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!

Term 2 Week 4 (Saturday) 我有电脑 Wǒ yǒu diànnǎo - I have a computer

What a wet Saturday it was. Glad to see all the students in class today despite the gloomy wet weather!

This week as focus on a few simple tasks on what we have either at school or at home. Here are the sentences we practice:

我有一台电脑 (Wǒ yǒuyī tái diànnǎo) I have a computer

你有电脑吗？ (Nǐ yǒu diànnǎo ma?) Do you have a computer?

我没有电脑 (Wǒ méiyǒu diànnǎo) I don't have a computer

We practiced these sentences with the words we learnt previously. You can have a revision HERE.

We also learnt paper cutting art 剪纸艺 (Jiǎnzhǐ yì) today. We planned and cut out the character double happiness.

Term 2 Week 4 (Wednesday) “送了......给......" (“Sòngle...... Gěi......") Give...to

Welcome to week 4. Today we focus on more sentences. Some key words we learnt today are:

送 / 送了 (Sòng / Sòngle) Give

给 (Gěi) To

Our sentences are:

(Person) 送了 (object) 给 (gift receiver). For example 姐姐送了一个书包给我 (Jiějiě sòngle yīgè shūbāo gěi wǒ) My sister give me a bag. In this example, the person is 姐姐 (sister), the gift is 一个书包 (a school bag) and the gift receiver is 我 (me)

• 哥哥送了巧克力给我 (Gēgē sòngle qiǎokèlì gěi wǒ) my brother give me some chocolate
• 妈妈送了新外套给爸爸 (Māmā sòngle xīn wàitào gěi bàba) Mom give dad a new jacket.

We also learn the alternative sentence pattern which carries the same meaning. Example are:

• 哥哥送我巧克力 In this case, the gift receiver have been moved forward straight after "give". 哥哥 is the giver, 我 is the gift receiver and 巧克力 is the gift.
• 妈妈送爸爸 新外套 - 妈妈 is the giver, 爸爸 is the gift receiver and 新外套 is the gift.

Term 2 Week 3 (Saturday) 母亲节 Mǔqīn jié Mothers Day

This week we are celebrating 母亲节 Mǔqīn jié Mothers Day. We talked about love 爱 Ài and sang a beautiful song about mum. Here is the lyrics:

美丽的美丽的天空里

Měilì dì měilì dì tiānkōng lǐ

In the beautiful sky

出来了光亮的小星星

chūlái le guāngliàng de xiǎo xīngxīng

Bright littles starts emerge

好像是我妈妈慈爱的眼睛

hǎoxiàng shì wǒ māmā cí'ài de yǎnjīng

Just like mum's kind beautiful eyes

妈妈的眼睛我最喜爱

māmā de yǎnjīng wǒ zuì xǐ'ài

mum's eyes are my favourite

常常的希望我做个好小孩

chángcháng de xīwàng wǒ zuò gè hǎo xiǎohái

Always wants me to be my best

妈妈的眼睛我最喜爱

māmā de yǎnjīng wǒ zuì xǐ'ài

Mum's eyes are my favourite

Happy Mothers Day! 母亲节快乐!

Term 2 Week 3 (Wednesday) 我参加音乐 Wǒ cānjiā yīnyuè I took part in music

Our sentence focus this week are:

• 我参加音乐 (Wǒ cānjiā yīnyuè) I participate in music
• 你参加了什么? (Nǐ cānjiāle shénme?) What activities do you take part in?
• 我参加音乐，也参加运动 (Wǒ cānjiā yīnyuè, yě cānjiā yùndòng) I take part in music and also sports
• Tony 和我都想参加网球队 (Tony hé wǒ dū xiǎng cānjiā wǎng qiú duì) Tony and I both want want to take part in tennis

You can practice these sentences HERE.

Term 2 Week 2 (Saturday) 我有什么 (Wǒ yǒu shé me) ? What Do I have?

Welcome back after a long weekend. We continue to look at the measure words and the items we have in our day to day life.

Please practice all the words here.

As well as learning measure words, we also revisited numbers. Please go through the number + measure words + items in the text book page 14, you can read along HERE.

