Celebrate Love and Language Learning This Valentine’s Day Valentine’s Day is the perfect occasion to show extra love and appreciation to those closest to our hearts. This year, why not make your celebration even more meaningful by incorporating some learning into your festivities? By combining love and learning, you’ll create a day your kids will hold dearly in their memory. One fantastic way to enjoy and immerse in the target language and culture for children is through
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Join me for winter and holiday activities. Here are five hands-on activities for kids aged 3 to 9. As many of the kids enter winter break and the magical holiday season, what better way to spread joy and learning than by combining these activities with the songs, expressions, and stories from the Playful Chinese Podcast’s Holiday episodes? So, let’s dive into a world of creativity, discovery, and festive dun! Holiday Themed Sensorial Play 節日主題感官活動 Jiérì zhǔtí
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Diwali in Chinese The Festival of Lights in India Diwali is also known as Dipawali. It is the most important and biggest cultural festival of the year to Hindus. This cultural event also extends to the non-Hindu communities, such as Buddhists in India. Diwali is like the Mid Autumn Festival and the Lunar New Year for Chinese. It is also like Thanksgiving and Christmas in the States. What is Diwali in Chinese? Diwali is pái dēng
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Five Little Pumpkins in Mandarin for Halloween. I am sharing this with the support of an interactive storytime video and lyrics in Mandarin Chinese, English, Pinyin, and Zhuyin. For Mandarin learners at a young age, singing nursery rhymes and engaging in storytime sessions can be the seeds of a love for language, cultures, and a bilingual family journey. Research has continuously illustrated that the interaction between melody, rhythm, and language during these activities builds a foundation for
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October is Bilingual Child Month. It’s a time to celebrate the linguistic and cultural diversity among us. This celebration is for you. Happy Bilingual Child Month! We want to celebrate children who are on this journey. At the same time, we want to celebrate bilingual/multilingual adults who went through the adventure of acquiring more than one language. More importantly, we want to celebrate the pushing hands behind the scenes- parents, teachers, and all the supporters in the
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I had the pleasure of joining the Grand Multi-literacy event hosted by Yoshito Darmon-Shimamori at Library4Multilinguals, where I was given the opportunity to share my insights alongside a stellar lineup of distinguished bilingual/multilingual researchers, educators, and experts. This program not only illuminated the world of bilinguals/ Multilinguals but also brought together voices that echoed passion, expertise, and a deep-rooted commitment to fostering linguistic diversity. Building on the illuminating experiences from the event, one of the standout moments
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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
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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.
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Happy Asian Pacific American Heritage Month! Join us to celebrate the rich cultures in the Asia Pacific region and support the families that are passing on their heritage language and culture to their children! For all the parents and language educators on this journey, there is so much emotional labor involved. I want to celebrate you and what you do each day to gift your children or your students the gift of their heritage culture. In addition,
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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
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