22. Chinese School Then vs. Now ft. Ada Tseng & Crystal Hsia

Many of us often joke about attending weekend Chinese School back in the day and still only graduating at the same Mandarin level as third graders in the motherland. However, for many ABCs/ABTs who are now parents themselves, there is a sudden wave of anxiety around the idea of how to pass on their family's language and culture when they're not even confident in their own abilities to begin with. For this episode, we are joined by two guests who bring unique perspectives around the topic of Chinese School. The first guest is Ada Tseng, an ABC and mother of two who attended Chinese School herself as a kid, and is now sending her own kids there in order to help them on their Mandarin journey. The second guest is Real You Mandarin: Self-Expression partner teacher Crystal Hsia who actually has a years-long relationship with Chinese School associations in California, and has worked with various schools in the capacity of creating teaching materials, training teachers, and being a teacher herself. We discuss the biggest differences in how Chinese School is run now compared to back when we attended in the 90s-00s. Classes are now grouped based on skill level instead of age group, and even split more narrowly into Pinyin vs. Zhuyin classes, Traditional vs. Simplified character classes, and even ABC vs. Non-ABC classes. The overall spirit has also shifted to place less emphasis on strict, rote memorization and more emphasis on creating a fun learning experience for kids so that they'll actually want to learn the language and not simply give up. In this episode, you'll learn vocab like 混齡 / 混龄 / hǔn líng ("mixed-age"), 社群中心 / shè qún zhōng xīn ("community hub/center"), 特徵 / 特征 / tè zhēng ("characteristic/feature"), and more. If you are interested in strengthening your own Mandarin skills while building confidence with your kids around their Mandarin, you'll find a wealth of useful contextual vocabulary and phrases in our Real You Mandarin: Self-Expression course, including a full module dedicated to Fertility & Parenting. Learn how to talk through daily routines, help your kids work through big feelings, set boundaries with your own parents about your parenting style, and so much more. If you haven't already, try a free lesson from the course now at ⁠https://www.realyoumandarin.com to see if it's a good fit.You can find Ada's book Breaking Into New Hollywood: A Career Guide to a Changing Industry on Amazon, listen to her podcast Saturday School Podcast on Spotify, and follow her on Instagram at @adatseng88. If you're interested in working with Crystal as a private student, you can learn more on her website https://www.crystalmandarin.com Follow us on Instagram at @realyoumandarin and on TikTok at @realyoumandarin