Need Advice

[Isla]

Well, starting next week I will have a 13 year old girl in my home afterschool every day.

She is from China and has been here less than a year. She speaks very little English. It is my job to help teach her.

What are your experiences that you can share with me that will help me make this a good experience for her?

 

[hzl eyed grl]

I honestly don't have any advice, but here is a ^bump^ for you.

 

[JACKHAMMER]

Do you have any background in education? Do you speak Chinese? I would suggest picking up a book on the subject, that will probably be your best bet at information. Or, go to your local high school and ask to see the foreign language advisor/dept. If they do not have a Jap/chinese program any foreign language teacher should be able to lead you in the right direction..Above all show patience and understanding. Good luck.

 

[Stark]

candy... lots of candy!

 

[shiner]

<< She is from China and has been here less than a year. She speaks very little English. It is my job to help teach her. >>



Plop her in front of the TV and show her tapes of The Brady Bunch and any Quintin Tarentino flick....that should just about cover every aspect of the English language she would need to know.

 

[Scrapster]

electric shock devices.

 

[Isla]

<< Do you have any background in education? >>



yes



<< Do you speak Chinese? >>



no



<< Above all show patience and understanding >>



can do!

Actually, I hadn't thought about contacting the local schools/university. Good idea!

LOL Stark... I do plan on spoiling the heck out of her.

 

[shiznut123]

TV will really help build her English skillz. Show her some cartoons(ex. South Park)

 

[convex]

keep her away from kathie lee.....

 

[Isla]

LOL Scrapster,

I'll save the cattle prod I use on my own children for later.

I want to make her feel at home first before I start the beatings.

From what I understand, so far her experiences have been pretty depressing.

She is pretty unhappy right now... she is at an overcrowded school that can barely serve the kids who do speak english.

I want to help her make the transition and be happy about being here.

Right now she is pretty homesick.

 

[theplanb]

can I visit your home for a while too?
And I like candy as well!

 

[Harvey]

Isla -- Over time, I have managed to learn a little Mandarin by asking people in Chinese restaurants how to say one or two phrases at a time. I would write each phrase down phonetically as it sounded to me and practice it.

At this point, I can say hello, good bye, thank you, and your welcome, and actually order a few things, ask for chopsticks, ice water, white wine and the bill.

When the U.S. accidentally bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, a couple of years ago, there was an instant rush of Chinese people (from China) posting angry threads on what was the equivalent of the OT forum on Anand's old UBB board. Because I knew three or four more words of Mandarin than they ever expected from any American, I was able to make friends with some of them, and they taught me that what I had been doing has a name. It is called Pinyin, which is a formalized phonetic writing of Mandarin Chinese. My spelling sucked, because I was just inventing my own, but they turned me onto some Pinyin sites that are essentially the equivalent of the Babelfish for Chinese. I could not find these old links, so I went to Google.com and entered Pinyin. Here are a couple of links I found. You can probably find more, and I'm sure some will be helpful:

PRACTICE YOUR PINYIN

Learning Chinese Online
* I just started looking at this one. Great links to dictionaries and online translation.

Langoo.com (Multiple languages)

Chinese Chat With examples!

Ni hao - Hello.
Hao bu hao -- How are you? (literally, &quot;good, bad?&quot; or &quot;good, not good?&quot
xia xia - Thank you. (pronounced shea shea, with a very soft &quot;sh&quot
bie ke qi - You're welcome (pronounced biu ca chi - Xia xia, hendon)
Zai jian - See you later.
Hao yun - Good luck.

 

[hendon]

You're welcome -- bie ke qi (qi sounds like &quot;chi&quot

 

[GL]

Isla,

See if she drinks Chinese tea and pick her up some. Try to get some authentic but easy-to-make Chinese foods like dim sum or dumplings...I know here in Toronto we have whole Chinese supermarkets so it's easy for me to say that but hopefully you can find some of this food. Your home might seem more like her home if she's got some food to eat - the authentic Chinese food is really damn good too.

