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3-Month-Olds Learn Mandarin Through Music in Forest Hills

By Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska | December 23, 2014 11:58am
 Kids as young as 3 months can start learning Mandarin, organizers said.
Kids as young as 3 months can start learning Mandarin, organizers said.
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Mandarin Seeds

QUEENS — Try to sing “Old MacDonald Had a Farm,” but in Mandarin.

The Central Queens Y in Forest Hills, a neighborhood with a growing Chinese population, is using popular children's songs to teach Mandarin to kids as young as 3 months.

The center has teamed up with Mandarin Seeds, a Manhattan-based program specializing in teaching the language, to launch a series of classes for children up to 4 years old.

“We wanted to serve our multicultural neighborhood,” said Robin Kaufman, director of the Y's Parenting Center.

Kaufman said numerous residents of Chinese descent who live in the neighborhood were born in the United States and may not speak Mandarin, but they want their children to learn the language.

Other families, who may not have Chinese roots, simply want their children to learn Mandarin as a second language.

"Everybody is welcome," she said.

The lessons for the youngest kids will resemble music classes, said Christina Chang, educational director at Mandarin Seeds.

“For kids, music is like a language that really transfers into their brains,” Chang said.

“The earlier children start, the better they are able to understand the tones and other nuances of Mandarin Chinese. They have this natural ability to hear and reproduce all the different sounds.”

Kids, along with their parents, will be learning the Mandarin version of popular American songs, such as “Old MacDonald,” “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” and “Itsy Bitsy Spider.”

Through the songs, Chang said, children will pick up vocabulary, tones and sentence structure.

Classes for older children will include movement and hands-on art elements. Kids will also be introduced to their first Chinese characters and will receive a CD with songs sung in class to practice at home, Chang said.

Classes will take place every Monday starting Jan. 5. The 10-week course will cost $250 for members and $290 for non-members. For more information, call Robin Kaufman at (718) 268 5011 ext. 482 or email rkaufman@cqy.org. 
The Central Queens Y is located at 67-09 108th St. in Forest Hills.