Mandarin Superstars is an innovative Mandarin learning program for young children.
Our face-to-face classes are held at the Community United Methodist Church, 35th Avenue in Jackson Heights. We do not offer free trials but you can purchase a drop in class to see if your child enjoys a class.
Listening Skills
We never force children to speak or participate. We believe that children will absorb all the language and will speak at their own pace. Many children have been in classes for 6 weeks before saying anything in Mandarin. They surprise their parents by being able to speak Mandarin perfectly!
Stephen Krashen’s Theory of Second Language Acquisition includes the belief that listening and reading precede speaking and writing. At our sessions, production is allowed to emerge in stages. Students first respond nonverbally (the “silent stage”), and later with single words, combinations of words, and then sentences and paragraphs.
Focus Songs
At all sessions, we have a number of focus songs that include new words and sentence structures that are related to the theme we are exploring.
For example, in our Dinosaur theme, children will learn ‘Do The Dinosaur Dance’, ‘Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’, and ‘Ten Little Dinosaurs’. Each song introduces parts of the body, colors, numbers and size. Our themes are chosen to engage even the youngest learner!
Reading Characters
We believe that many children are essentially visual learners and learn best when all their senses are engaged. We encourage children to use their imagination when recognizing characters. Bright and colorful flashcards are introduced to help children memorize the shape and radicals.（首部）
We use simplified characters in all sessions.(简体字)
Generally, children will learn five or more characters per week and Character Cards will be given to review during the week.
