Chinese Preschool vs. Bilingual Preschool: How Can My Child Become Fluent in Mandarin?

Will enrolling your child in Chinese preschool make them more proficient in Mandarin compared to a bilingual preschool? How can you ensure their Chinese and English are Primary school-ready?

You savvy parents get that exposing your child to a second language like Mandarin benefits their linguistic and literary development as well as boosts their neural activities, cognitive abilities and motor skills. But how do you decide between enrolling your child in a Chinese preschool vs. a bilingual English-Chinese preschool? If you choose a Chinese preschool to supercharge their Mandarin, will your child’s English language suffer? And will their Chinese be up to scratch for primary school?

Chinese Preschools in Singapore

The key difference between Chinese preschools like MindChamps Chinese PreSchool and bilingual schools like MindChamps Preschool is the total immersion in Chinese preschool through listening, speaking and learning Chinese as part of their daily life. This is opposed to a bilingual education system where Chinese is taught as a “second language”. For example, at a bilingual MindChamps PreSchool, certain lessons integrate both English and Chinese with an English teacher and Chinese teacher present at all times. At bilingual schools, English tends to outweigh Chinese so if English is the dominant language at home, immersing your child in a fully Chinese programme at a Chinese preschool school will balance out this language inequality and give your child a stronger foundation in the second language.

Building a strong foundation in Chinese

The MindChamps Chinese PreSchool curriculum is based on decades of research, and aims to engage preschoolers from 18 months to 6 years old so that they not only become fluent in Mandarin, but also fall in love with the Chinese culture. Playgroup and nursery 1 classes are conducted fully in Chinese, so that a strong foundation is established during the early years.

Chinese curriculum gets kids ready for local primary school

From Nursery 2 onwards, the use of English increases while still maintaining the teaching and learning of Chinese. This ensures that your child’s English language doesn’t fall behind at any point and prepares children for transition into primary school, where English is the main language of instruction.

Learning made fun!

MindChamps’ has lots of enrichment programmes taught in Chinese at MindChamps Chinese PreSchool, including Music for the Mind™ (music skills with xylophone, tambourine or bells), NeuroMooves™ (to develop motor skills, musicality, coordination and balance through gymnastics), Gourmet Moments (cooking skills), and Creative and Theatrical Strategies classes, among others. Want to know more? Click here to check out what a typical day for preschoolers at MindChamps Chinese PreSchool looks like!

Chinese culture

If your child is a question asker and needs to ask “Why…” for everything, know that MindChamps Chinese PreSchool embraces this curiosity and gives learning Chinese context so that little inquisitive minds can better understand the roots of the Chinese language. MindChamps Chinese PreSchool incorporates the Chinese Culture Appreciation programme, where preschoolers learn the rich Chinese culture and history through lessons, as well as arts and cultural appreciation activities such as Chinese chess, clay modelling, painting, Chinese tea appreciation and calligraphy.

Enrol now for 2020!

So if you’re excited to immerse your child in Chinese and give their cognitive, and linguistic skills a head start, now is the time to head over to MindChamps Chinese PreSchool, meet the teachers and find out more. Book an appointment now at any one of the three centres all around Singapore!

www.mindchamps.org/cps