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 putting the words and expressions he has learned in this extensive conversation in Chinese. We had a great idea exchange and we laughed a lot. He used simple words and created a story. It’s something important this week for him in his life.
Right there, it was an opportunity to provide Chinese expressions he needed to construct his breaking news.
You can do the same with limited Chinese vocabulary and expressions as well. Talk about the fun thing happened during the day with simple expressions.
One word, one expression, and one sentence at a time. Start small. It builds up.
It could be something your child saw in the park with you. How about the shapes of something you ate together? Did your girl walk really fast earlier? Ask her if she likes to walk fast or slow?
If you need help with the words and expressions Pleco app is a wonderful tool.
Are you wondering about the fire?
After the celebration story, I showed a slide of the Eiffel Tower on the screen. Then, the student brought up the fire, the old historic buildings, and how he felt about it.
It was another topic or story. That was another chance to use simple words like “fire,” “big,” “small,” “happy,” and “sad” to have a short conversation in the target language.
The breaking news in the news is not the same as the breaking news in the life of your kids. You can talk about both. Which one do you want to start with?
