First Mandarin Sounds is my debut book. I wrote this book to assist families who are learning Mandarin Chinese together. It’s for parents who are learning Mandarin to guide their children to explore the Chinese language with a purpose. You and your child will learn and grow from the first sounds, first words, to first sentences, and more. “Fun” is a simple word. It’s also an important word in learning and living. When you embed fun in
Read more →Chinese Language Day Chinese Langauge Day of the United Nations is a day to celebrate multilingualism and cultural diversity. And, there are more U.N. Langauge Days. Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish are the six official languages of the United Nations. And here are the special days for each one of them. Arabic Language Day – December 18 French Langauge Day – March 20 Chinese Langauge Day – April 20 English Langauge Day – April 23
Read more →Asian Pacific American Authors and Illustrators Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month is in May. However, you can share diverse books with kids on any day of the year. Today is a perfect day to celebrate diverse cultures and read books by Asian Pacific American authors and illustrators. You can take action and help. You can bring books by AAPI authors and illustrators home, share their work with friends and schools, and ask your library
Read more →Adam Beck Interview on his latest books and raising bilingual kids journey update You just need to persevere through because day by day week by week month by month year by year it will all add up. Over time you just need to keep going and provide, I mean, build the basic building blocks of progress. Successes are ample language exposure. There are not too many things that are universal about this experience but language exposure is.
Read more →National Reading Month Chinese Literacy for Kids There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island. -Walt Disney How do you connect National Reading Month with language learning to boost Chinese literacy for kids? You can add diversity to National Reading Month. Add the reading of books in the target language and culture to the book list. Here are the books you can read with your kids. Make reading an event
Read more →First Mandarin Sounds an awesome Chinese word book Big News! A debut children’s picture word book by Amanda Hsiung-Blodgett “Miss Panda” is now available worldwide! There are two versions to choose from to fit your need. Traditional Chinese. Pinyin, English edition Simplified Chinese. Pinyin. English edition Keep reading…there is also BONUS material. The first step to early Mandarin Chinese literacy is learning the first words and sounds. “First Mandarin Sounds” provides you with a fun introduction
Read more →When Mom Learns Mandarin | Playful Chinese podcast Cathy Hirst is an educator trained in elementary education. More importantly, she is a veteran ex-pat with five third culture children. Cathy has lived in Bahrain and Asian countries including China. Her native language is English and her first foreign language learning experience is Spanish. Her curiosity in foreign languages has helped her to dive into the study of Mandarin when her husband landed a job in a
Read more →A Gift for Amma Book Review Multicultural Children’s Book Day I am thrilled to review one outstanding multicultural book featured in Multicultural Children’s Book Day this year. If you and your child enjoy farmer markets on a sunny day you will fall in love with this picture book that takes you on an adventure in a market in India. let’s go! A Gift for Amma – Market Day in India by Meera Sriram is a beautiful
Read more →Counting up and adding up What you do every day with your child adds up. It does not just apply to the target language but all learning. In the last month of the year, what do you do? Are you counting down or are you counting up? When you count up you add up all the things you have done with your child every day. When you count up you see the progress from Day 1
Read more →What Are You Grateful For? What are you grateful for? This holiday season is likely to be different from the previous years due to the pandemic. As I am sitting here in quarantine. In solitary for the past several days upon arrival in Taiwan. I am grateful for the food and grocery delivery app and its service that brings the daily delight of street food, fresh fruit, and bubble tea drinks to the door. At the same
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