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.
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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.
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Playful Chinese podcast is lighthearted and high-spirited. It is to experience the joy of learning a new language or a heritage language. It is the work I do with children and parents who are new to Mandarin. That’s what you do as you provide your child with the Chinese language and culture learning opportunity. The work we do because we know it is important for the young mind. Therefore, a new podcast. The voice of the Chinese
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Teach Chinese to your child after you have started. Congratulations! You have started the journey with your child. What’s next? Start small and keep it going. Why start small? It is manageable for you and it is not overwhelming for your child. Keep it going. This is the key. Add a small dose of the target language, Chinese to your child’s day. It is building a routine. The routine consists of little things. Keep it simple. Keep
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I want to introduce Chinese to my kid but I am not sure where to start. Where do you start? This is what the school taught us about learning a foreign language. Listening Speaking Reading Writing Repeat after me. Memorization. It is needed but it does not stick. I learn and I forget. Rote learning vs. Inquiry-base learning. I’ve taken French for a couple of years but when I moved to Montreal, Canada. I realized that the
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Happy first day of school! School is about to begin for many children. Do you have a child who is starting preschool or kindergarten soon? Do you have an older child who is heading back to school after the summer vacation? Talk about schools outside of your local community is a way for your child to know about what kids in another part of the world do at the beginning of the year. Here in the
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Chinese tones practice cry or cool. We are looking at two high-frequency words and two short sentences that you and your child can use often. When Chinese is new to you and your child you might find it sounds so different. You might think if it is possible to get it right. Yes, absolutely and especially when you are not practicing tones. For parents, the more you listen to the language at your level or a little
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Chinese tones practice rain or fish. We are looking at two commonly used Chinese words and we have them in two sentences. Children enjoy listening to songs. When they hear songs they hear intonation. Mandarin is a tonal language like many Asian languages. If you sing you have experience with tones. So, the more you and your child listen to songs, sentences, and stories the better you are familiar with tones in Mandarin. Listen and listen more.
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Teach Your Kids Chinese When It Is Not Your Native Language. When I talk about the Chinese language, I mean Mandarin. There are two questions that I hear from parents often. Is it possible to introduce Mandarin Chinese to my child when I don’t speak Mandarin? Will I be able to teach my kid Chinese when I don’t speak it perfectly? If you have watched one of my Mandarin immersion programs for the little learners’ videos you
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A craftsman must sharpen his tools if he wants to do his work well. -Confucius Gōng yù shàn qí shì bì xiān lì qí qì 工欲善其事 必先利其器。 Top Chinese English dictionaries for parents who are new to the Chinese language or who need assistance with pronunciation, stroke order, and usage. All five Chinese English dictionaries are handy tools to have. However, you don’t need to have all of them. If you can choose one for your devices
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