Occupational Therapy Activities For Children

John Reed General
Occupational Therapy Activities For Children

Children are born with a clean slate. This is why we celebrate milestones when they roll, crawl, sit, talk, and walk. Interestingly, even though they don’t know it yet, children become more confident every time they achieve a milestone. Occupational therapy for children has a similar impact.

Activities introduced during occupational therapy in Singapore helps children to accomplish their daily tasks, improve performance, and makes play more fun. The outcome is a child with high self-esteem.

Are all children likely to benefit from occupational therapy? 

Yes, all children stand to benefit from occupational therapy. Since it is difficult to tell from an early age if your child will need occupational therapy Singapore, introducing activities that will help develop fine motor skills is a great start. 

Some of the following activities help improve attention, social interaction and help develop fine motor skills. Most children today even start developing computer skills and handwriting long before they get to preschool. 

Early introduction of occupational therapy activities to children gives them a head start in life. Those that eventually need the help of an occupational therapist will be more responsive since they are familiar with some of the activities recommended during occupational therapy for children. 

Proprioceptive activities

These are weight-bearing activities that work on our muscles and joints. It is important to introduce these activities because children become aware of their bodies and the impact of pressure on the joints. 

Proprioceptive activities help children to detect force and pressure on their joints easily. Once they start sensing force and pressure, they will learn how to control sensory stimulation. For example, when they start to crawl, babies sit when they start to fill the pressure on their knees. 

Some of the activities recommended during occupational therapy for children to work on their muscles and joints include;

  • Resistance activities such as pulling and pushing
  • Weight-bearing activities like pushups and crawling. 
  • Jumping on a trampoline and running to test cardiovascular stimulation. 
  • Oral activities, like blowing bubbles and blowing a wind instrument.
  • Carrying books and other items to test how much weight he can carry. 

Children with autism often struggle to regulate their emotions and responses to sensory stimulation. These activities will help them test their limits and even distract them when they experience sensory overload. 

Activities to stimulate cognitive development

Occupational therapy Singapore helps to improve cognitive development. You can help test your child’s development patterns early by introducing these activities at home. When you are consistent, you will see the changes in your child’s cognitive development as he grows. 

Activities you can introduce to test your child’s thinking skills include;

  • Play with puzzles
  • Card games
  • Tearing papers into strips
  • Making designs on paper using the paper punch
  • Picking coins and putting them in a piggy bank
  • Use small crayons to colour pictures
  • Create a collage with picture cut-outs
  • Transfer objects from one dish to another using a spoon
  • Create shapes using dough

These activities do not replace the expertise of an occupational therapist. Some are regular activities that children are naturally drawn to. This is why occupational therapy for children intentionally includes activities that children enjoy. 

Intentionally choosing some of these activities will help you monitor your child’s responses to stimuli. Should you notice abnormalities in your child’s reactions to some of the activities, the occupational therapist will explain these responses and introduce ways to help your child cope. 

Top 5 Qualities of a Good Preschool

John Reed General
Top 5 Qualities of a Good Preschool

The preschool program is not compulsory in Singapore. However, more than 90% of children aged between three and six attend at least one year in preschool. Given the competitive nature of education in Singapore, most parents introduce basic education to their children from a young age. 

For example, by the time they join preschool, most children can comfortably count, identify parts of their bodies, and even say the alphabet. However, the preschool program runs for three years. So, parents with children who are yet to start learning can still enrol their children early to ensure they are ready for primary school. 

Since preschool sets the foundation for formal education, parents need to get it right by choosing the right preschool. Singapore has more than 1,800 kindergartens. This is awesome because parents have plenty of options. The downside is there are many top preschools in Singapore, so choosing one can be a little difficult. 

The following are some of the qualities you should look out for when choosing a preschool in Singapore. 

Uses the ideal curriculum and teaching methods

Singapore has approved six curriculums for preschools. They are Play-based, Montessori, High Scope Method, Reggio Emilia, Waldorf Steiner, and the Theory of Multiple Intelligences. While some preschools use only one of these curriculums, some use more than one. 

The ideal preschool program is one that fits your child best. Children take in information in different ways. While some children thrive in a purely academic preschool curriculum, others perform best when they learn through play. 

