陈女士来信问：我家宝宝现上大班，马上升小学，正在学CK04课程，请问上学后学什么？
答：通常孩子升小学后，我们安排CL系列课程，但并不是一升就转，一般等正在学的课程结束后再根据他的程度考虑转班。根据我们的课程体系CK04学完后转CL01是非常衔接的。所以建议等CK04学完后转CL01。

王女士来信问：我家宝宝刚满三岁，是否有班可上？
答：3-4岁的宝宝我们有CP01课程。

问：助教能为您带来什么？
答：助教是孩子与外教沟通的桥梁，是您掌握孩子学习进度的好帮手。
　　 上课时，助教的主要职责是维持课堂纪律，确保教学的顺利进行，了解孩子在上课时的表现。当孩子在理解外教指令有困难，或不能清楚地表达自己的意思时，助教会帮助翻译。但助教并不参与外教的教学，因此对孩子们课堂学习的效果是没有影响的。
　　 下课后，助教会把上课的主要内容通过《家庭联络簿》或E-mail的方式发送给您，让您了解孩子在课堂上学习的内容，使您能够帮助孩子课后复习，督促他及时完成作业。从CK02级别开始，助教每周会给您的孩子做电话教学，复习每堂课的内容，同时练习孩子的听力和口语表达。
　　 如果您对孩子在学习方面有什么疑问，您都可以在上课前或下课后与助教当面交流。外教对您的孩子在学习上的建议也会通过助教及时地传达给您。
　　 此外，助教的作用在于帮助老师管理班级的纪律,他们并不直接参与老师的教学，因此助教的更换对整个教学系统没有任何影响。如果家长对教学有任何疑问，除咨询助教以外，更应该咨询我们的全职工作人员，特别是客户服务部的工作人员。

问：家长您该做什么？
答：亲爱的家长，请您一定要记得每次都要按时的送您的孩子来上课喽！您一定也希望孩子能从小就养成良好的学习习惯，那么就从我们这里开始吧！在家里就做好准备，尽量能够提前5-10分钟到达，让孩子每次都能上到一堂完整的课，同时在课前让小朋友之间也有更多时间互相了解。您一定很乐意这样做吧 ？：）
　　 我们的每一位外教和助教都是十分可爱、负责的。在我们这里，无论是调皮的孩子还是内向的孩子，都会受到老师和助教的关注。课后和课间，您都可以从老师和助教那里了解到孩子上课的情形，是否认真听讲了，是否积极发言了等等。所以当老师进入教室准备上课时，您完全可以放心的退出教室，不必担心他冷了、热了；在老师上课的过程中，您也无须因为担心您的孩子不专心听讲而透过玻璃监督。在孩子上课的这段时间，请您把他（她）交给我们吧，相信我们会很好的照顾您的孩子！
　　 家长是孩子最好的老师。我们非常希望您能在百忙中抽出一些宝贵的时间，来帮助您的孩子复习巩固所学的知识。孩子们学习的时候接受的快，但往往忘记的也快，所以课后的复习会起到事半功倍的效果。您只需花几分钟时间与他们对话，和他们比赛，这样孩子会很乐于接受。您甚至可以让您的孩子来“教”您，给他们一点小小的骄傲，让他们感觉自己的家里也有语言环境。试试吧，您会体验到其中的乐趣，而您的孩子也会受益匪浅！
　　 越是制度严明的学校，越是能培养出优秀的人才，为了能使您的孩子拥有更好的学习环境，学得更好更出色，我们需要您的支持与配合。请您仔细阅读我们学校的规章制度并且遵守，做好孩子们的榜样。

 Parent O: 我正打算让我的孩子学英语，请问他应该学美国英语还是英国英语？ 

Jennifer:Well, I'm a little biased here, because I'm British!  My American colleagues would say American English is better, as there are more people who speak it.  Other people (me included) prefer British pronounciation.
In reality, there isn't that much difference between them.  There are a few differences in usage, and of course many different slang expressions, but the main difference is in spelling - for example "color" in American English, "colour" in British English.  In some ways, American spelling can be a little easier, as it tends to be more phonetic.  The most important thing is to choose one and stay with with it - don't mix the two.  As far as pronunciation is concerned, students generally pick up the accent of their teacher - so for most children in Shanghai, their English accent will be Chinese.  You can also try to bring your child's accent closer to British or American by sending your child to study with a native speaker, and by giving them access to listening materials with native speakers' voices.

Parent A: 我应该在家里辅导孩子学英语吗?我英语不够好怎么办? 

Jennifer: Yes, you should definitely help, in whatever way you can! I can always tell when parents help students review at home, it makes such a difference to their progress.

Your English does not have to be perfect in order for you to be able to help your child study.  You can of course take lessons yourself, so that you and your child learn together, but not everyone can or wants to do this.  Here are some things you can do:

1.  Practice simple vocabulary by pointing to things outside or at home and asking "what's that?" (don't worry if you don't know the answer - maybe your child does!)  You can extend this, too, with questions like "what colour is it / how many are there, and so on.

