Daily Summer Reading Challenge to keep Mandarin active is here! As the kids enjoy the summer vacation in the Northern Hemisphere there are a lot of fun activities going on. Have your child joined the summer reading program in the public libraries yet? To keep Chinese active, I want to invite you to join the Daily Summer Reading Challenge for Chinese! For Chinese reading, I have set up a booklist for you that includes word books, picture
Read more →Baby babbling and language development Parents hold the key to unlocking the incredible potential within our little ones. When you read, talk, and sing every day with your child from birth, you are laying the foundation for their language development. You are also setting the stage for their growing curiosity and love of learning. Here we’ll explore the joyful world of baby babbling and how the little ones begin their language exploration in more than one language.
Read more →Guide kids to speak Chinese – One Thing You Must Do To Guide Your Child to Speak More Chinese Parents often mention that their children are reluctant to speak Mandarin. To speak more Mandarin, to be exact. “Why is that?” they ask. They often continued with, “They go to Chinese classes online / in person…” “My kids use apps…” “They have textbooks…” “We have storybooks…” ONE QUESTION My first question to parents is always this one
Read more →Raising A Bilingual Kid Is A Journey of Learning And Progress One of my cubs started college a few weeks ago. Four of us drove to the school. Three of us came back home. One is in the dorm a few hours away. I told the cubs, “When you go to college I will switch to speaking English to you. No more Chinese.” It sounds like a trick but I was and am serious about it. A
Read more →Teaching Your Child Chinese As Your Heritage Language There are different language and culture proficiency levels when we talk about Chinese as your heritage language. … In the United States, languages other than English are often thought of and referred to as “foreign” languages. However, many people who live in the United States have cultural connections to and know languages other than English. These languages are not “foreign” to particular individuals or communities; instead, they
Read more →AlsoCelebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month – a celebration of the culture and history of Asian-Pacific Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States. Asian Pacific American Heritage Month originated as a congressional bill in 1978. In 1992, it was expanded from a week to a month-long celebration. This is a time to honor, celebrate and learn more about the diverse Asian-Pacific cultures. Also, it is a great
Read more →Papercutting Art for Lunar New Year – World Culture for Kids Celebrating Lunar New Year with cultural activities! Papercutting art is a hands-on activity for kids and adults to explore art, the Chinese language, and culture. Chinese paper design art is originated from cutting patterns for Chinese embroidery. Later it transformed into folk art. The history of paper cutting began in the 4th century in the Hàn dynasty, China. These 2D design papercutting art are window
Read more →Teach Children Languages Through Play with Habbi Habbi + You now have a chance to give a fabulous set of Habbi Habbi books (10 bilingual books and a reading wand) to a family or a school! Hanna and Anne-Louise are the two Mom founders of Habbi Habbi bilingual books and reading wand. The available language combinations for the books are Chinese-English and Spanish-English at this time. Their growing number of books for young readers covers
Read more →Raise Multi-literate Children Please welcome my fellow teacher friend, Yoshito Darmon-Shimamori! He is the author of The Parents’ Guide to Raising Multi-literate Children, His website Library4Multilinguals has a growing number of tools and resource for parents and educators to guide children to read and write in the target languages and reach the goal to raise multi-literate kids. Yoshito is here to tell his story of growing up multilingual and share his home-tested and classroom-tested literacy-building tips,
Read more →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 →