Time to Say Good Night in Chinese – Everyday Routine When there is a habit in place. Everything seems to fall in place naturally. First, Jo Jo brushes teeth. Then he goes to get 2 books. Last, he goes to bed and ready for his storytime. That is a habit you can create at home for the target language. It takes time to form a new habit so take one step at a time on this journey
Read more →
Family Members in Chinese – Everyday Chinese for Family Family is the core of Chinese culture. It is common to see grandparents live with their children in the same household. Taking care of one’s aging parents is what adult children do in Chinese society. That is what Chinese people refer to as filial piety 孝. In a family social gathering, relatives can tell if a child is from the father’s family or the mother’s family by how
Read more →
A Family’s Guide to Chinese Programs Many recent studies have shown the benefits of being bilingual. Parents see the advantage of being bilingual and want to introduce Chinese to their children at a young age. In addition, there might be a plan in the parent’s mind to send kids to a Chinese program when they are a little older. What are the options available for you and your child? Let’s look at the Chinese program in the
Read more →
The Progress Lies In What You Consistently Do “I think we read first, then let’s watch an episode of Meteor Garden,” my daughter says, as I am about to take out the Chinese checker game. We have been playing with it for a few days now and she enjoys it. “Let me get the book,” as she leaves and I put away the game. My teen daughter takes Spanish at school. Our Chinese reading time has been
Read more →
Tips To Set Up A Bilingual Home Part 2 Home is where learning starts for every child. Here are the remaining four tips that you can apply to your target language learning area setup at home or in the classroom. We’ve talked about visual and sound last time and here we will start with the sense of smell. Smell The sense of smell helps kids to understand their world, and it helps with learning. Chinese cooking ingredients: You
Read more →
Teach Children Chinese: Tips To Set Up A Bilingual Home Home is where learning starts for every child. I want to share with you 6 tips to set up your target language learning area at home and to make the Mandarin Chinese visible in your family. There are six areas you can focus on when you first start out. Think about the time when you were decorating your baby’s room. You wanted to create a happy and
Read more →
Things you need to raise a bilingual child Children are like sponges. When you go to the storytime in the library you see the little toddlers and preschoolers listen to a story with total concentration. At times, a few of them will share with the group about what they know about the story. Amazing! Sponges need water. What you provide to your young kid gives her opportunities to absorb and learn. Raising a bilingual child needs dedication.
Read more →
2021 update- During the pandemic last year I took an international trip from Washington DC to Taiwan. I flew from one airport to the other. I never saw the San Francisco International airport so empty. The passengers on each flight were carefully dressed to protect themselves from COVID-19. The flight crew in each flight was wonderful. Upon arrival. I went through a 2-week quarantine in a one-bedroom unit in Taipei. All alone by myself. No one
Read more →
Jerry (4) and James (6) had their eyes closed and asked me: “Are you ready?” I was busy trying to find a good place to hide the bouncy ball. They couldn’t wait to start playing the Hot and Cold game in Mandarin Chinese. One of them was “whispering” rè rè rè (hot). The other one was giggling lěng lěng lěng (cold). This was their first time playing this game in Mandarin but they were ready to start.
Read more →
Teach Chinese to Your Child: When There Is Resistance “I am not going to speak Chinese to you anymore, Mom. No one is speaking Chinese except you.” I thought I was doing a good job until the day my 7-year-old son announced his decision about speaking Mandarin Chinese. He told the truth. I was the only one who speaks Mandarin to him at home. No one in his class speaks Chinese. None of his teachers speaks Chinese.
Read more →