Wink To Learn Chinese {Giveaway + Discount Code}

Teaching the kids Chinese - and getting them comfortable with the language - is an on-going endeavour in this household.

Among the things we have tried are:

1. Letting the kids to attend Chinese playgroups as toddlers -- Noey went to Mandarin Playclub at Julia Gabriel (now re-branded as Chengzhu Mandarin Centre) while Mei attended a similar programme with Bibinogs.

2. Attending Chinese cultural performances.

3. Attending Chinese plays and other kids' performances. 

4. Visiting Chinatown.

5. Sending Noey to Berries.

6. Reading them Chinese books (with help, of course).

7. Attending Chinese camps/holiday programmes.

7. Listening to Chinese music.

We have yet to conquer the last frontier of speaking Mandarin on a regular basis to the children. I'm trying but honestly, my vocabulary is currently so poor, I'm not capable of carrying on an extended conversation in Mandarin with them of any real substance. 

Recently I had the opportunity to try something new -- the Wink to Learn Speak & Read Chinese Programme. 

Wink to Learn is a Singapore home-grown early learning resource developer with a wide product range of early language learning resources like flash cards, DVDs and CDs, with the aim of helping children learn multiple languages from a young age. Amongst these, Wink to Learn's Speak & Read Programmes are one of the most highly-rated educational resources for helping children to learn to read using flashcard methodology.

Like any other parent, I have my concerns about exposing my kids to too much television, but the programme promised that the flashcard lessons were short and that it was only necessary for my kids to watch 1 to 2 lessons a day over a period of 6 months to recognise more than 500 words and phrases. Having heard a number of success stories from friends, I was keen to give it a shot. 

The Wink to Learn Speak & Read Chinese Programme comes with a set of 6 DVDs, and a Parents' Guide which gives some instructions for usage of the DVD lessons based on the age of your child. You can choose to have the lessons in simplified Chinese or in traditional Chinese in 2 versions.

The flashcard DVD lessons are divided into 6 levels (1 level per DVD). Levels 1 to 4 are aimed at enlarging the child's vocabulary, while in Levels 5 and 6 the child learns to phrases and short sentences using the vocabulary acquired in the earlier levels. Each level has 8 lessons and a set of revision lessons.

The said the lessons were short -- and they were right! Each lesson was only about 3 to 5 minutes long. I think it took longer for us to find the DVD, watch the intro and get the lesson started than it actually took for us to watch the lesson! In each lesson, a picture is flashed followed by the corresponding characters, and the whole set of ten words is cycled through twice. After that, there is a short song relevant to the topic which the children can sing along to. The lyrics are also flashed on screen. Sometimes a series of pictures relating to a place (like Paris, for example) are screened. Here is a short clip of one of the lessons on Animals (Level 1, Lesson 2) as an example:

 

As a result of the lessons being so short, I ended up letting my kids watch at least 2 to 3 lessons at one go since they started protesting when I wanted to stop the DVD after each lesson! In fact, I was glad that they were keen on it. 

We've been using this set on and off for about a month, and while I'm not a proponent of television learning, I have been quite pleased with it. What I like about this series:

• There is a wide range of vocabulary introduced
• The introduction of terms progressing on to phrases and simple sentences is very systematic. I like that the later phrases and sentences build on vocabulary that has already been introduced in the earlier lessons.
• Clear enunciation of the Chinese terms and phrases. My kids, particularly Mei, love repeating after the voice. As it is clearly pronounced, she usually gets it right. I do watch it with them though so I am at hand to correct her when she doesn't get it right.
• Good use of pictures. It is usually clear from the pictures what the words being taught are so you can probably follow along even if you know no Chinese.
• The use of colours on the Chinese radicals to help the children break down the words and learn to read them.

The proof of course is in the learning. Did it my kids learn from this set? I'm happy to report that even though I wasn't very diligent in getting them to follow the programme, they have certainly acquired the use of new terms. When we were having fruits just a few nights ago, Noey voluntarily told me that the kiwi fruits were 奇异果. Even more surprisingly, when I tested Mei and tried to get her to read some of Chinese words on a board, she could read most of them, some with some prompting. Not bad for a girl who still mostly makes Chinese -sounding sounds when asked to speak Chinese but doesn't actually say anything meaningful most of the time! I think we will be continuing use of this to see where it takes us.

GIVEAWAY!

Good news for you if you'd like to try the Wink to Learn Speak & Read Chinese programme for yourself -- I have ONE SET TO GIVEAWAY!

To win ONE SET of Wink to Learn Speak and Read Chinese (RRP: $99.90), kindly sponsored by The Groovy Giraffe, just follow the steps of the Rafflecopter widget below. Please note the following terms and conditions:

1. You MUST like The Groovy Giraffe's Facebook Page through the Rafflecopter widget in order to qualify for this giveaway.

2. The winner will have to self-collect their prize from The Groovy Giraffe (Everton Park) or pay $5 for shipping.

3. The giveaway prize will not come with the cover box.

4. No exchange of of the prize for other products or conversion to store credits will be allowed.

5. All entries will be verified and false or incomplete entries will be disqualified.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you'd like to purchase Wink to Learn's range of educational products, the good news is that they are now available at The Groovy Giraffe, our favourite remainder bookshop. Check out the full range here. In addition to Chinese, they have the Speak and Read series for English and other Asian and European languages too, amongst other products. As with all products at The Groovy Giraffe, you can be sure that you are getting the lowest price for these products. Wink to Learn Speak & Read Chinese for example is available for just $58.90, down from the usual price of $99.90!

An even sweeter deal for all blog readers: Use the code "MUMMYBEAN" and get a special 20% OFF ALL WINK TO LEARN PRODUCTS! This special code is valid for 1 month till 11 August 2014. Also, the code GET5OFF is still valid to give you a 5% discount off all other products in the store so don't forget to use it! 

Happy shopping!