2. As your child's vocabulary gets wider, you can learn some simple questions that you can ask them, to help them practice (you can ask your child's teacher to help with this).  It's important to practice speaking the language outside the classroom, and using the language at home makes it more natural.  Some children are also very nervous of speaking in front of their classmates.  Practicing with you at home can improve their confidence.  For example, you could ask your child: what did you do at school today / what do you want for dinner / what homework do you have to do?  Again, don't worry if your child's English seems better than yours.  My mother used to ask me questions like this when I started to study French, despite only having learned French in middle school (about 25 years earlier) herself.  I didn't know it at the time, but she has since told me that she sometimes only understood about half of what I was saying, and couldn't always tell if I made mistakes.  The most important thing was that I get used to speaking French  - my teachers would correct the mistakes when I was in class.

3. Ask your child to read to you - either from their textbook or from a book of simple English stories (look for books marked ESL [English as a Second Language].  Reading aloud will help them become more familiar with the sounds of English, and can also improve their vocabulary.  You can then ask them to explain to you in Chinese what they are reading, or discuss it with with them in English if you are more confident.

4. Buy a dictionary!  A good medium sized one costs around 70 RMB, and is a worthwhile investment.  This should solve most problems of missing vocabulary (yours or your child's!)  It's also very useful to have around when your child is doing their homework.

5. The "word a day" system is another good way to improve your child's English.  You can buy calendar-style books of words, or you could make your own if you prefer, using your child's schoolbooks.  This acts as a small, regular practice, reinforcing English every day and making it part of the child's routine.  It also gradually widens vocabulary - one new word and one sentence every day means 365 words and sentences every year - so if you start it when your child is 5, by the time they go to high school they will have learned nearly 4,000 words and sentences just from this (plus all the other words they learned in school).  Don't forget to review the words at the end of the week and/or month!

 Parent B: 我的孩子在上幼儿园,已经开始学英语,我打算他像你一样同时学法语,这样做可以吗? 他会把两种语言混淆吗? 

Jennifer:  It's possible, but I'd still advise you to try it.  Every child is different, some can keep two or more foreign languages separate in their heads, others find this very difficult and start to mix them together, or can't remember which word comes from which language.  Try it for a month or two, and see what happens.  If French and English start getting jumbled, I'd suggest he stop learning one of them for a year or two, and then try again once the other language is more advanced.  He will also be a little older by this point, which might also help.

Parent C:  我的孩子在幼儿园里由中国老师教英语,我发现他发音不准, 而且因为将来在很长时间里, 英语大部分会由中国老师教, 这个问题如何解决?

Jennifer:  This is a common concern, as children tend to pick up the accent of their teacher(s).  If you have the means, you can arrange for your daughter to attend extra speaking classes with a native teacher.  Giving her access to media with native speaker's voices (for example films; TV programmes; story, song and poetry CDs) is also a good way to improve her English overall, and hopefully she will start to copy the pronunciation she hears, rather than the accent she hears in school. There are also some CD-ROMs available which focus on improving pronunciation, but you'll need to shop around to make sure you get one with a good accent.  When she's older, a school exchange or a stay at a language school in an English speaking country could also help her spoken English a great deal (both fluency and accent), but you need to start earlier than this - it's easiest to correct pronunciation at the beginning, before the patterns get too engrained. 

Parent D: 我的孩子上小学,学英语不用功,不能持之以恒, 这个问题如何解决? 

Jennifer: Firstly, you need to identify the cause of the problem.  Is English very hard for him? If so, which part?  If it's spelling, you can do extra practice at home - perhaps in the form of a quiz, if he can get 20 words right, maybe he gets a small reward (this makes it less of a chore and gives him an incentive to study).  If the problem is comprehension, you could ask him to read aloud to you from a book of children's stories, or listen to an audio-book and then tell you in Chinese what happened in the story (you can find simple stories in English for young language students on the internet).  You could also ask his teacher if she/he knows which specific aspects of English are giving him most trouble.  Sometimes problems in one area can block a child's progress and leave them with the idea that this thing is "too hard", so they get frustrated and lose interest- if you can help them over that one particular hurdle, they'll get the idea that they can do it, and they'll find their enthusiasm again.

The most important thing about learning, especially for young students, is that children should want to do it, it should be fun. If a child doesn't want to learn, it's an uphill struggle for teachers, and the child's progress will be mediocre, at best.  So if the problem for your son is lack of interest, then you need to find ways for him to learn that are interesting for him. 

If you were to walk into my classroom, you'd notice lots of pictures - in the books, on the walls (the children draw pictures, then tell me in English about what they drew, and maybe write too - depending on their age). Pictures attract a child's attention, more so than words.  You'd see us playing simple guessing games (for learning vocabulary), interviewing each other ("I like tennis, do you like tennis?"  "No, I like basketball, do you like basketball?") or more complicated games for older students (inventing stories or trying to convince the rest of the class of something). 

Some of these activities need a few people - perhaps you could talk to a few of your son's friends' parents, maybe they could practice together (you'll need to make sure they don't just chatter in Chinese, though!)

