When I grow Up...长大后我想做。。。

Week 9 Wednesday 端午节 Dragon Boat Festival

五月五， 过端午, falls on the fifth day of the fifth month on Chinese lunar calendar,  端午节 dragon boat festival is the third largest festival in China. It is a tradition that started more then 2000 years ago. In our lesson, we watch a short video on the dragon boat festival and learn about 粽子（Chinese sticky rice dumpling)，龙舟 (dragon boat race).

You can find the legend of dragon festival here.

We practiced some senates base on the new phrases we learnt today, such as

我喜欢吃粽子 I loke eating tricky rice dumpling.
我会划龙舟 I can row dragon boat.

Week 8 (Saturday) 我有。。。我没有。。。I have...I do not have

We learnt to ask question to find out what our classmates have and do not have. Students work in pair to enquire what their partner has in their school bag. Here are some sentence pattern:

你有书吗？Do you have a book?
你有笔吗？Do you have a pencil?
你有本子吗？Do you have a writing book?
我没有本子 I do not have a writing book
你有纸吗？Do you have paper?
我没有纸 I do not have paper

Building on these sentences, students are then encouraged to expand with words that they have learnt, such as 你有妹妹吗？Do you have a sister? 你有哥哥吗？Do you have a brother?

You can practice the phrases here.

Week 7 (Saturday) 这是我的。。。（Zhè shì wǒ de）This is my。。。

We continue to work on identifying our belongings with the sentence focus on 这是我的。。。(This is my...).

Here are some examples we learnt:

这是我的书包 Zhè shì wǒ de shūbāo This is my school bag

这是我的书 zhè shì wǒ de shū This is my book

这是我的笔 zhè shì wǒ de bǐ This is my pencil

这是我的帽子 zhè shì wǒ de màozi This is my hat

这是我的杯子 zhè shì wǒ de bēizi This is my cup

You can practice further here

We made some amazing kites today. there are the mighty dragon and the beautiful butterfly. I hope the children enjoy playing with them. The kite is widely recognised as having originated in China. there were severals legends on the history of kites. One of the more fascinating one was that it was used as an emergency warning device, when the kite was flown in order to appeal for help when the city-state of Nanjing was under siege by Hou Jing. Whatever it may be, kites have long been the favourite of kids due to its colourful nature.

Term 2 Week 5 (Wednesday) 我喜欢弹钢琴, 我天天都弹钢琴 Wǒ xǐhuān dàn gāngqín, wǒ tiāntiān doū dàn gāngqín

Today we learnt a sentence pattern on repetition, such as 我喜欢弹钢琴, 我天天都弹钢琴. In this example, 弹钢琴 (dàn gāngqín) play piano is the activity that I like, and I play it everyday. The same sentence could be applied to another activity, 我喜欢打网球, 我天天都打网球 (Wǒ xǐhuān dǎ wǎngqiú, wǒ tiāntiān doū dǎ wǎngqiú) I like playing tennis, I play tennis everyday! 

We also learn a new word 会 Huì (Can) and 不会 Bùhuì (Cannot). Some examples are:

我会弹钢琴 Wǒ huì dàn gāngqín (I can play piano)

我不会弹钢琴 Wǒ bù huì dàn gāngqín (I cannot play the piano)

你会弹钢琴吗? Nǐ huì dàn gāngqín ma（Do you play the piano?) In this case, This has turned into a question by adding 吗 at the end. 

You can practice the sentences here.

Week 5 (Saturday) Introduction

This week we've gone back to basic as we find out more about our classmates. We introduce ourselves with the following sentences patterns:

你好， 我的名字叫———Nǐ hǎo, wǒ de míngzì jiào Hello, my name is ______

我今年六岁 wǒ jīnnián—suì I'm six year old.

我的家有四个人 wǒ de jiā yǒu sì gè rén。 There are four person in my family

We also learn to ask question to the above answers:

你叫什么名字？Nǐ jiào shénme míngzì? What's your name?

你今年几岁？Nǐ jīnnián jǐ suì? How old are you?

你的家有几个人？Nǐ de jiā yǒu jǐ gèrén? How many people are there in your family?

Term 2 Week 6 (Wednesday) 下课后,你做什么？ Xiàkè hòu, nǐ zuò shénme? What do you do after class?

This week the students were asked to draft out their weekly schedule, some of them were very busy indeed. The main sentence focus this week is 下课后,你做什么？(Xiàkè hòu, nǐ zuò shénme?) What do you do after class? We also had a chance to review our days of the week - 星期一，星期二， 星期三， 星期四， 星期五 (Xīngqí yī, xīngqí'èr, xīngqísān, xīngqísì, xīngqíwǔ（Monday to Friday)

After a group discussion among themselves, this is what they come out with:

弹钢琴 play piano
打排球, play volleyball
游泳，swimming
踢足球，soccer
回家休息，go home and rest
学跆拳道，taekwondo
学空手道, karate
芭蕾舞蹈 ballet

I'm happy to say that there were very creative in their plans with some beautiful illustrations!