孩子的學習能力：讚！Kids learn faster than you can imagine!

疫情關係，學校關了好幾個月，也不能到人多的地方遊玩（香港太小，沒有人少的地方😅）
During the pandemic, schools were shut down for months. As we were in partially lock-down, we have nowhere to go but to stay home.

總不能讓小孩子整天看卡通/YouTube 吧～ 這樣的話，疫情還沒完，他們就要變眼定定遲鈍兒🤦🏾‍♂️。在自己工餘時努力，母兼師職數月，又發覺成效不彰時，我發現了這個amazing talker。
We cannot let the kids watching cartoon/YouTube all day long, can we? If that’s they case, they would turn into statues in front of tv before the end of COVID-19. Outside work, I played teacher for a few months and it was not working well. Luckily, I saw amazing talker in App Store.

忘記介紹， 我有一個剛四歲的女兒和一個剛二歲的兒子。女兒會講廣東話和英語。兒子就只會講最簡單的。由於我自己不會講普通話（是女兒學校課程之一）又為自己多次自學法語不成功有點不忿，反正女兒整天無所事事，就為女兒分別找了一位老師。
I have forgotten to mention, my daughter is just 4 and my son is just 2. My daughter speaks English and Cantonese while my son speaks only a few simple words. I couldn’t teach my daughter putonghua as I don’t speak the language. I found her a putonghua teacher here as it is one of her school subjects. I found her a french teacher too. I tried to learn french using some app and it didn’t work out. I wish my daughter can do better. She got all the time in world anyway.

原本的想法：對課程沒有太大期望，也沒打算女兒會在這上到專業的課堂，只是想讓女兒跟真人有點互動，幹點較有意義的事情。
因此，找的老師都比較便宜，就每堂10-12美元那種。試了好幾個老師的堂，主要是選能跟幼童溝通的啦。（有些很坦白，在溝通時會講明不會教幼童。也有些不太老實～所以必須試堂！試堂！試堂！）
My original thoughts: online classes wouldn’t bring much anyway. As long as my daughter got some interactions with real person and do something better than watching Tv, I’m all good.
That’s why I didn’t pick those expensive classes. I arranged several trials with teachers offering classes (USD 10-12@). I was to make sure the teacher can and like to communicate with young kids. (Some of them were frank and told me they didn’t do kid class during messaging while some pretended they could. ie.Trial class is important !)

第一堂，我都陪著上課，主要就要我女兒不要離開。然後，就沒然後啦。她不用上課，我還要上班呢。就這樣過了幾個星期。然後，慢慢我發覺女兒在生活上開始用到正在學習的語言。例如：睡前她會跟我講 早抖（廣東話）、晚安（普通話）、goodnight (英) 和 bonne nuit (法語），也要求我用四個語言跟她道晚安。在數數時，又會用上法語和普通話。類似的情況，在生活中出現得愈來愈多。
I accompanied her in the first lessons. My purpose was to make sure she stayed in front of the screen. And then, she was all on her own. I have work to do after all. A few weeks later, I realised my daughter started using putonghua and french in her daily life. Eg. She said goodnight to me in 4 languages and made me say the same. She sometimes count using putonghua or french. I can see putonghua and french are getting more and more into her lives.

她現在開學了，我保持讓她每星期上三課普通話和兩課法語。下課時，她總問我：媽媽，為什麼課堂這麽快完結？聽到這句～～～～本寶媽感到：我心甚慰！付的錢都值了😭
Now, school has started. She continues to take 3 putonghua classes and 2 french classes per week. There were a few times she asked me after class: why was the class so short? I was so relieved ~~~ totally worth it.

最後 一點小貼士
1. 小孩的話，叫老師安排25分鐘1節就好。每周多上幾課，每課時間短一點，孩子更專心，學語文更吸收。反正學語文就是要多聽多講多練習。
2. 25分鐘就是一半價錢，一點都不貴，哈哈，也不愁接送的問題。
3. 即使孩子完全不懂，不太回應老師，課後不練習都不用緊張。她們慢慢的吸收多了，不知不覺就會用出來。要耐心一點。

Some useful tips
1. You may ask the teacher to setup short classes for your kids (25min). Kids respond better in short but more frequent classes. Learning a language is about using it often.
2. 25min per class means half the price. It’s totally affordable. And don’t have to worry about bringing them to classes anymore.
3. Even it’s a total new language to the kid, even if your kid is not responding to the teacher or not using the language after class, IT’S OKAY! They will use it when they are ready. You just have to be patient.

人筆不太好，搞到有點像推銷，但我是真心高興。這邊學外語不容易。為女兒找到一個她喜歡而我又能付擔的，感覺不要太好。兒子呢～ 等他滿三歲，會好好說母語時，就開始吧！我呢～盡快要開始好了，否則要聽不懂女兒在講什麼了。
Hope this doesn’t sound too much like a commercial. I am really happy that my daughter got such an easy and affordable way to learn languages. I will let my son join when he’s 3 and started speaking his mother tongue properly (My daughter started before 4). I will have to join soon so that I can understand what my daughter is saying lol.