Saturday, 28 February 2015

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  (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. 

一 yī
二 èr
三 sān
四 sì
五 wǔ
六 liù
七 qī
八 bā
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!

Wednesday, 25 February 2015

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!






Monday, 23 February 2015

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:










Sunday, 15 February 2015

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  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 (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  xíng
  • Camping 露营 yíng
  • The Beach 海滩  Hǎi tān
  • Picnic 野餐  cān
  • Play Soccer 踢足球  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