like a LeapPad but in Mandarin.

Thank you so much for the reply SnowRose!

We hace some Mandarin song CDs that we play daily, and I chat to him a bit, but my Mandarin is very limited. I know I need to brush up and speak more at home.


We don't use any DVDs in any language, as we are avoiding the TV/Video/DVD still - we want to wait until he is older (only 6 months now!)


We'll check out the Early Education Machine next time we are in Shenzhen - any baby shop recommendations?


One last question... Is the Woodland class really billingual teaching?

We are looking on HK Island at Victoria, RightMind, Montessori, KCS as billingual kindy options, I thought Woodland was only a couple hours a week? Which one are you referring to?

Okay, Woodlands has two choices: one is the bilingual class which uses English and Chinese and the other option is the English-only class which uses English all the time except twice a week they have a one hour long Mandarin session with a native Mandarin speaking teacher (i.e. not the regular teacher).


Originally my boy was in the English only class whilst we waited for a place in the bilingual group. He's only just moved into the bilingual class, so it's a bit too early for us to comment on how his Chinese is coming along.


What I can say is what I've observed so far. The teacher of the bilingual class is from Beijing and when I talked to her (at length) she seemed to me to be a very clued-up, smart lady with excellent English as well as native-level Mandarin.


The other factor is your child's classmates. For example, one of the bilingual classes happens to be made up of mainly native English speaking children who are really at beginner level in terms of Chinese. This is unfortunate for us because my son can already speak a lot of Mandarin and we are worried that the Chinese used in class will be too basic for him. I know those other kids are still learning their numbers and colours!


I did mention this concern to the teacher and she said no problem, she'd simply use more difficult Chinese when interacting with my son. And as the children spend a lot of time in small groups, she'd try to encourage him to work with children who she knows have a better standard of Chinese.


Actually, I'm still a bit concerned about his Mandarin. I want him to be completely bilingual but he's not quite at the same level as native Chinese speaking 3 year olds. I don't want to change schools because I love the Montessori philosophy and he's so happy where he is. So I hire the private tutor and with any luck my in-laws will come and visit us again soon!

Wow Snow Rose, thanks so much for the reply, this is very helpful.

THanks. I will give Amy a call. Great information you gave, Snow Rose. Thanks!

Glad to be able to help! :)