Read a classic Chinese poem with kids in the National Poetry Month. Young kids enjoy singing, rhyming, and poems. As children sing songs, recite rhymes, and listen to the reading of poems, they hear sounds, rhymes, and language patterns. They are all great ways for literacy building. Classic Chinese poems are short with limited word count. The 5-word poems have twenty Chinese characters. Here we are looking at Quiet Night Thought written by one of the most
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The best story is the one that your child wants you to tell again and again. One of my best stories is about a close encounter with a wildlife llama. That few seconds were almost like a Jurrasic Park experience. Not with dinosaurs. But with a curious llama. All the people in the car didn’t think this cute creature would keep following us and getting closer and closer to the car. I am sure you also have
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Counting jellybeans is a lot of fun for Jay. He first sort out the colors. Then he talks about the favors. He likes fruit so he keeps all the fruit flavored jellybeans on one side. When his brother joins him Jay starts counting： one jellybean 一個糖豆 yí gè táng dòu 一个糖豆, two jellybeans 兩個糖豆 liǎng gè táng dòu… His little brother corrects him: two is 二 èr. Jay repeats, two jellybeans 兩個糖豆 liǎng gè táng dòu, and
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Time to say good night! Good night 晚安 wǎn ān！ Maria sings Dear Sweetheart lullaby to her daughter every night. Her little girl was hiding behind her and smiling. Dear Sweetheart is a song I wrote for my daughter when she was just a tiny new born baby. When we went home with her this song became a bed time routine. Bed time routine is a good way to wrap up the day with the little ones.
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Who got poked? “Did you feel that?” “Me, too!” “What was that?” There was some screaming. At the same time, there was some laughter. A trip to the aquarium sitting in the 4D theater watching the dolphin movie was quite interesting. The ocean, the playful dolphins, then there was an appearance of a shark on the screen. As the shark swimming toward the audience and opening its mouth it came along a light poke from the back
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Fire! Fire! The news was on. The heavy smoke. The beautiful historic buildings. The people who were watching. The emotions. Fire! There was a big fire. When I asked my students if there was anything big happened. One of the students told me there was something big happened at home. It was a big event. There was a roasted turkey and a big party with family and friends. It was a celebration. He did a good job
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Slow process results in fine work is a Chinese saying. The original expression in Chinese is 慢工出細活 màn gōng chū xì huó 慢工出细活 literally means slow work produces fine products. I was finishing up a class with first graders and I started singing the Goodbye song. That was probably the 68th time they heard me singing it. I stopped two sentences in, they looked at me and thought maybe I forgot the lyrics so the kids continued
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“Long long time ago…” is the beginning of a story. It is a signal to kids. “Hi, It’s time for a book or a story.” They are inviting words. Hěnjiǔ hěnjiǔ yǐqián 很久 很久 以前 is Long Long Time Ago in Chinese. It is a universal way to begin a story. “It is story time! Are you ready? Long long time ago, …” as soon as I said it, kids started to giggle and they repeated “long
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Be like water Be like water. It is a Chinese saying 滴水穿石 “dī shuǐ chuān shí.” It literally means dripping water penetrates the stone. Four simple words with a powerful message. It is persistent and it is perseverance. Drip, drip, drip. Little by little. Remember when your child spoke her first word? It usually takes about a year for us to hear our babies’ first word. Remember the excitement? First word! Then, one word after another. One
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Start and Bond with Your Child Today is a good time to look at what you have worked on for the past several days, in the previous weeks or months. Then, have a simple plan for the remaining of the week or for next week. What do you want to add to your child’s Chinese language learning? Do you want to add more Chinese children’s songs, craft activities, or simple Chinese stories to the daily Chinese routine?
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