You can also buy teaching games - whether simple card games, or CD-ROM sets - this could be another fun way to practice.

You could get some simple English stories and ask him to read aloud to you - you should be able to find some on the internet, or you can look for story books aimed at young students of English.  You can then talk about the story together (in English or Chinese, depending how confident you are in English). 

Lastly, it's quite common that people learning a language, particularly in the early stages, have a much lower opinion of their level than is actually the case - they focus on the mistakes they make rather than on what they know.  Try to point out to him the parts he got right as well as the parts he got wrong.  He'll need lots of encouragement.  You could make a progress chart for him at home, so that he can see when his marks are improving (this is will build his confidence) and he will have a target to aim at (incentive). 

Parent E:我曾经买过磁带和碟片来帮助我的女儿学习英语，但是她看起来并没有什么很浓的兴趣，而且她的英语学习也没有我期望中提高的那么快。你能建议一些好学习方法来帮助她学习吗？

 Jennifer: The most important thing about learning, especially for young students, is that children should want to do it, it should be fun. If a child doesn't want to learn, it's an uphill struggle and the child's progress will be mediocre, at best.  The key here is to find ways of learning which appeal to your daughter.

CD-ROMs are useful, but each child is different - it could simply be that these particular programs don't "work" for your daughter - if she has others which she likes, you could try to get some English ones which are similar.

Cartoons or children's TV programmes are a good idea, but if she's very young, it may be hard for her to follow the English - cartoon characters tend to speak rather fast, and unlike real people, their mouths don't move (this is more important than you might think - children work out how to copy sounds not just by listening, but also by watching how your mouth moves to shape a sound).  If possible, try using either something she has already seen in Chinese and likes, but play it with English audio - this way, she'll already know the storyline.  You can also get programmes made specifically for children who are learning English (look on the internet - I think the BBC [British Broadcasting Corporation - a bit like CCTV in China] have some.

You can buy or make picture cards to help her learn - for example colours, food, animals etc.  You can then use these to play simple games with her (one of you takes a card and hides it, the other tries to guess what it is; or you can spread the other cards out on a table - she tries to work out what's missing).  If she likes to draw, you could make posters too.  Ask her to tell you about what she's drawing, with wahtever words she can.  Don't worry if she makes mistakes, expecially in grammar - vocabulary is the most improtant thing at this stage.

You can practice simple vocabulary by pointing to things outside or at home and asking "what's that?" or "what colour is it?", "how many are there?" and so on.

Lastly, don't worry if she has occasional "off days" - days when she just doesn't want to study, or when everything seems to come out wrong. It happens, and as a parent or teacher it's frustrating, but there's not much you can do about it - forcing the issue is likely to leave you both tired and less inclined to study tomorrow.

Parent F: 我的孩子在上小学, 请问我该如何辅导他增加词汇量?

Jennifer: There are lots of ways you can do this, you just need to find which ones appeal to your son's interests.

First and foremost: Buy a dictionary!  (a good medium sized one costs around 70 RMB)  This will hopefully solve any immediate problems of missing vocabulary.

Get some simple English stories and ask him to read aloud to you - you should be able to find some on the internet, or you can look for story books aimed at young students of English.  You can then talk about the story together (in English or Chinese, depending how confident you are in English). Dual-text books (books with facing pages of Chinese and English text) are also a good way to practice, but these are harder to find (you also need to make sure he doesn't just read the Chinese version!)

If he likes watching TV, you can try to find some English-language cartoons or children's programmes for him to watch - again, you can find these on the internet.  I'd recommend the BBC [British Broadcasting Corporation - rather like CCTV in China], they have some very good educational TV and radio programmes including (the last time I checked) some programmes made specifically for children whose first language isn't English. Films in English might be a little hard for him, as the characters often speak very fast - it's best to try this with a film he has already seen in Chinese.  Using English subtitles on DVDs can also help, more so than using Chinese subtitles and English audio (it's too tempting to just "read" the film instead).

The "word a day" system is another good way to improve your son's English.  You can buy calendar-style books of words, or you could make your own if you have the time.  This acts as a small, regular practice, reinforcing English every day and making it part of his daily routine.  It also gradually widens vocabulary - one new word and one sentence every day means 365 words and sentences every year - so if you start it when your child is 5, by the time they go to high school they will have learned nearly 4,000 words and sentences just from this (plus all the other words they learned in school).  Don't forget to review the words at the end of the week and/or month!

You can also buy, or better make together at home, bilingual posters to put on the wall.  First, choose a subject - for example animals. Then draw or cut out pictures from magazines of twenty different animals  Then have him write the English names for them (you might need a dictionary for this part).  You can also write the Chinese names for them if you want.  you can then put this on the wall, and use it to practice (by asking "what's that?" (it's an elephant), "what does it look like?" (it's big and grey, it has a long nose and big ears) or "what does it like to eat?" (it likes grass and peanuts) and so on.  You can repeat this for as many subjects as you want.