Some of the best preschools in Singapore appreciate the differences in children, including their learning pace. Multiple teaching methods give all preschoolers the chance to understand the lessons and develop the necessary skills. 

Carries out periodic training for teachers

All preschools in Singapore are mandated to employ qualified teachers. Preschool teachers are required to have a certificate or a diploma in early childhood development. One thing that separates regular preschools from the top preschools is the continuous training the teachers undergo to improve their teaching methods. Continual development is critical for a successful preschool program. 

Share your preferred methods of discipline. 

As a parent, you probably expect your child to misbehave or make mistakes. The teachers and preschool management expect that they will have to handle conflict resolution when children get into arguments and fights. What disciplinary actions do you find acceptable? 

Do you prefer timeouts or conflict resolution? The top preschools in Singapore regularly train teachers how to handle indiscipline and conflicts amongst children. These preschools ensure parents appreciate, understand, and even support their approach to managing indiscipline. 

Assesses a child’s development

During the preschool program shortlisting process, parents often overlook the preschool’s ability to assess a child’s milestone achievements. Most of the top preschools in Singapore set learning and developmental goals, which they evaluate periodically. 

The school then communicates their findings with the parents. For example, besides the academic achievements, a preschool program should check the skills a child develops during the years he spends in preschool. 

Provides a healthy diet

Did you know that children often develop food preferences in their preschool years? The top preschools appreciate the significance of the diet on the children. This is why most focus on healthy, tasty meals. A good preschool program takes into account children with special dietary requirements and allergies. 

Having a list of a good preschool’s qualities, based on your priorities, will make it easier for you to identify the best preschool for your child. It is important to consider your child’s personality and learning preferences when choosing a preschool. This way, you can be sure your child will enjoy the preschool program and even look forward to progressing to primary school. 

How Tuition for Secondary English Works

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In Singapore, the secondary school students need to go through the 4 years of secondary school to prepare for the high stake O level examination. While coming from the primary school these children are not yet aware of the new format in English language and face a decline in grades in the first semester. This is one of the major reasons why parents are inclined towards paying extra for tuition. With the parallel pressure of staying at the top paired with the fear of failing, 8 out of every 10 households sends their children for tuition.

Education is a billion dollar business in Singapore and the nation boasts exemplary results in math, science and reading. English is one of the official languages of the country, where almost all economic and political processes depend greatly upon. The country is host to many natives and English is the one that unites them all.  Parents encourage their children to communicate in the mentioned language from a very early age. And because ultimately an important exam is to be given by the child after secondary school, therefore a lot of focus in studying and reading it is given. Now, in the country there are a lot of excellent tuition centers with countless private tutors that people can hire and they promise good grades. Sometimes, instead of teaching the subject, coaching is given of how to learn. The west has been astounded by the results being produced here and it all comes down to the strategy of learning and a highly trained teaching staff.

The tuitions offered for secondary school English assure making the students well equipped in the following areas:

  1. First and foremost is to guide the students of the new format in which they will have to give their examination. It is relatively different from the one that they were used to in the primary school so they need practice to master it.
  2. Then gradually there is an introduction to higher level of sentence structure and vocabulary through comprehensions.
  3. Passages are introduced and students are guided how to pick the right information and put it to use.
  4. Students are guided how best to communicate in the language to ensure power.
  5. Repeated testing in all regards ensures that the student is able to communicate, read and listen effectively.
  6. Finally, the comprehensions and compositions that are selected that not only help learning English but also widen the general knowledge of the students. Topics ranging from scientific research to architectural wonders are introduced, that widen the awareness of the students.

After the secondary school, the child as well as the parent becomes aware of what subjects the child has an aptitude in and thus are marked for A-level examination. So going through the phase of tuition in secondary school ensures good grades. There are some top tuition centers that promise results and in the event of the student not coming up to the mark, offer full refunds.

Although the tuition market has been declared a business but the effort that they put to build the admitted child up to the next level is simply commendable. In fact, the west is analyzing how it can adopt some of the teaching methods into their own systems to boost learning.

 

Creative writing for kids in Singapore

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If your child has an active imagination and has a thirst for writing, we can guide him with these super fun classes of creative writing for kids in Singapore.

