I would like to take my child to attend some classes such as Chinese class, music class , etc. Let me know if you know of a place which may offer these type of classes. Please provide me with the contact details. Parent participation is fine. Thank you.
Are you serious?
Yes of course I’m serious! I’m in Taipei so if anyone has any information on classes for babies, please pass the information to me. At six months my child took his first swimming lesson, and we started attending a Mother Goose program when he was only 2 months. We sang songs and nursery rhymes. We also joined a Kindermuisk class as well. These are the types of programs I’m looking for but now that we are in Taiwan, I’d like for them to be in Chinese. Thanks!!
[quote=“can922”]Parent participation is fine. Thank you.[/quote]I’d think it would have to be required.
As for the Chinese lessons, you’d be better off hiring a native speaker of Chinese who likes babies to play and interact with your kid, say for an hour a day.
I taught at a preschool here that had students as young as 2, but the boss and teachers had no idea what they were doing or how best to teach a child that young. (Par for the course, in my opinion, in Taiwan.)
Your child has a built in language learner in his brain, like all humans. He doesn’t need a class at this age to learn to listen and speak. Exposure and ineraction is all he needs. Play with him at home. Take out for walks to explore the world. Let him see, hear, touch, smell, and taste many idfferent things. He has 18 plus years of school ahead of hm already, why get him started so early? If it is learning Chinese you are concerned about, hire a Chinese babysitter or playmate lke the last poster suggested, unless you or your partner already speaks the language, then I don’t think it’s necessary.
THere are plenty of good preschools in Taipei your child can go to after he is potty-trained. Until then, teach him what you know, how to play, how to interact with the world, what’s around him, and all the other things babies need to know that they learn through living. It is way to early to start classes, I think your idea is a bit ridiculous.
Good Lord…whatever has happened to allowing babies to be babies?
Singing songs sounds alright, though I think it’s the OP who’s going to be doing most of the singing! Not sure whether that really warrants a “class” as such, but each to their own.
On the topic of very early language classes, I sometimes jokingly say to people that there is a new program of foreign language learning in which lessons are piped through a speaker placed on a pregnant mother’s abdomen. The baby is born bilingual. The worrying thing is that sometimes people believe me!
I agree with those who say that finding a couple of Chinese-speaking playmates for the one-year-old child would be the best, most educationally justifiable, and no doubt cheapest thing.
Chinese-speaking babies? Is there a such thing? Are you concerned about your child being a monolingual babbler?
Honestly, your child is not going to suffer because he or she spent the two years of his life out of a learning institution. Why are people so insistent on having other people teach their children at such an early age? Isn’t that part of parenting? Babies at that age are barely aware of other babies and they certainly aren’t displaying more than parallel play if that. Why force them into a classroom environment to learn another language when they are still grasping the one-word stage of their own language?
Joesax, you better take out a patent on that idea. Somebody here is going to do it, and pregnant women will be lining up for it.
They start the “education” way too early here, and the children become nervous wrecks at age 10 because of it. It’s sad.
To the op, I’m sure what you want exists here. Consider jwbrunkens advice. Don’t forget to let a kid be a kid!
I think it would be a handy thing for a 2 year old to be able to say “Mom I just shat in my diapers” in 2 languages.
Pity you still don’t know how to say it in Chinese. It could still be useful, Truant. 
Pity you still don’t know how to say it in Chinese. It could still be useful, Truant. :p[/quote]
I think pointing with one hand, blocking my nose with the other and saying “poo poo” is pretty reliable. It has known to work in approx 83 countries.
Here is some info that may be more helpful for the original poster.
There are Gymborees in taipei, i think five locations. Their website is gymboree.com.tw/ . It is a parent child class and quite fun with singin, dancing, bubbles, climbing on soft gyms etc.
There are also several kindermusik teachers one of whom is jenniferjoy. You can contact her at jennifer@kmjoy.com .
A discussion of these two places can be found here parentpages.net/phpbb2/viewt … 73&start=0
Infant massage classes Contact Ivy directly for more information, mailto:yjeng@umich.edu
Baby swim classes parentpages.net/phpbb2/viewt … 10&start=0
There is absloutly nothing wrong with doing these kind of classes with your baby as long as you both are having fun. It can be a great chance for you both to meet other people and have a great time with your child. Both of my kids love their Kindermusik Cds and we sing and dance to them over and over again at home!
Thanks for that info. Yes I know there is some humor in there which probably is not helpful.
Gymborees etc ARE something I see as relevant and constructive. But putting a baby in a specific situation to learning chinese at the age of 1 is too serious IMHO.
From the friends I know who have had foreign babies here, they picked up chinese incredibly fast just in day to day stuff, and then when interacting at kindergartens with local kids - their mandarin just takes off.
I guess it all depends on how long the OP is going to be here for and what the future education preferences are going to be as to whether specifically hunting out chinese learning oppotunities at the age of 1 is something to be taken seriously or not.
Can it talk? How can you have Chinese classes when it can’t even talk? I’m truly baffled by this. Swimming, sure, but music classes? What instrument can a baby play when it can’t even walk yet? How is it even able to hold a tune?
Edit: OK, thanks for clarifying, piwackit. I was really stumped on that one to begin with and actually thought it was someone just joking around. When I were a lad, all we had to play with was an old piece of newspaper and a bit of string. Served us well until I was 17, too.