Six Months Into Primary One and My Daughter Loves Chinese. Here Is What We Did.

If you have a child entering Primary One soon, I know how you're feeling.

Before my daughter started P1, I had so many questions running through my head. Would she cope? Would the syllabus feel too heavy too fast? Was I supposed to be drilling her on characters and compositions already?

The jump from kindergarten to primary school is honestly quite stark. And Primary One Chinese in Singapore especially, I think a lot of parents feel a little lost when it comes to this.

But we are now six months into the school year and she is doing really well (thankfully!). She genuinely enjoys the subject and talks about Chinese at home without me even prompting her.

So in this article, I just want to share what I did, and will continue to do, to help my child enjoy and thrive in her Chinese. Think of these as my honest P1 Chinese tips, not a definitive playbook, and just a fellow Singaporean mum sharing her experience :)

First, a little background

I grew up in a Chinese speaking household with both my parents speaking Chinese. Even though I studied Higher Chinese, I did not exactly excel at it. Let's just say I can hold a decent conversation with the older aunties and uncles. :)

Growing up, Chinese always felt like a chore to me. Write this character ten times, memorise this vocabulary list. You have been there too, right? There was not a lot of joy in it. It was just something I had to get through.

My dad used to make me copy 成语故事 four times, four 成语 each time. Every. Single. Day.

And when I became a mum, I knew I did not want my children to grow up hating Chinese the way I quietly did, or to learn the language the same way I did. So I kept my focus on helping her enjoy the subject, and less on how many words she could write, read, speak or understand.

Here are three things I did intentionally

1. We spoke Chinese and English at home

This was very intentional from the time she was born. I spoke to her in Chinese and my husband spoke to her in English. And my mum, who is her primary caregiver on the days I am at work, speaks Chinese at home almost exclusively.

If you are worried that your child will get confused by hearing both English and Chinese at home, rest assured, they won't. In fact, they will grow up to be competent in both languages!

When a child grows up hearing a language in a safe and loving environment, they naturally feel comfortable with it, and are more likely to use it and explore it.

2. We borrowed Chinese books from the library

Every single library trip, I made sure we came home with Chinese books. I tried my best to look for silly, quirky ones, like stories with cute or funny characters, the kind that made her laugh or want to know what happened next.

Because I knew that if reading Chinese ever felt like a punishment, she would resist it. But if it was something she was genuinely curious about or enjoyed? She would come back to it on her own.

3. We played Chinese music at home

This one sounds so simple. But I always had Chinese songs playing at home and in the car. Modern ones, fun ones. Songs I actually enjoyed too (like Jay Chou, Mayday... You can probably guess my age 😂)

When kids hear language through music, they pick up words without even realising they are learning. It normalises the language, and it becomes part of their world, not just something that lives in a textbook.

On enrichment classes: Is Chinese enrichment necessary?

This is probably the question I get asked most by parents with children entering Primary One. And honestly, there is no one size fits all answer.

My husband and I made a conscious decision to keep our kids' schedule as free as possible for as long as possible, because we want them to have a lot of free play. Since Singapore's education system is already so rigorous, we thought any extra time outside of school hours should be spent on non-academic endeavours. For now, we have not signed her up for Chinese enrichment.

Many parents default to enrichment the moment their child enters primary school, especially for Chinese. But in our experience, doing primary 1 Chinese at home with the right resources and a little consistency has been enough for her to stay on track and actually enjoy the subject.

That said, if we ever reach a point where we are not able to guide her anymore, we are completely open to exploring tuition. There is no pride in not asking for help when you need it.

Where we are now

Six months into Primary One, she is managing Chinese well. Her teacher's feedback has been really encouraging, and what I love most is that she talks about Chinese at home voluntarily.

She has also tried the Chinese Study and Revision Routine on Toshi, and she looks forward to doing it every week (it's been scheduled in her calendar). Her feedback about it is that she thinks the teacher is funny!

Having access to a really experienced Chinese teacher who teaches in a joyful way is honestly amazing. And we get to do it right here at home. No commute, and no rushing out after school.

If you are wondering how to help your child enjoy Chinese in primary school in Singapore, I hope something in here has been useful. Focus on the joy of learning over the results. The more they enjoy the subject, the more willing they are to improve, even when they are not excelling at it.

Keep going, you've got this! 加油!

Written by Rae, co-founder of Toshi