The focus this week is 我有...(Wǒ yǒu) I have...

For example,  我有两个书包 (Wǒ yǒu liǎng gè shūbāo) I have two schoolbags.

Please also practice our song 妈妈的眼睛.

Have a lovely week ahead!

Term 2 Week 2 (Wednesday) 学校活动 School Activities Cont

Well is hard to come back after a long weekend, the children certainly thrill to have a short week this week.

We made some great progress in learning today and I can certainly see the improvement for those of you who has been using the CD so keep up the good work. The new words today are:

休息 - Rest

參加 - To participate

乐队 - school band

活动 - Activities

想 - thinking of...wish

得 - have to

You can practice to read along here.

Homework this week is item 7 page 17 in the work book, have fun writing those characters!

Term 2 Week 1 (Wednesday) Welcome Back!

Ni Hao! 你 好! Welcome back to the start of term 2. I believe all of you have had a lovely holiday over the term break and is eager to learn again. We shared some lovely stories on what we have done over the holiday and the children sure have lots to tell. We will continue to discuss our last term topic - school / After School Activities (学校活动) and the associated language focus.

Today we practice a lovely song 媽媽的眼睛 for Mothers Day, click on the link to sing along, You can also find the lyrics here. 

Finally, a quick reminder on drawing competition - last chance to hand it in this week before Saturday 2 May. Good luck!

                       

Week 8 (Wednesday) 学校活动 School Activities

We all lead a very busy life, in particular our children, who have a series of after school activities everyday. This week we looked at some of the popular activities such as Piano lesson, football, ballet, taekwondo, Mandarin lesson, swimming etc. Here are the list of activities we practiced today:

学中文 (Xué Zhōngwén) -   Mandarin lesson

学吉他 (Xué jítā) - learn guitar

游泳 (Yóuyǒng) - Swimming

跆拳道 (Táiquándào) - Taekwondo

篮球 (Lánqiú) - basketball

体操 (Tǐcāo) - gymnastics

学钢琴 (Xué gāngqín) - Piano lesson

足球 (Zúqiú_ - football

学芭蕾舞 (bālěi wǔ) - ballet 

Please complete the worksheet here. Some of you might have completed during class so please remember to bring it back this week.

The sentence structure of the week is 下课后，我得... (xià kè hòu , wǒ Déi...)

下课后，我得学中文 (xià kè hòu , wǒ déi Xué Zhōngwén) - After school, I have Mandarin lesson.

Homework for the week is the passage on page 17 of text book. You can practice all the new words in the reading set here.

Have a lovely week!

Week 7 (Saturday) 我有什么? (Wǒ yǒu shé me?) What Do I have?

The term has certainly whizzed by quickly. After learning about getting ready to school we have now moved on to looking at measure words (量词) on Lesson 2. The key words for this lesson are 

"个”、“张”、“本”、“支” 和 “台” (all measure words) as well as 张、本、支、台、笔、白、纸、问、题、回、答、里、杯、 电、脑. You can find out how to read them HERE.

We also get to know the items in our school bags, such as 本子, 书，尺子，橡皮，铅笔 (exercise book, book, ruler, rubber, pencil etc). The sentence structure is 我有...(I have...)，我没有...(I do not have...). Examples are 我有书 I have book, 我没有尺 I do not have ruler. 

The task of the week is to practice the passage on page 15. Here is the audio file for reading.

Have a lovely weekend!

Week 7 (Wednesday) My Family - Learning Radicals

We had a quick test on recognising the family members today, and I'm proud to say that quite a number of you have achieved 10/10, what a great effort!

We looked at some new radicals today and how they appear in characters, they include 言 radical and the associated words 说, 请, 谢, 课 (say, please, thank you, lesson), as well as 女 radical with 婆, 妈, 姨 (grandma, mother and aunt).

Drawing Competition

The children have been issued with an A3 paper for their drawing competition. They can work on it during the school holiday and hand in their entry at the start of Term 2. Students are free to choose the theme of their work and may use any medusa they wish.

I look forward to seeing all the wonderful works after the school holiday.