Heck, while you're teaching her English she can teach you some authentic Chinese cooking

Most of the Chinese here in Toronto are from Hong Kong and I think they speak Cantonese...I know there is Cantonese and Mandarin and the two languages are quite different so if you're going to get books, make sure you get the one with the right language she speaks.

But definitely try that food thing, there's a lot of useful English words that can be learned out of that.

-GL

 

[Isla]

Thanks so much, guys.

Imagine being 13 and stuck in a country where you don't speak the language. You get thrown into an overcrowded middle school and you don't even have the same social status here as you had back in your country of birth.

Back in China, she was 'rich' and here she is 'poor'.

I want to do everything I can to help her realize she can be anything she wants to be, she just needs to take a few steps forward.

I have one week to prepare!

 

[Adul]

Hey Isla, this might be off help. My wife is still learning english, and I am learning Thai (slowly). So I have a idea what you will be going through. Association with objects is very helpful. Repeating words often is also helpful.

And this might be of some hel has well.

The Rossetta Stone.

I tried the demo and I found tis to be a very good rpogram. Since it is for education, I think you might be able to get it free. Worth a shot anyways. They cover a large range of langauges has well.

 

[Yo Ma Ma]

Sounds like you will be a very positive event in her life, Isla. I wonder if your neighbor (parents of your child's friend) could be of any help, I think you said they were Chinese?

 

[Windogg]

I'm fluent in Mandarin so feel free to drop me a PM for emergency translations.

Windogg

 

[Harvey]

Adul -- My link to Langoo had translations for many languages, including Thai, Tagalu (Philipines) and lots of others.

 

[Shalmanese]

I speak chinese like a native (I am a native), PM me if you need a quick translation on something.

Oh by the way, If she misbehave say this:

pinyin:Ni ba ni de yi fu tuo diao
phonetically: knee - baa - knee - duh - yi as in yip - foo as in food - twoo as in tworkey - diao

actually maybe not... you dont want to traumatise her yet do you?

some basic primer chinese

Hello: Ni hao
How are you: Ni hao ma?
I am fine: Wo hao
you: ni
I: Wo
like: shi huan
dont like: bu shi huan
ought to:yin gai
must: bi shi
food: fan
water: shui
good: hao
bad: bu hao
sleep:shui jiao
school: shuie shao
[edit] Doh forgot goodbye: Zhai jen[/edit]
capitalism: dont worry, she wouldnt know the chinese for that either
umm anything else you need?
just PM me if you need a specific word and try to find an online pronuciation guide with audio files. each word can have 1 out of a possible 5 pronounciations depending on the accent

 

[Adul]

Harvey, my was to a learning tool that can be used.

 

[Isla]

Ah, you are all my (and hers) heroes!

I will take you up on the offers... hopefully there will be at least one of you here when we need help.

Yo_Ma_Ma... I am doing it as a favor for my neighbor... we have become good friends, our hearts are very much alike. The girl is her niece. Unfortunately, Lahn Min (my neighbor) does not speak english very well herself. Every conversation with her is an adventure in learning for both of us!

I just feel incredibly fortunate to have this experience.

 

[OS]

<< pinyin:Ni ba ni de yi fu tuo diao >>



dude, you shouldn't be telling her to tell a 13 year old to strip her clothes off

 

[Moonbeam]

Well Isla, the one thing that jumped put at me was 'your job is to teach her'. That maybe is a formal fact and the intention, (perhaps of the school district?) but on a human level and you doubtless know this, I'd want to be as open to her teaching me. Anyway, the real gift you have, in my opinion, is yourself. Elite isn't under your name, but it's all over your posts.

 

[Shalmanese]

Hey, its what the EXPECT when they enter a foriegn country, you wouldnt want to disprove all those educational tapes they get back there about how china is so great and th rest of theworld is crumbling around it's ears do you?