Whether your child dreams of being a writer or just likes to make up stories, creative writing is a cathartic exercise that allows children to make sense of what is happening in their lives and their ever-changing feelings. Its something they can try out on their own at home, but if you want to provide a bit more guidance, here is how we guide creative writing classes for kids in Singapore.

With so ample amount of creative writing classes available in Singapore , it is common for its very concept to escape us.

Approaches to Creative Writing

Our creative writing program greatly aids in the development of techniques for composition writing. It does not interfere or has overlaps with the regular English curriculum that we teach our students. We mainly focus on it three important components of the 3 Minds.

The Champion Mind

Celebrating the individual students uniqueness, going beyond conventional wisdom and overcoming struggle to attain success.

The Learning Mind

Learning How to learn strategies that actively assist our learner to understand, store, recall and create material and concepts.

The Creative Mind

Linking many perspectives and incorporating them to generate new and creative ideas.

What Our Program is about?

The program is planned in accordance with the students ability. It is designed so as to work hand in hand with what the child is already learning at school. It focuses on the understanding and creative aspects of writing, rather than attempting to force a mechanical approach, before each student has adopted the super important desire to write.

During the program, an emphasis is placed on engaging the childs imagination, before facilitating writing from that engagement. Moreover, it provides the grammatical structures to allow for glowing appearance of the childs ideas.

Tips for creative writing for Singaporean kids:

How to start:

Like any other fear, one of the best ways to get past the I am not able to write phase is to just start writing. Often as the pen starts moving, kids should become less self-conscious and they start writing. If its gibberish, well so what? Nobody creates a masterpiece on the first attempt. Creative writers do not have a lack of ideas. Writers get a block when they are not able to really pinpoint where to start.

Think of what to write about:

The most basic and sort of difficult thing to consider is what the topic should be. Scoping the content is important as it sets what we are going to achieve at the end of the written piece. The best thing for creative writing is to sketch an outline of the story and then from there, you can add in the flesh. Less is more, meaning that in writing it is always okay to use simple words, short sentences and to begin with simple dialogues.

Enjoy the moment:

The best moments of creating anything is when there is joy in the process of creation. The sky is the limit when it comes to being imaginative and the world is the oyster when we attempt to visualize it through words. Start by picking up a pen. Enjoy the moment. Good luck!

A message for the parents

An acute sense of creativity in writing can also be cultivated from a young age of kids in Singapore. Parents can help develop enthusiasm from writing by encouraging their children to keep a writing journal, writing two pages a week. This helps encourage their champs to write freely about anything that interests them. We can guide interested parents and answer queries they might have. So what are you waiting for! Visit us now!

Right age to learn abacus

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One of the popular questions that most parents have when it comes to learning abacus, is what is the right age to start learning? In general, there is no such

rule which limits abacus learning to a specific age but the results achieved are specific to age.

Brain development is catalyzed by learning abacus at an early age

Right half of the brain is attributed to creativity, visual thinking and imaging. When the right half of the brain is regularly used, it becomes dominant.

Childhood marks the time when the brain function is at its highest. If any changes in its utilization are to be made, childhood is the best time. In order

to learn abacus, the child must have the basic understanding of concepts like numbers, therefore an ideal age to start is 3. Disciplining a child under the

age of 3 to sit in one place and concentrate can be difficult. A child who has started training in pre-school has a statistical advantage over other children

when it comes to solving mental arithmetic of 6 digits.

Calculation skills are developed when trained during elementary school

Mental math strategies can be easily taught to children in elementary school can be used during math maths class and elimating the need for a calculator. A simple reason why junior high students are poor in math is because of lack of

basic practice. Practicing simple calculations like addition, multiplication, subtraction and division is important in order to progress. Also, there are

children who do not learn the multiplication table before advancing. Students, who have a firm understanding of the four mathematical operations, can easily

master complex calculations in high school. Training at the elementary level becomes important when the final goal is development of calculation skills.

Most training classes outside school enroll students who are of age 6 or higher. Six is an appropriate age to receive training. Such students have a fairly

clear understanding of numbers and sufficient concentration span to sit through class. At the same time, the right half of the brain is active to develop an

imagination to solve math mentally.