Week 6 (Saturday Class) Learning Grammar

Now that we now all the key words that are associated with going to school, we started to look at the grammar in our lesson. We learnt how to expand our sentence in the following example:

帽子 (màozi) - a hat (a noun)

我戴帽子 (Wǒ dài màozi) - I wear a hat (stating a fact)

我要戴帽子 (Wǒ yào dài màozi) - I want to wear a hat (express desire to wear a hat)

我在戴帽子 (Wǒ zài dài màozi) - I am wearing a hat (in progress)

我戴上帽子去上学 (Wǒ dài shàng màozi qù shàngxué) - I put on my hat and go to school (action completed and is usually follow by another action to complete the sentence.

Notice each of the sentence look similar but they have completely different meaning. More information on page 4 in text book.

We also learn to use question, here is an example:

你看見我的書包了嗎?
 Nǐ kànjiàn wǒde  shūbāo le ma? (Have you seen my school bag?)

The answer is usually 我看見你的書包了 or 我没有看見你的書包. 了(le) is usually added to the end of sentence meaning the action is over.

There are a couple of tasks for the children this week, a word search as well as writing task on page 5 of the work book.

Chinese idiom of the week is 守株待兔 (Shŏu zhū dài tù) Trust to chance and luck in one's actions; hope for gains without pains. Here is how the story goes:

There was a farmer in the Song Kingdom in ancient China. He worked in his field day after day. In good harvest years, he could only have enough food to eat and enough clothing to wear. If the field failed to produce enough crops, he had to go hungry. This farmer wanted to improve his life. But he was too lazy and too cowardly. He always dreamed of having unexpected fortune.

A miracle took place at last. One day, when he worked in the field, some people were hunting nearby. They shouted loudly one after another. Some little animals were running desperately. Suddenly, a hare dashed itself headlong against the stump of a dead tree in his field and died. That day, he had a good meal.

From that day on, he no longer worked in his field. From morning till night, he stayed by that miraculous stump, waiting for another hare. Will the miracle happen again?
People often use the set phrase “staying by a stump waiting for more hares to come and dash themselves against it" to refer to persons dreaming to reap without sowing.

Week 6 (Wednesday Class) My Family Members 我的家人 Cont.

This week we review the terms on our word cards. The children can now recognised most of the characters in the card. You can give them a little test by using the word cards here. We also played a word messenger games where the students relaying the words and recite them afterwards. It was a lot of fun and our two groups are always trying to outdo each other!

We also practice sentence making this week using "是...也是" (Shì...yě shì) meaning "is...is also". The children are asked to find a sentence example this week that uses the same term. Have a go and see what they come out with.

The children have also been issued with a G300 CD this week. This is a study aid for the series and it contains reading practice, quizzes, and games. Please take some time to go through it with them and let me know if you have any questions.

The homework for the week is on page 3 Q4 and Q5 and page 5 Q8 where they can practice writing some of the new words learnt.

Have a good week!

Week 5 (Saturday Class) Going to School 我去上学 (Wǒ qù shàngxué) Cont.

Hello! Another busy week for our students in Saturday class. We practiced the passage on page 3 this week. You can read along here.

They are now able to read it out even without the pinyin, I'm so proud of them! This week we learnt the different between 穿 (wear, dressed in), 戴 (to put on), and 拿 (to take). Feel free to quiz them and see if they could all appropriately use the term! We had a lot of fun practicing in class. You can also practice the characters with them with the study set.

This week's homework - Please have a go on the writing on page 5 of work book and matching the picture with appropriate words on page 6. I know we are still a few books short and they will arrive next week so please bear with us. 

Our Chinese idiom of the week is Blind man and the Elephant 盲人摸象 (máng rén mō xiàng). Here is the story:

Once upon a time, there lived six blind men in a village. One day the villagers told them, "Hey, there is an elephant in the village today." They had no idea what an elephant is. They decided, "Even though we would not be able to see it, let us go and feel it anyway." All of them went where the elephant was. Everyone of them touched the elephant.

  

"Hey, the elephant is a pillar," said the first man who touched his leg. 

"Oh, no! it is like a rope," said the second man who touched the tail. 

