Fann Wong’s Son, 10, Was Inspired To Master Chinese Because She & Christopher Lee Are “Really Good At It”

It’s no secret that many kids in Singapore struggle with the Chinese language.

Even those whose parents are fluent in the language find learning Chinese challenging, and, as a result, dislike or are resistant to learning it.

Remember how Eleanor Lee once did so badly for her Chinese exams that mum Quan Yi Fong tore up her exam script and threw it out the window?

Fortunately for Fann Wong and Christopher Lee, their 10-year-old son Zed does not have such issues.

Not only does Zed, who is in primary four, enjoy learning Chinese, he’s inspired to master the language well as his parents are “really good at it”.

Fann recently posted on Xiaohongshu that the family-of-three participated in a Mother Tongue symposium in September, where they discussed how kids in Singapore learn Chinese.

Zed wasn’t just there to accompany his parents, he shared his thoughts too.

In the video, he could be seen engaging confidently with the host.

Let’s just say we are very impressed with Zed’s command of the language.

He was given a few lines in Chinese to read and he did so fluently.

This writer could probably only read half the words in the passage when she was his age.

Writing in Chinese, however, doesn’t come so easy, acknowledged Zed, and he dislikes Chinese dictation ‘cos “it’s very difficult”.

Well, that makes all of us.

Fann shared that she will help Zed prepare for his Chinese dictation a week prior to the test.

She will test him a few days later and if he still doesn’t know how to write the words, he will practise writing them until he does.

The family also emphasises Zed’s Chinese learning in their daily life.

During the event, Zed also shared about his Beijing trip in July this year where mother and son visited the Great Wall of China.

While Zed was excited to scale the tourist attraction, it proved to be a challenge due to the steep 45-degreee upward slope and they gave up after making their way up only 5 metres.

“The Great Wall of China is too high. I threw up,” said Zed, drawing laughter from the audience.

Despite this, he’s determined to return to climb the Great Wall again as well as check out other parts of Beijing.

In a separate post on Instagram, Fann gushed about her experience participating in the symposium and how proud she is of Zed.

“Watching my son speak Mandarin with more confidence was truly moving. Learning our Mother Tongue together makes every learning experience enjoyable and fun,” she said.