Teaching the basics of abacus to toddlers

The ages mentioned in above is for a classroom setting where the child is enrolled in special training. Parents can familiarize the concept of abacus to their

toddlers. There are many parents who use a simple abacus to teach colors and the primary concept of numbers and counting. Parents can start off with the initial

training at home. Toddlers are fascinated by colors, so ensure that the beads are divided into color groups of two. The first exercise in learning abacus at home

is through mirroring. Have your child mimic the move you make. Start in the beginning position when all the beads are in one side. Move a random number of beads

to the opposite side and move it back. Have your child mimic the movement with the same number of beads. The pattern can be mixed up and arranged in groupings.

The second exercise is the counting game. Learning starts at home and it is now common for a child to know the alphabets and numbers before he/she enters school.

Teach your child counting using abacus. Say the number out aloud when the move the appropriate bead(s). Also, count the number of beads left behind.

Abacus can also be used to teach skip counting. Skip counting is an alternative method to saying counting in 10s, 5s etc. Learning skip counting helps in recognizing

patterns (including odd and even number). Skip counting must be taught only after the child is through with counting from 1-50. Abacus simplifies teaching numbers

because it involves mirroring actions of the hand.

Learning Through Drama: Why Teach Chinese Through Drama

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A popular Chinese proverb goes , Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I will remember. Involve me and I will Understand.

According to VARK model, learners are categorized into 4 groups, which are:

” Auditory learners

” Writing/ reading learners

” Kinesthetic learners

” Visual learners

All young children can be grouped in Kinesthetic learners because they understand best when they watch a live demonstration. It is

common to teach young children rhymes and poems with gestures. Many teachers also incorporate voice intonation and dramatics during

story time to keep the listens hooked on.

Chinese Speech and drama class Singapore explores the importance of teaching Chinese through drama:

” Ability to solve problems with creativity: Drama is powerful tool which challenges a student s perception of themselves and the

world around them. Drama sets a safe stage for the child to express their feelings, dreams and thoughts which they cannot, otherwise.

For a brief moment, a student puts on a faade of a complete stranger. Such a liberated experience allows them to be whoever they wish to be.

A shy child will transform into the skin of a stern emperor when immersed in that part. Over time, a child develops the ability to solve problems by looking

at it from a different perspective. Start off by assigning simple plays in Chinese with a few lines for each child. Watch them bloom into confident speakers

as they take on more exercises.

” Improved Communication: Learning during young age is through repetition. When each child is given a limited number of lines, they not only learn their

own lines, but also understand the cues from a speaker before or after their turn. They end up learning most lines apart from their own. Memorizing the lines

improves understanding of the language. Drama is the ideal platform to improve communication in today s technologically merged world.

” Collaborative learning: Children fare better when they learn as a group. Teaching young children is effective when they have company. When in a group,

they lean on each other emotionally to create a symbiotic environment. Children within a group help each other learn. Sometimes, a child understands best when

a concept is explained by another child. Learning Mandarin Chinese becomes easy when the children in the group are each give a line to memorize. They will invariably

collaborate and co-ordinate to ensure that each child completes the given task. The task given is completed only when all the children in the group are successful

in their roles. There is no other learning form which is more collaborative than drama.

” Active learning: Active learning is fulfilled through empathetic understanding and kinesthetics. Making students enact a play is more than putting up a

show: it subtly influences the child to empathize with any given character leading to a deeper understanding of the topic. Information retention is improved when

understanding is deepened. Children who are learning Chinese through drama can also be taught portions of other subjects through enactment.

” Hone confidence: An attempt of learning a new language is successful when the child is confident while communicating. Drama instills confidence in

children and removes stage fright. It is OK for children to make mistakes while learning, what is important is the confidence with which they deliver.

Having understood the importance and efficiency of learning Chinese through drama, start today by assigning each child in class one or two lines to deliver.

As they grow confident and learn more words, the number of lines can be increased. Within no time, the child will develop fluency in the language and speak without any hesitations.

How do I teach my child read and write Chinese?

