Dear parents,

 

Welcome to the Mini Mandarin Musicians class! A few things need to be reminded before the class starts:

 

1. The starting point of learning music and language is to be immersed in the     environment. Children gradually develop their own learning processes by constantly listening to the musical patterns, and then start to interact with instructors.

 

2. In the beginning, children tend to respond to instructor’s sounds, but soon will find that the responses they make are different from those of instructors. They then start to imitate the sound, and eventually the “sound making process” will be internalized into their own knowledge reservoir. Furthermore, they might improvise their own musical patterns to “sync” and interact with instructors.

 

3. Every child has his/her unique learning process. Some would stay in the class with the instructor but some might “roam” around the classroom without participating in learning activities. As long as they do not mess up the facilities in the classroom or influence others, they still “absorb” the ambient sounds (by ears) even though they do not look concentrating enough. This temporary “absence of mind” is accepted. If, however, they make loud voices to prevent others from listening to the instructor, parents can take them out of the classroom and come back after they calm down and ready to participate the class.

 

4. The most ideal class setting is for parents to accompany children sitting in a circle because some activities require adults leading children one-on-one to feel the musical pulse. Parents are invited to sing or chant nursery rhymes, and respond to tonal and rhythmic patterns with the instructor so as to let children experience the whole musical effects in the classroom.  

 

5. A spiral curriculum is designed for the class. The teaching materials contain important learning elements and are introduced in a sequential way. The instructor will send you the learning materials before each session for your preview at home. But please don't feel obligated or pressured to learn all the materials before or after the class, this is just a complementary materials and the most important thing is to engage children in the class with fun. 

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Best regards,

Yi-Ting Huang