In Singapore, Mandarin is one of the four official languages along with English, Malay and Tamil.

But to speak Mandarin fluently sometimes becomes difficult and nowadays children have also lost interest in learning the language as they it is not widely spoken in households. 

Below there are 6 interesting ways to encourage your child to learn Mandarin in a very fruitful manner, this will not only help them learn the language but will also help in strengthening parent-child relationship.

Heritage & History

Picture Source: Wikimedia

 To know a language is one thing and to know a the history of its evolution is one thing. Chinese language definitely has a very dense and interesting history and telling your child your ancestral stories which your grandparents told you, can actually make them interested in learning the language as old folk tales are rich in culture, authenticity, tradition and most importantly shows how it all started and how things have changed through the course of time. 

Grandaparents connect

Picture Source: Nohat

 As they correctly say, Grandparents share a very pure and rare relationship with their grandkids. Grandparents are always intrigued about their grandkids ongoing activities and always share how their life was, when they were of similar age as their grandkids. This way can be helpful as ideas and communication like this makes the child excited and they ask for more and more stories and then try imitating them and search about it as well. Technology has taken over, and now child brain development is very fast since the early age, they grasp and adapt what's taught to them easily.

 Games and Quizzes

Picture Source: Maayot

 Games and Quizzes can be an another way to help your child learn Mandarin. They help in strengthening mind IQ and mental capacity, easy one word, guessing quizzes, solving crosswords, chinese whisper, video games etc. can be best ways to make the learning process interesting for them. Through this they can start of with basic level language and then slowly move forward to intermediate and advanced.

 Comics 

Picture Source: ajugglingmom

 Who doesn't love reading comics right? But do you know, reading comics can also help your child to learn the language. Whether it be a general greeting, basic phrases and also different small vocabulary's. This can definitely be an innovative way of getting involved in the learning process. They'll learn how to pronounce and write the words, as comics are generally read out by individuals which in a way improves both verbal and written aspects.

 Cartoon Shows

Picture Source: China Daily

Cartoons are the best part of the childhood and helps relieve our minds from other activities. But cartoons can also be beneficial in learning about a specific ethnicity and tradition as cartoon directors display it in the respective animations. Some examples for this are The Monkey King, The Stories of Avanti, Big Ear TuTu, Pororo The little penguin etc.

 Chinese Environment

 Picture Source: Photodune

By creating a chinese environment at home can help bring a lot of change in the language learning process, you can try out various ways like yourself speaking in the language and repeating certain phrases which you want your child to grasp faster, you can also designate certain periods for speaking chinese, like blocking an hour or 30 to 45 minutes for a only one language medium communication, can also enact your child's favorite chinese cartoons words which can remind him constantly about it and help remember it, you can also play chinese radio, songs, tv shows or movies at home, label certain objects which are present in your home in chinese so that when your child reads it gradually learns it and pronounces it fluently.