How I Taught My Daughter the Chinese Language? Part 2: The Method

A highly effective teaching approach that I developed through years of training test automation mentees.

In the previous article, I shared the background of my daughter’s journey in learning Chinese, including my mistakes, the plan I developed, and evidence of her success. Now, I’d like to explain how I achieved it.

Table of Contents:
∘ 1. Starting with stories (in English)
∘ 2. Tell a story before she goes to sleep
∘ 3. Learn a few Chinese characters or Phrases after the story.
∘ 4. Don’t criticize mistakes
∘ 5. Learning with Japanese Anime and Manga (in Chinese)
∘ 6. Reading Chinese History Stories
∘ 7. Practice Chinese Calligraphy
· Why It Worked?

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1. Starting with stories (in English)

Children like stories, and there are many good, short, easy-to-understand yet insightful Chinese idiom stories (see Idiom Stories for Software Professionals series).

This is to get a child interested in another culture. In my opinion, learning a language mechanically is not effective.