why is it so hard to get a chinese toddler playgroup going? Post Reply

[readbooks]

Hello,

I'm looking for a chinese playgroup for my son as well. He speaks a little bit of Mandarin with his dad only. He's 4.
We've tried Mandarin classes, but it wasn't immersion and it seemed like a waste of time and money to learn a couple words each week. I think the playgroup I would be interested in would have to be in an immersion environment.

I would love to give you my support to start such a project. I don't speak Mandarin however, so my role might be a bit limited!

Let me know if you have found anything since you wrote this post.

Thanks!

[juliantenniscoach]

The answer is pretty obvious. There are hundreds if not thousands of French and Spanish families living in the local area. Thus there is huge demand for their children to learn both their native language and the language of their host country.

Therefore the demand for Mandarin to be taught at reception age is bound to be very low. There are teachers of course, but I think you're going to have to pay not an inconsequential sum of money to get the level you seek.

Furthermore the attraction of Mandarin against French or Spanish or German is a hard one to 'sell' unless you have Chinese family or are intending to move there. As with many Japanese companies the language of business is slowly becoming English anyway with multi-national Chinese companies.

If you would like details of a local teacher then please PM me. Best wishes.

[JDMummy]

Hi,

I am interested in more details about his Mandarin playgroup. Where is it, running time, fee paying or not etc.

We just moved into SW11. would like to set up a playgroup myself for Mandarin speaking toddlers in the Spring time. Numbers are not important. Something small and fun maybe just what we need.

Anyone out there is interested, please email me your contact details, your child, children's age. I will keep you in the loop once I know a date of our first play date.

Rosa

[supergirl]

Hi
Having bilingual children and probably read all the literature available about raising true bilingual children (2 parents 2 different language from in utero!)
I can assure you that children learn a lot from children.
There is no point of having a group with a few english speaking kids and a mandarin teacher because then this is not total immersion but teaching mandarin as a foreign language. So the kids will leatn a few songs and hello, goodbye etc. But wont learn the language and culture because they wont play between themselves in the language.
For ex: whatever games or book they learned/read in english, when left to their device my children will play together in english if they are playing/reading that game/book. But, i saw the other day them playing a french game and they switched completely in french during the time they play the game (they are 4 and 2.5 yrs).
You said you wanted multilingual children, if you want to achieve that this is what you need to do: find native mandarin speaker who wants their children to learn this language too (and maybe a couple of english dpeaking so they can pick up the language.
For instance, a lot of native will go to mandarin school or french school on saturday.
I would be interested in a mandarin playgroup so long there are children with native parents. (This is why my kids dont go to çlub petit pierrot, when we did the trial there were 3 english speaking children for 1 french).

Good luck and keep me posted please. Sx

[todosacantar]

Hola! Ya esta abierta la inscripcion para el proximo trimestre de Todos a Cantar! Canciones, juegos y cuentos en espanol para chicos!
http://www.todosacantar.blogspot.co.uk/
Te espero!! Cecilia

[supermoomoo]

found a playgroup in Wimbledon! so all is not lost.... thank you everyone who tried to help and support the cause...

am sure we will generate more and more interest as we go on.

[chinanew]

I am a new mum to a recently adopted chinese toddler (21 months old).
I would love to join a chinese toddler group so please let me know of any progress with this.
It would be great for my daughter to mix with other chinese parents and kids and have exposure to the language.
Unfortunately, neither of us speak chinese, although we try some basic mandarin nursery rhymes...
We live in Richmond.

[JDMummy]

Hello mums,
I am ready to host a Mandarin Chinese speaking playgroup at home SW11 between the commons. We can do Tue, Thursday or sat afternoons from 2:30-4:30.

If you are interested in joining, pls let me know.

[supermoomoo]

Hi JD Mummy

Thank you so much for being so proactive! Much appreciated and I am sure I speak on behalf of a lot of parents here. Let's hope the playgroup will be a great success! keep us posted! xx

[JDMummy]

Hi Supermoomoo,

Would you like to join us with your little one? Which day suits you? We live in Sw11 between the commons.

Rosa

[ava]

Hi everyone. I have a son who is 4, understands some Mandarin, but speaks very little! Him and me speak Cantonese together.

I am looking for mandarin playgroups or other mums or hire a mandarin teacher together. We live between the commons. Something close would be perfect.

My son has school Monday to Friday, so it would be ideal to organize something after 3:30pm.

Please contact me if you are interested. szwzeng1@hotmail.com

Look forward to hear from you.

Ava

[Shiro]

Heartfelt thank you to JD mummy for our very first Playgroup! It was lovely to see there are so many other moms having the same interests.

I'm a Chinese mom myself and trying to get my 3.5yrs and 1.5yrs to speak Mandarin as much as possible. My very supportive hubby wants me to ask if anyone knows a good mandarin teacher? We are more than happy to host Mandarin lessons at home every Sat or Sun afternoon. We live on Nightingale Lane.

Please let me know if you would be interested in something like that. Kids age under 5 ideally.

Thank you!

[waterloohill]

Hi, I have just recently joined this forum because I saw this thread! I am a (HK) chinese mum who speaks cantonese and very basic mandarin. My daughter is 18 months and I would love to find a local mandarin playgroup for her. We are currently going to a Mandarin singalong in Wimbledon every Saturday morning, but ideally I would love to expose her even more and an actual playgroup where the kids speak in Mandarin would be great. I am very interested in weekend (preferably Saturday) get togethers. I live in Wandsworth but I do drive, so any nearby area would work well for me. Hope to hear from you about any future plans to meet up. Thanks

[JDMummy]

Hi Waterloohill,

I am running a Mandarin Chinese playgroup from home between the commons. Our kids are having a lot of fun from it. The objective is to teach them reading and writing in Mandarin Chinese through play. The activities are designed more suitable for 3-5 years old. We meet every Tuesday afternoon from 3:30-4:30pm. Due to space issue, we can't take on more children at the moment. However, if you can make it for tues, there will be two spaces available from April for one month - 3 months. You can bring your little one along to join us.

We can keep you informed but can't promise the space right now.

Rosa

[waterloohill]

HI Rosa

Thanks for your reply. I work full time so unfortunately Tuesdays wouldn't work for me anyway, besides which it sounds like you are pretty full already! Also, my daughter might well be too young for the activities, given what you say. Never mind! I will keep my eye out for any future threads on Mandarin playgroups in the area. Thanks and all the best.