Is Your Child Struggling with Chinese?

Discover the Parenting Secret Recommended by Top Education Experts

You’ve probably been there:

• "Watching your child painfully write the same Chinese word ten times—and still not remember it."

• "Forcing them to read a Chinese storybook aloud, only to hear them breeze through with zero interest."

• "Signing them up for yet another 'fun' Chinese class… but still, they can’t get excited about the language."

If this sounds familiar, you might be stuck in what experts call “carpenter-style parenting.”

【Carpenter vs. Gardener: What’s the Difference?】

Renowned child development expert Alison Gopnik, in her book The Gardener and the Carpenter, draws a clear line: When parents act like carpenters, trying to "chisel" their kids into a perfect mold, learning becomes a battle of control, not curiosity. Kids feel pressure, not passion.

【A Surprising Experiment That Changed Everything】

In a groundbreaking study, scientists gave two groups of children a brand-new toy:

• Group A: The adult showed them exactly how to use it.

• Group B: The adult gave no instructions and let the kids explore on their own.

  Guess what happened? Group B not only figured out how to use the toy faster, but also discovered more hidden features!

  
  

  The takeaway? - Kids are born explorers. It’s their curiosity about the unknown that powers real learning, not drills, repetition, or lectures.

Why Traditional Learning Methods Fall Flat？

Let’s be real—have you ever asked:

• “Why can’t they remember the words, even after copying them 10 times?”

• “They knew the oral test script so well at home… why freeze during the actual exam?”

• “We’ve tried so many classes… why does Chinese still feel like a chore?”

The truth is: when learning becomes a checklist of rules and repetition, it shuts down the child’s most powerful learning engine—joyful discovery. Neuroscience backs this up:🧠 When children are actively exploring, their brains light up three times more than when they’re passively being taught. That’s the real key to deep, lasting learning.

A Real-Life Example at Mayland Academy: Learning Chinese Through Play

At Mayland Academy, we do things differently. When a child resists writing Chinese characters, we transform the classroom into their favorite cartoon world and turn learning into a treasure hunt. Take the characters for “wind” and “fire.” Teacher Rita breaks them into parts and hides them around the classroom. Through games and challenges, the kids piece them back together like a puzzle.

Before they know it, they’re jumping with joy, holding up their “treasure cards”—and those Chinese characters? They’re already stuck in their minds (without even realizing they were learning). Because true learning feels less like studying and more like... Playing!

Be a Gardener, Not a Carpenter

Carpenters build according to a fixed blueprint. Gardeners, on the other hand, create the right environment for each flower to bloom in its own way, in its own time.

Your child doesn’t need pressure to perform. They need:

• A safe, colorful space to explore

• Encouragement to follow their curiosity

• Support when they need it—not micromanagement

Every child has their own season. Don’t rush. Don’t pull at the roots. Trust the process.

Childhood Is Our Brain’s Sandbox

Studies show that our long childhoods exist for a reason: They give us time to think, experiment, imagine, and grow into our full, one-of-a-kind selves. Let’s build learning ecosystems where kids feel safe to make mistakes, explore the unknown, and fall in love with language—and the world around them.

In the End...

Let’s plant more magical gardens. Let every little flower grow wild, bright, and joyful—each one falling in love with learning, in their own special way.

Coming up next: How to spark your child’s love for Chinese with a “gardener’s mindset”? Backed by Stanford research + exclusive insights from Mayland Academy!

References:

• Gopnik, A. (2019). The Gardener and the Carpenter: What the New Science of Child Development Tells Us About the Relationship Between Parents and Children. (Translated by Zhao Yukun). Zhejiang People’s Publishing House.