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Children are very intuitive and intelligent and you will realize that they adapt to learning a new language like fish to water. Once you start with teaching your children Chinese, you will realize that children are far more advanced in understanding daily conversations than they are in recognizing Chinese characters. This is very common and one should create a learning environment for the children to develop listening skills and speaking skills through daily conversation.

How do I teach my children to read Chinese?

It is very important to have a very solid grasp on Chinese characters no matter at what age a child starts to learn Chinese. This is important to develop good reading skills. Children are very easily bored by the complexities involved in going from a phonogram-based language (English), to a logogram-based language (Chinese). It is the job of a teacher to make the child feel confident right at the start of their Mandarin-learning journey. This will help them to naturally sustain their enthusiasm and maintain their interest in the subject.

How should I prepare a younger child to learn Chinese?

For younger kids it s very easy to learn if you associate physical objects to the characters. What you can do is print out Chinese characters in a large font with their pinyin and stick it around the house and put these flashcards on the objects. This will help kids learn faster and they can also relate to the character much more and make Chinese characters seem much more approachable and fun.

Create a game and make Learning fun

You can make learning Chinese great fun for kids by creating a game out of it. You can start by asking your children to match Mandarin Chinese character flashcards to the objects in the house. All you need to do is prepare a host of flashcards and run around the house to stick the correct flashcard to the correct object. Slowly expand the game to the outdoors as well and match flashcards to items in the supermarket.

Buy Basic Level Chinese Books

For older kids when they attain a certain level proficiency, you can buy them Children’s books in Chinese. These Chinese children’s books are very child friendly and written with pinyin next to the characters. This is to help sound out the phonetics and can be a good confidence builder and be a very good resource to help expand your children’s vocabulary. For older kids it is very important to retain their excitement and maintain their interest in the subject. In order to that one must invest in the variety of books available on the market today. These books cover a variety of topics such as cooking, nature and comic books.

How do I teach My Child to Write Chinese Characters?

Apart from enrolling your kids in a Chinese Kindergarten Singapore writing Chinese characters can be pretty daunting for a child for the first few times and the child might feel it pretty difficult, but the key is perseverance and this needs to be taught to the child. Towards the beginning the child might feel it is doing rout memorization but their skills definitely improve over a period of time and the important thing is not give up. Practice makes perfect and eventually your kids will be able to write structured sentences in Mandarin Chinese. It is very important that you make the child understand that Chinese needs to be written by hand and you can introduce rewards to encourage the same.

These are some of the basic tips to help your child read and write Chinese. As already mentioned, perseverance is key in this regard.

How Chinese speech and drama classes help children

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First and foremost Speech and Drama is an extremely powerful tool and this a very good way for children to learn effective communication at a very early age. It is a great confidence builder and booster and lends a creative imagination, empathy, and maturity among children and enhances their interpersonal skills. Some of the fears that plague adults are fear of public speaking, anxiety and being at the centre of attention. What if you address these problems when the children are at a very impressionable age rather than at an advanced age? A Speech and Drama lessons help children to freely express themselves and be themselves in a safe environment where they do not feel judged and are free to express the way they want to.

Some of the advantages are;

A great boost of confidence

Thinking out of the box

New strategies and engage actively with their peers

Children learn to work in groups

They collaborate, thrive and overcome fear and dont fear being in the public eye

How does Chinese Speech and Drama Classes Benefit your Kids

Chinese speech and drama Classes can do wonders for your child. It can drastically improves your childs capacity to speak the language. Moreover it allows them to explore their identity through the language. Chinese speech and drama classes can be very enriching for your child as the kid will learn to emote and test their experiences in a language which is not native to them and this will highly benefit their ability to think and express. It takes a high level of confidence and strength of character to perform on stage in a language which is non native and might seem so difficult for a child as well adult.

It is a great way to learn Chinese

Chinese speech and drama classes can be a great way to learn the language and can be looked upon as a very viable option to encourage children to learn Chinese.In these classes children would learn the very basics of having a conversation in Chinese and perform an entire skit in front of a small audience. Learning Chinese helps in brain and cognitive development and also helps children get a good grasp on mathematics. What better way to encourage a child to learn a language than drama classes. This might seem as a very innovative and enriching option rather than sitting in the confines of a closed classroom set up. There are many ways to teach language to a child but as soon as dramatics is involved a child is naturally drawn towards it and wants to learn and get involved further, without much pushing from the parent. Chinese speech and drama classes also helps in group study and understanding, which might seem very beneficial and attractive to a child as it encourages social interaction of the same age group.

