Immersion experiences with young kids (2 & 4)?

Taiwan Parenting
1

We are moving to Taichung this fall for 6 months. I know that’s not a long long time, but enough that I hope the kids will pick up some substantial language benefits.

I was hoping some of you could share experiences (good or bad) with how your little ones fared with the whole learning Chinese thing. Please include information like what their level of Chinese knowledge was at the outset, what both parents at home speak natively, what kind of environment (e.g. at a school where they heard Chinese 100% of the time) they were in and for how long.

I am fluent in English and Taiwanese, and know enough Mandarin to get around. I would still say that English is my BEST language in terms of vocabulary and grammar, however. For this reason we have always spoken English to our kids.

My 4yo has a pretty good vocabulary and decent grammar. My 2yo is just beginning to talk in 4 and 5 word sentences. The grammar’s not there, but it’s coming along quite nicely.

In the fall, we are going to enroll them in a school where the 4yo will get 1/2 day in English and 1/2 day in Chinese. So first half of the day he has native English-speaking teachers. Second half, native Chinese speakers. I am hoping in this way he will feel comfortable enough with the English portion of the day to not feel too weird about suddenly being surrounded by Chinese-speaking people in the second half of the day. I am hoping he will be receptive with this hybrid program.

The 2yo will have a 100% Chinese-speaking experience, so more of a complete immersion. I am hoping that she will not feel too “closed off” or confused for not understanding a single word that the teachers are saying.

So is this all a good idea? How long did it take your kids before they felt comfortable interacting with peers in Mandarin? Are my kids going to come home crying every day because they couldn’t understand a thing their teachers were saying?

2

Well, if it’s any help, this is my opposite experience, in the States. My 2 yo twins were fully ‘immersed’ in Mandarin for the first 2 years of their lives, and are fluent. They then went to regular English preschool, 2.5 hrs a day, 2 days a week. This started in Sept, and it’s now May, getting to the end of the ‘school year’. They have now started to talk to each other in fragmented English sentences, and unfortunately know their colors better in Eng. than Mandarin, but I think that’s cause the ah-ma doesn’t teach as much as preschool does.

The preschool teacher does say that the boy doesn’t speak as much at school, and the girl does, but DEFINITELY, I think 2 is a good age to immerse them…too much longer, and it’s harder. My friend tried this with a 4-5 yr old, and he just withdrew…she finally had to change schools. Good luck! I’m sure they’ll do fine!

3

This is what I am worried about. Hopefully the day being 1/2 in English will go a long way to making him feel more comfortable in the foreign environment. The fact that your twins managed to pick up on the language on just 2.5 hours 2 days a week is encouraging ~ my kids will be going every day, full days. Thanks for the feedback :slight_smile: