Chinese Lessons http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog 'To Learn and at due times to repeat what one has learnt, is that not after all a pleasure?' Confucius Mon, 29 Aug 2011 23:51:06 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 en hourly 1 Some links http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?p=753 http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?p=753#comments Mon, 29 Aug 2011 23:51:06 +0000 admin http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?p=753 Fast Company on the gaokao

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Why Finnish schools are so good

]]> http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?feed=rss2&p=753 0 Its that time again 2 http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?p=751 http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?p=751#comments Wed, 08 Jun 2011 23:23:20 +0000 admin http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?p=751 Marketplace on China’s crises of education

]]> http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?feed=rss2&p=751 0 It’s that time again…. http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?p=749 http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?p=749#comments Mon, 06 Jun 2011 05:41:48 +0000 admin http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?p=749 Jiang Xueqin arguing that the best alternative to the gaokao… is the gaokao

]]> http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?feed=rss2&p=749 0 The Anti-Tiger Mom http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?p=747 http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?p=747#comments Wed, 20 Apr 2011 23:35:01 +0000 admin http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?p=747 Bryan Caplan says all your parenting efforts don’t make any difference. Here’s the WSJ review.

Key Quote:

Parents take it upon themselves to constantly entertain and “enrich” their kids with a course-catalog of activities (Capoeira, violin, Mandarin lessons) in a desperate effort to give them “the best” and set them on the path to a triumphant adulthood. But it turns out that parenting has almost no effect on children’s life expectancy, intelligence, happiness or success.

]]> http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?feed=rss2&p=747 0 The new global language? http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?p=743 http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?p=743#comments Wed, 23 Mar 2011 12:10:07 +0000 admin http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?p=743 Today Zoe had a play-date with her best friend who is 1/2 Italian, 1/2 Lithuanian. Their common language — Chinese.

]]> http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?feed=rss2&p=743 0 What is it with the piano? http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?p=731 http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?p=731#comments Sun, 20 Mar 2011 12:35:17 +0000 admin http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?p=731 It is said that the future of classical music is bound inextricably to China’s rise. Parent here and you know why. The Chinese are obsessed with having their kids learn a musical instrument.  Chua’s now infamous memoir has barely a word about English, Math or even Chinese. Instead  all the emphasis, discipline and friction of family life center on teaching her kids music. In the West you can pick up a used piano basically for free. Here they are extremely valuable, because everyone wants one.

Chua tells of making her kids practice for hours and hours a day. This may seem excessive but talking to people here it doesn’t appear wildly unusual. One mom I spoke to last week told me she made her 6 year old daughter  practice at least 40 minutes a day. This weekend I was told of another who gets her 6 year old to put in 2 hours a day.

Why this obsession with piano? One possibility is that parents are making up for a creative deficit that they felt in their own childhoods. Few adults here had the opportunity to study piano when they were young. Writer Leslie Chang, who recently commented on the phenomena, believes it goes deeper. “I think there’s a complete Chinese obsession with piano and violin that’s probably genetically imprinted or something,” she said. My own take is that piano is popular because it so clearly rewards  hard work and  discipline. Practice for long enough and you are sure to learn the song.

Max has just started piano and I  insist that we practice every day — for about 5 minutes

]]> http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?feed=rss2&p=731 0 Latest Pics http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?p=735 http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?p=735#comments Sun, 20 Mar 2011 11:58:30 +0000 admin http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?p=735 IMG_1691

More pictures of Pudong here

]]> http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?feed=rss2&p=735 0 Learning your ABC’s http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?p=726 http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?p=726#comments Sun, 20 Mar 2011 03:53:43 +0000 admin http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?p=726 Something that I already knew became starkly apparent to me the other day when doing my daily 10 minutes of teaching Max to read (in English). We read the same stories over and over again and sometimes – when Max is reading really well  – I can tell he’s just memorized the text. You need to realy read it, I command, making a mental note never to use that particular story again. In English you are only reading when you sound out the letters. In Chinese, of course, there is no difference between reading and memorizing. The only way to  read a character is to remember it. A huge amount, I suspect, rests on this fundamental distinction.

]]> http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?feed=rss2&p=726 0 Me on Tiger Moms http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?p=724 http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?p=724#comments Sat, 05 Feb 2011 13:34:47 +0000 admin http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?p=724 My take on Battle Hymn here

]]> http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?feed=rss2&p=724 0 Cultural Exchange http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?p=721 http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?p=721#comments Thu, 27 Jan 2011 04:02:57 +0000 admin http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?p=721 While the West obsesses over Chinese mothers, China starts to recognize the value of play

]]> http://www.wakinggiants.net/blog/?feed=rss2&p=721 0