These classes not only teach speech and drama but it also teaches the basics of Chinese which is very important to perform in front of a larger audience. Thus it is a wrong notion that Chinese is not taught in the speech and drama classes. If you see your child struggling to learn Chinese in a classroom set up, this is the place to go to and help your child explore herself and emote in a language which she is trying to learn and grasp.

These are some of the great benefits of sending your child to a Chinese speech and drama class.

The Importance of Including Language Studies In Early Education

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Language is one of the most important things that a child will learn in their life during activities for toddlers , it is a means of communication. As no individual is able to live an isolated life and has to be part of some sort of community it is essential that you teach them language right from the time they are old enough to start picking up the language. If you come from a bilingual home or if you feel that learning one language just isn’t good enough anymore then there are also many benefits of sending your child for additional language classes such as Chinese speech and drama classes.

A child is like a sponge i.e. they are able to pick up any language that they are taught more easily as they have a very high capability of hearing and reproducing the sound. This ability gets less as they grow older and it is lost between the ages of 8-12. Due to this, it is best to start including new language training for children as young as 3 years old.

Those children who learn languages from a young age are able to develop the concept of object permanence at a young age, they have better problem solving and critical thinking skills. They are more creative and have better flexibility of mind, enhanced memory and can also multitask better.

Learning a language can help the child achieve various academic benefits. Those children that learn a new language fair better at academic have shown higher math skills and standardized test scores. Learning a new language does not hamper the child’s English skills but on the contrary, it helps to enhance and improve the skills.

Learning a new language can open doors to your child that they had not even known existed. They can meet new people, go new places, and learn about new things that the rest of us will never be able to do. This helps give them a foot up on the competition on the work front but it also helps them to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation for all of humanity and other cultures, this, in turn, enriches their personal life.

Finally, a child who has a better grasp of languages and can speak more than one language can add much to society and can contribute in ways that we may not have even thought about. Not only will they be able to communicate with a wide range of people they will also understand those people’s culture.

History of Chinese languages

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Being the largest country in the world the Chinese have a vast and interesting history and this is also reflected in the languages that they use throughout the area each different province has their own different dialect and language that a person from a different province may not understand. They also have one common language that is spoken throughout China. These different dialects were mainly known and used by the educated elite in China and even among them, the pronunciations were very different. The classical Chinese was a standard of writing and not of speaking the language.

We will discuss how the language evolved through the different time periods

Late Empire

During the Ming (1368-1644) and the Qing (1644-1912) Dynasties, there was no specific word that was used for the language that was spoken at courts the word that was generally used translated to official speech in English. The term Mandarin was borrowed from the Portuguese word mandarim that was further derived from a Sanskrit word mantrin meaning counselor of ministers and was first used in reference to the Chinese bureaucratic officials.

During the 17th Century, the Empire made an attempt to have a pronunciation standard by setting up the Orthoepy Academies but did not have much success till the 19th Century and it became difficult for the emperor to understand what his officials had to say.

Till the 19th century, the standards of the language were set based on the dialect from Nanjing which was later replaced by the Beijing dialect when it started to get more popular but Nanjing Mandarin was still considered higher than the Beijing dialect. It was in 1909 that the Qing Dynasty established the Beijing dialect as the national language.

Modern China

After the establishment of the Republic of China in 1912, there was more success that was seen in promoting one common language throughout China. Delegates from the entire country convened in a Commission on the Unification of Pronunciation and published a dictionary of pronunciation that was a hybrid and did not match any single existing form of speech in China. Gradually most members of the National Language Commission settled upon using the Beijing dialect as the main source of the pronunciation standard in China.

In the early 1950s, nearly 41% of the people were able to understand the standard language, this number rose to around 90% in 1984 and it was 91% of those people who spoke Mandarin.

If you want to learn Chinese, visit http://www.chengzhu.edu.sg/mandarin-centre/ OR RSVP now, as for children if they are interest to learn, the quickest

way is to attend enrichment classes for kids.