Last week’s post seemed to be very popular so I thought I would follow up with a few more Chinese language Facebook groups.

This time, I wanted to make sure that folks realized that the groups aren’t Mandarin only. They are Chinese specific and dialect agnostic. Of course, there are more resources for Mandarin, but that doesn’t mean Cantonese is out of the picture entirely! At least Hong Kong has many publishers and will have a lot of materials in Traditional (which is super useful for us die-hard Traditionalists).

Anyhow, here are two. (I did get some suggestions in the comments when I posted last week, but I’ll feature them in later posts. I have to get in a few of the groups first!)

1) 美國中英文雙語在家自學家庭 Chinese-English Bilingual Homeschoolers in America – Who knew there would be so many people like me out in the world? (Terrifying, isn’t it?) But it’s so great to have a group that is composed of people who are currently homeschooling or are thinking about homeschooling their children in a bilingual Chinese/English environment.

I have gotten so many good book recommendations on where to start with homeschooling, Chinese language curriculum/textbooks in multiple subjects, and useful articles. The members don’t post prolifically, but when they do, it’s insightful and generates lots of useful discussion.

A lot of members are also in the Bay Area, so I’ve gone to a meetup and hope to go again. Of course, there is lots of cross-pollination among the groups in general so you’ll find that the main participants are often big participants in other groups and there is some cross-posting. But it is a small universe.

2) Raising Bilingual/Multilingual Children – This group is not Chinese language specific but there are a decent number of parents on there who do bilingual/multilingual with Chinese as one of the languages. I gather that the majority of parents are European and I am super impressed with how many languages these parents are introducing. Some as many as four or more!

I find this group most helpful in terms of general information on bilingualism/multilingualism. They post a lot of articles, studies, and mostly cover parents asking and receiving advice in regards to raising their children multilingual. A lot of the questions involve teachers or family members not supporting multilingual lifestyles and how to either soldier on or deal with the ignorance and sometimes, outright racism.

What I also appreciate is that for the most part, the group actively refrains from topics that do not specifically address or pertain to raising bi/multilingual children. This is a great platform to exchange experiences, ask questions, and meet like-minded people. This is NOT a place to advertise. Posts that promote products, services etc. are removed and the person who does so is banned from the group.

Trust me when I say that it cuts down on a lot of spam.

Alright! That’s it for today. As always, I would love to hear about your personal experiences in these groups (please comment below!) since I acknowledge that my opinion isn’t the last word on any such group. If I missed a group or you have been so inspired as to start a group, please let me know, too!