- Chinese Tuition In Singapore - You Can Now Learn the Chinese Language Easily and Effectively With These Tips That You Don't Want To Miss!
Chinese Tuition In Singapore – Learning Chinese Made Easy & Effective
Mandarin Chinese, known simply as Chinese, is the official language representing the Chinese community and the home language of 47.7% of Chinese Singaporeans.
Majority of Chinese students take up Chinese language as their mother tongue language.
Looking for Chinese Tuition for your child is relatively easy in Singapore if you have a goal in mind for your child.
A Little Peek into Singapore Mother Tongue Languages
In Singapore, it is compulsory for all students to take up a second language, also known as our Mother Tongue Language. Mother Tongue is a compulsory subject at the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE), Singapore-Cambridge GCE Ordinary Level (‘O’ Level) and Singapore-Cambridge GCE Advanced Level (‘A’ Level). The three main mother languages learnt here are Chinese, Malay and Tamil.
But did you know?
Mandarin Chinese is one of the widely spoken languages in the world to date and it is no doubt the most useful language to learn as of today.
There are more and more students (international and local Singaporeans) taking up the Chinese language as their mother tongue language. This is such that they can benefit from speaking, learning and communicating in Chinese in the future.
Today, we will explore more about Chinese Tuition in Singapore for local Singaporean students or International students that are starting their Chinese learning journey.
The Challenges Of Learning Chinese
The Chinese language may be the most useful, important and widely used language, however, it is also the hardest language to learn.
Chinese Language Writing System
Mandarin Chinese is challenging for many reasons, one of the reasons include the writing system of Mandarin Chinese language.
Unlike many European languages such as Spanish and German, which share a common ancestry with English, Chinese is radically different from them.
The writing system is extremely difficult for English speakers (and anyone else) accustomed to the Latin alphabet. This is because the Mandarin Chinese alphabet requires the recognition of many special characters.
There are quite literally thousands of Chinese characters within the language, each with its own unique meaning and pronunciation. All in all, in order for non-native speakers to even read a Chinese newspaper, they must be able to recognize some 10,000 Chinese characters!
Therefore, it can be somewhat challenging for an English native speaker to be learning Chinese from scratch. Even for students who learn Chinese since young, they still meet several challenges along the way.
Chinese Language Tonal Nature
Not only is the writing system for Mandarin Chinese tedious, so is the tonal nature of the language. Mandarin Chinese consists of four basic tones and a fifth neutral tone, meaning one word can be pronounced in five different ways and each pronunciation has a different meaning. For instance, the example below.
These two main points are enough to make learning Chinese tedious and challenging. However, do not be afraid to step out of your comfort zone and start learning Chinese.
How Can Chinese Tuition Help Your Child?
Your Tutor
Learning the Chinese language as already mentioned, it is one of the toughest languages to learn to date. Your child will need an experienced Chinese teacher or tutor as they would be familiar with the curriculum your child is learning and also be able to understand your child’s’ strengths and weaknesses to better cater their lessons to their learning habits.
Therefore the teachers and tutors of your child are extremely important as they are the carriers of your children’s learning foundation for the Chinese Language as they are the ones using effective teaching methods and techniques to teach your children.
Consistency
Learning a new language can be extremely difficult when we start a little later than those who already started learning when they are young. But this does not mean you are not able to become as fluent as they are.
Students in Singapore are made to start learning their Mother Tongue Language as young as they can remember so their muscle memory has retained information over the years.
Learning a new language is not a one-two day learning process, it can take up to years to master the language depending on how long during the day you take to learn this language. Consistency is key if you wish to master any language not just the Mandarin Chinese language.
With a teacher or tutor, it is always easier, they are able to correct your child when they have conveyed a meaning wrongly or have written something that they did not mean. Your child also has to speak the language to understand and get better at the language. Having a teacher or tutor can help with keeping up with consistency as lessons are conducted on a regular basis!
Learning Process
In primary school, Chinese students start learning the basics of Chinese such as pronouns and some simple adjectives. Students also already start forming short sentences to understand and train their muscle memory to recognise as well as have the ability to communicate. The learning process for the Chinese language is important as students have to write to be able to understand, then able to communicate.
The learning process is usually dependent on the teachers or tutors your child has. The activities the teachers and tutors incorporate to allows your child to learn and progress effectively.
