Mdm Cheah also added: “Children should start learning to be bilingual early. If they can’t keep pace with the language, they will lose interest. I started late with Teri in K2.

This article first appeared in the WeekEnd East

Their daughter had nightmares about learning Mandarin. They also realized that many children are having problems grappling with two languages in school. This prompted two former English teachers to design a Chinese CD-ROM Programme. Said Mr Tan: “Many children find learning Mandarin a daunting task. Traditionally, it is taught in uncreative ways such as rote-learning. We feel that using

multimedia is more effective as the child learns at his own pace.”

He has tried using other programmes but his seven-year old daughter found them too difficult to follow. Said Mr Tan: “They were not planned properly. With Ribbons Learns! we want the child to feel a sense of accomplishment. We also reward the child’s efforts with stars and applause.”
The programme which focuses on reading, understanding and speaking skills, is targeted at children aged four to seven.

Explained Mr Tan: “We aim to make English-speaking children on par with Chinese speaking children. A child should be able to read Chinese text after two to three months on the CD.”
Sales secretary, Mrs Veronica Ong, 37 was so impressed with the product, she spent 40 minutes trying out the programme with her two children. She said: “It’s a good start for pre-schoolers such as my five-year-old son, Daryl. It’s interesting and easy to understand.

Whenever her teacher spoke in Mandarin, she would wait for the translation.”

The programme’s content is based on primary one Chinese textbooks. While designing the programme, the couple sought the help of three Chinese language teachers to edit the text.

For Teri Tan, a primary one pupil at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Serangoon, her fear of Mandarin began when she was five.
She had nightmares and was afraid she could not understand the subject. Things got so bad, her parents had to take her out of school.

According to a child psychiatrist, it is normal for children to have nightmares. He said: “When you have difficulties or are stressed, you will also have bad dreams or nightmares.”
Her mother, Mdm Cheah Lay Hwa, said: “Her teacher thought she was disobedient. But it was because she did not understand the subject and made no attempt to learn it.”

All these changed when she saw her parents working on the “Ribbons Learns!” and she tried it out. Her Mandarin has since improved by leaps and bounds.

“Now, with Mandarin-speaking friends and the CD, she has the confidence to go to a party even when everyone is speaking in Mandarin,” noted her mother.

Teri said: “I used to have problems with the Chinese language. Now with the CD-Rom, I like Mandarin because I find it easier to learn.”