"Oh, no! it is like a thick branch of a tree," said the third man who touched the trunk of the elephant. 

"It is like a big hand fan" said the fourth man who touched the ear of the elephant. 

"It is like a big bed," said the fifth man who touched the belly of the elephant. 

"It is like a carrot," Said the sixth man who touched the tusk of the elephant. 

They began to argue about the elephant and everyone of them insisted that he was right. It looked like they were getting agitated. A wise man was passing by and he saw this. He stopped and asked them, "What is the matter?" They said, "We cannot agree to what the elephant is like." Each one of them told what he thought the elephant was like. The wise man calmly explained to them, "All of you are right. The reason every one of you is telling it differently because each one of you touched the different part of the elephant. So, actually the elephant has all those features what you all said."

Have a good week ahead!

Week 5 (Wednesday Class)  My Family Members 我的家人

Week five already! This week we learnt everything about family tree and the various salutation of the relatives. I particularly enjoyed the family tree presentation by our students, good work! 

We talked about the different between the grandparents from both mom's side and dad's side and why mom's mom is called 外婆 (Wàipó) and mom's dad is called 外公 (Wàigōng) whiles days mom is call 奶奶 (Nǎinai) and dad's dad is called 爺爺 (Yéyé). You can practice reading each of the character and the lesson flash cards here. To practice reading, click here for the passage.

Our language focus this week is 是....也是 (Shì,,, yěshì). For example 她是我的中文老师, 也是我哥哥的中文老师 (She is my Chinese teacher, she is also my brother's Chinese teacher). We are also able to separate the relatives into male 男 (Nán) or female 女 (Nǚ). Quick tips - in some Chinese characters you can tell by the radical (部首). For example if the character shows the radical 女, such as 姐, 媽, 姨, 奶奶, 妹妹 (older sister, mother, aunty, grandma, younger sister), it is certain that the gender is female. 

This week's homework is on page 2 of their workbook, question 2. Students are require to separate all the maternal relatives and paternal relatives into the 2 spaces provided. Have fun!

Week 4 (Saturday Class) Going to School 我去上学 (Wǒ qù shàngxué)

After the hustle and bustle of Chinese New Year fun in the last two week, we finally open our text book and explore new lessons. Today's class we talked about what to bring or wear going to school. The key words are 穿 Chuān (wear, dressed in), 戴 Dài (wear, put on), 拿 Ná (take), and what they can be used with. We had fun playing word matching and word search, I was really quite impressed how quickly the children manage to recognise the words.

As well as learning about everyday items such as hat, school bag, shoes and socks (page 2 in text book), we also practice reading the passage on page 3 as well as learning about the 4 tones in Chinese Pinyin.

You can find the flashcard for Lesson 1 HERE.
The word search games worksheet is HERE

We also revisited numbers this week as some of our new students have not been introduced to it. 

1 一 yī
2 二 èr
3 三 sān
4 四 sì
5 五 wǔ
6 六 liù
7 七 qī
8 八 bā
9 九 jiǔ
10 十 shí

You can read along counting to 10 here 

This week we have also started our story segment. I have introduced a Chinese idiom 成語 (Chengyu) stories series. Chéngyǔ (Traditional Chinese: 成語; Simplified Chinese: 成语, literally "to become (part of) the language") or Four-character idioms are widely used in Classical Chinese, a literary form used in the Chinese written language from antiquity until 1919, and are still commonly used in Vernacular writing today.The first story today is 

半途而废 (bàn tú ér fèi) meaning do things by halves, give up halfway. Here is how the story goes:

During the Warring States Period (475-221BC), there was a man called Yue Yangzi in State Yue. Yue Yangzi felt that he should go out and visit scholars to enrich his knowledge. So he set off.  A year later, he came back home suddenly."Why have you returned?" asked his wife in surprise, "You've only spent one year studying with scholars.""I come back because I missed you very much."
Without saying anything, his wife took a pair of scissors and went to the loom at which she had worked. Pointing at the half done brocade, she proclaimed : "This brocade is woven from the finest silk. I wove one strand after another to produce the brocade. Now if I cut it, all my previous work will be wasted. It's the same with your studies. You can acquire knowledge only through diligence. Now, you've stopped halfway. Isn't it the same as cutting the brocade on the loom?"　　 
Yue Yangzi was moved by what she said. He again left home to visit scholars. Several years later he became a learned man.

