Values & Philosophy

Tell me, and I’ll forget; show me, and I may remember; involve me, and I will understand.

This proverb by a Chinese philosopher, Xun Zi 荀子 ( 313–238 BC) describes why Ni Hao Children’s Community places such importance on the children interacting and being involved in our classes.

The original saying was:  不闻不若闻之，闻之不若见之，见之不若知之，知之不若行之；学至于行之而止矣 can be literally translated as “Not hearing is not as good as hearing, hearing is not as good as seeing, seeing is not as good as mentally knowing, mentally knowing is not as good as acting; true learning continues up to the point that action comes forth”.

Our Values

Child-focused

We exist to serve the children. We always ask ourselves how we may better engage each child so that their learning experience is positive and effective.

This also means that the learners are the teacher’s priority in class and we value that precious time. We encourage children to respect the other learners in class too – it’s not fair for others to be disrupted in their learning. Our teachers will also only attend to visitors before or after class so that our classes are not interrupted.

For parent-accompanied classes, we encourage you to focus on your child and spend class times learning together. Social conversations can be held before or after classes.

Meaningful Learning

We emphasise “Learning by Doing”, and provide an environment to encourage personal language growth. This means we include real conversations about everyday things that are practical for life and that the children are familiar with or interested in.

We let the children learn to do it themselves. We encourage the children to learn at their own pace and participate when they feel comfortable enough to. Even if your child does not seem to actively participate, they are still learning by observing, listening and absorbing what’s happening around them. This especially applies to the Toddlers and Preschoolers as they are at different language developmental stages.

Community

We want to help build relationships and share common Chinese cultural and language experiences among children, parents, volunteers and staff.

We aim to be a thriving, inclusive learning community, where children and parents feel that they belong, regardless of their cultural or social background. The community is especially for non-native or non-fluent speakers.

You and your child should be able to feel relaxed enough to use Mandarin and communicate during any of our classes or events, even if it doesn’t sound perfect.

Parents/caregivers are expected to accompany their child and actively participate in the Toddlers and Preschoolers classes as part of the learning community. We also encourage parent involvement in the older Kids classes too.

We ask that families support their child’s learning outside of classes in a relaxed and positive manner. Parents/caregivers are the child’s role models – they will be more engaged if they observe you taking part, trying it out, and having fun with them.