HSK

The Youngest Candidate to Pass HSK Level 1

Alexander Makarytchev (Alex) passed the HSK Level 1 test this April with flying colours and he was only 8 years old when he did it! But what makes Alex special isn’t just the fact that he is the youngest person to pass the HSK Level 1 test since the Toronto HSK Testing Centre was established at the start of the century in 2000, but he is also not a native Chinese speaker. Unlike other candidates who write the HSK tests, Alex is Russian and grew up speaking his parent’s language and English. Even though Chinese is often described as one of the hardest languages to learn, this just goes to show that with a little bit of excitement, support and hard work, anyone can learn Chinese. 

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Starting From Grade One

Alex’s journey in learning Chinese began in Grade 1 and has been going on for about one and a half years now. Alex grew up with a few Chinese-speaking friends in his neighbourhood and became very fascinated with the language and the culture as well. China is a country with over 5000 years of history and the language reflects that. It is no wonder little Alex was so drawn. As a result of his keen interest, he begged his parents to enroll him in Chinese school. According to Alex’s mother, “Although learning Chinese did not quite fit into the standard set of extra-curricular activities which western parents had in mind, such as math, music, or sports, we still wanted to support him and give it a go since he was so driven and self-motivated!”

Challenges Along the Way

During the first stage of learning, Alex was met with a few challenges. His parents originally enrolled him in a group class, but this format did not work well for Alex. Even though the teacher was very nice and accommodating, it was hard for Alex, who had zero experience learning Chinese, to keep up with the rest of the class. Since no one in his family spoke Chinese, Alex had little chances where he could practice the skills he learned in class. Alex’s parents saw that he was becoming dejected and decided to look for a different format that would keep Alex excited and motivated. They decided to go with a private teacher as this would allow Alex to have the most practice and the teacher would only focus on what worked and didn’t work for Alex. Their new teacher, Ms. Lera Trubyuk, has been a very important person in Alex’s Chinese learning journey. His success is much owed to her efforts and patience.

Parent's Support

At first, Alex started off with just 30 minutes per week of online classes with his mother sitting beside him to ensure that he would be able to focus for the full 30 minutes as Alex was still young. Soon after the success of the 30-minute classes, they increased the length and frequency to two 45-minute classes per week. Alex was also assigned homework in between classes which he completed independently. Both Ms. Trubyok and Alex enjoyed the classes a lot. The teacher made sure that she used a variety of materials to make the classes engaging and ensure Alex stayed interested and focused for the whole class. As for materials, they have been using Happy Chinese, HSK Mock Tests, Chinese readers, Chinese character books and cartoons as their course material. They also practice Alex’s oral skills a lot as he cannot practice them at home.

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Strong Memory

Besides Alex’s strong work ethic, he also has a very good memory which has helped him in his journey of learning Chinese! Alex’s teacher described his memory as “exceptional” and they are often impressed by the fact that Alex is able to memorize most words from the first time he sees them. He continues to remember the words from long ago without needing to practice too much in between!

Goals

Although the current end goal of learning Chinese is still “hard to say” according to Alex’s mother, their family understands the significance of learning Chinese. Since Alex is still young, he studies Chinese purely because he enjoys it. But learning Chinese has many future benefits, such as being able to connect with more people, learning about a new culture, and being able to work in new countries too! Alex has even promised his mother that he will be their sole interpreter during their future travels to China. To Alex’s parents, learning a new language that is not from Europe, which his ears and eyes are not used to, is a very beneficial intellectual challenge. Overall, given the significance and richness of Chinese culture, they feel that the ability to speak and understand Chinese will be a great benefit for Alex’s future life.