Bao & Bun's Bilingual Journey

I was scrolling through some older posts on Motherly Notes Facebook groups. Many parents from 2019 to 2021 were discussing how their kids began reading extensively after mastering around 500 characters. Some even shared photos of the large stack of bridge books their kids read after reaching this milestone. This started to make me feel stressed.

Other than feeling stressed, I’ve been exploring the best method to track my kids’ Chinese progress. While many Taiwanese parents use Taiwan elementary school standards as a reference point, I’m wondering if that’s the most effective way to gauge the Chinese proficiency of overseas children.

I suppose the challenge of this bilingual journey is that it’s endless. Just when you reach one level, there’s always a higher one to strive for.

Like most parents, my original goal was that my kids can speak, listen and read at their age level. As kids grow older, I found out that the goal is getting harder as they get older. They may reach my goal at age 5 but they’re starting to fall behind at age 6. There seems to be lots of work needed it just keep it up.

I’ve wanted to document Little Bun’s progress. We read books occasionally and only attend a Taiwan first-grade online class once a week. I wonder if this is sufficient. Should she be reading more or memorizing additional characters? Should we introduce more bridge books?

Interestingly, only success stories seem to be shared and discussed. Rarely do I come across accounts of struggles and failures, along with the reasons behind them. Most narratives I encounter portray high achievers, but who’s to say I’m not on the same path?