The teachers and tutors have to know how to balance your childs’ writing skills, comprehension skills, listening skills as well as oral communication skills. These are essential even for different languages.
Tutopiya’s Chinese Tuition
Tutopiya is a Singapore based live online 1-1 tuition provider. Tutopiya provides Live Online and interactive lessons to students with the use of our very own in-house developed virtual whiteboard.
It does not matter whether you are looking to learn the basics of Mandarin Chinese or a student in Singapore taking the national Chinese examinations, Tutopiya provides online Chinese tuition for students looking for different objectives in mind – To Ace Your PSLE/ O/ A level Chinese examination or Ace The Chinese Language
We have a structured tuition framework that we follow to provide the best learning experience for our students.
- Diagnostic Assessment
- Tutopiya conducts diagnostic assessments to understand and find out the strengths and weaknesses of your child.
- Addressing Your Child’s Weaknesses
- With the help of the diagnostic assessment, Tutopiya will be able to identify and rectify your child’s weaknesses and close up any knowledge gaps (if any) for their upcoming online Chinese tuition lessons with us.
Why Tutopiya Live Online Learning?
Tutopiya focuses on closing up any knowledge gaps and building a strong foundation for their weaker areas.
For Tutopiya’s PSLE, GCE O Level or GCE A Level Chinese Tuition is able to help students to strengthen areas like:
- Grammar & Vocabulary, Sentence Structure
- Comprehension Skills (listening and written comprehension)
- Composition Writing (Creative Writing, Situational Writing, etc.)
- Oral Communication (Pronunciation of words, how to converse in Stimulus-based communication)
These are also the main examination objectives of the National Chinese examination in Singapore. Regardless of which level of study you child is at, the PSLE, GCE O Level and GCE A Level examination assessments include all of the above.
With that in mind, Tutopiya also provides Chinese Tuition Examination Prep for graduating cohort taking the National examination.
Tutopiya’s Examination Preparation
Whereas for International students, looking to take up Chinese Tuition in Singapore, you are in also luck!
Tutopiya’s tutors
Tutors are a big part of your child’s learning journey, so Tutopiya screens and trains every tutor that teaches on our platform to ensure they are able to deliver quality online education to our students.
Our tutors are subject-trained specialists that specialize in a specific subject – the subject they are most experienced to teach. Tutopiya provides experienced tutors like ex-MOE school teachers, long term full-time tutors as well as part-time tutors.
Tutopiya’s in-house developed virtual Whiteboard
Tutopiya specially developed a virtual whiteboard that allows your child and tutor to simultaneously learn and teach at the same time. This whiteboard is packed with features and functions that help enhance the learning experience of the students, bridging any technological gaps that learning online might have.
This virtual whiteboard is also designed to be interactive where both your children and the tutor can write on the whiteboard simultaneously. This allows the students to stay engaged and focused during online live lessons.
Watch this video of Tutor X, an ex-MOE teacher, teaching English!
Rates for PSLE Chinese Tuition with Tutopiya
Tutopiya provides online Chinese tuitions for:
- Primary 1-6 students
- Secondary 1-4 students (NT, NA and Express)
- Junior College 1 & 2 (A-Level General Paper)
- International students (IGCSE, IB SL, IB HL, IB Ab Initio)
Type of Tutor | For PSLE English Online Tuition |
Part/Full-Time Tutor | SGD25-27/h |
Ex-MOE Teachers | SGD25-30/h |
How do Tutopiya’s Packages work?
You simply purchase a credit package plan. Tutopiya has 4 main package plans and they are namely the:
- Starter Plan (5 Hours),
- Standard Plan (10 Hours),
- Regular Plan (20 Hours) and
- Premium Plan (30 Hours)
Purchase these packages with us and it will be stored as credits! These credits do not expire and they allow you to not only use one subject but multiple. Have another child? Share! Tutopiya offers siblings discounts as well as the ability for your children to share these packages! Easy and Flexible!
Tutopiya offers a FREE 30 minutes trial for PSLE Chinese Online Tuition, sign up or fill up this trial form to arrange a free trial with us today!
Eleen Tan
I am currently a full-time student studying at a local university in Singapore while freelancing as a writer. I enjoy writing and sharing useful education-related tips with my fellow studying peers. During my leisure time, I enjoy doing creative arts and volunteering work. I am passionate about sharing my experience as a student! ☺