Have a lovely weekend!

Week 4 (Wednesday Class) Family Tree 家族树

Well I hope not all the family trees are as complex as this one. This week we had fun finding out all the different names of the immediate and extended family members. Don't be surprise if your children get a little bewildered with the intertwine web of Chinese family tree. They all enjoyed watching the short video clip about Chinese family tree, it was very funny!

Today's sentence focus is 都是 (Dōu shì) meaning all are. Example of using 都是 - 
我的哥哥，姐姐和我都是爸妈的孩子 My brother, sister and I are all my parents children.
We have sent home a small assignment of drafting out the family tree. I have requested a simple version to begin with which should include immediate family, as well as grandparents from both mum band dad's side. I hope you enjoy helping them in the process. A copy of the worksheet can be found here. Please also practice reading on page 4 of the text book. Have a good week!

Week 3 More About Chinese New Year 十二生肖

This week we explored a little more on Chinese new year by looking at the Chinese Zodiac (十二生肖). Children were ask to work out their sign from their birth year. We also talked about the great animal race where the sequence of the signs are determined, as well as characteristic of each sign. The sentence focus for the week is "My Chinese Zodiac is..." "我的生肖是.."

We also had a chance to do some Chinese calligraphy where the children produce some beautiful Chinese Couplet (对联). Here are some highlight from class:

Week 2 Chinese New Year 新年

This week we learnt about Chinese New Year and the associated food and rituals. Chinese New Year is the biggest holiday celebrated among Chinese people. It is often referred to as the spring festival 春节 (Chūnjié) because it signals the beginning of spring. It is a time when families and friends get together to farewell to the old and welcome the new. The celebration ends on the 15th day on the lunar calendar, which is also call 元宵节  (Yuánxiāo Jié) 

Though reading the story of 年 Nián monster, we know that red colour decoration and clothing, as well as loud noises such as firecrackers will ward off nian monster

We made a Chinese New Year blessing Door Sticker with 福 (Fú) character, which symbolises the arrival of luck.

We also learnt a Chinese New year song 恭喜恭喜 (gōngxǐ gōngxǐ ), an auspicious greeting during Chinese new year, literally means congratulations. Here is the lyrics

恭喜恭喜

每条大街小巷,

                                                   Měi   tiáo      dà     jiē     xiǎo  xiàng

每个人的嘴里,

                                                   Měi     gè     rén    de     zuǐ     lǐ

见面第一句话,

                                                     Jiànmiàn    dì       yī       jù     huà

就是恭喜恭喜,

                                                       Jiùshì       gōngxǐ        gōngxǐ

恭喜恭喜恭喜你呀,

                                              Gōngxǐ      gōngxǐ        gōngxǐ       nǐ     ya

恭喜恭喜恭喜你

                                                    Gōngxǐ        gōngxǐ        gōngxǐ      nǐ

You can sing along here

Happy Chinese New Year! 新年快乐!

Week 1 School Holiday 学校假期我去了...

Welcome back everyone! It looks like we all had a well earned break and are happy to be back at school for more learning. Our focus of the week is primarily on school holiday and what the children have done over the school holiday.

School Holiday 学校假期 (Xuéxiào jiàqī)
Sentence structure - 学校假期我去了... (During the school holiday, I went to...)

• Holidaying 旅行 Lǚ xíng
• Camping 露营 Lù yíng
• The Beach 海滩  Hǎi tān
• Picnic 野餐  Yě cān
• Play Soccer 踢足球 Tī  zú qiú
• Cruise Ship 游轮 Yóu lún
• Surfing 冲浪 Chōnglàng
• Play Tennis 打网球 Dǎ wǎng qiú
• Learn to paint 学画画  Xué huà huà

You can download the worksheet containing all the possible holiday activities here
Here is the writing worksheet with stroke order. You could also find it here

Writing Worksheet