Mandarin Journals are Annoying...right?

Yes. I hope your kid is annoying you with the Mandarin Journals nightly. Like Aiden here... Meanwhile, his big brother is quite cooperative.

Week of March 24-28, 2014

SPEAKING
We named our stuff animal friends, gave them birthdays, assigned their favorite and not so favorite foods. We also presented it in front of our friends. This was not as easy as I thought, but the children were able to brainstorm ideas and deliver half if not all of it correctly. As I mentioned in the video homework post, putting words together and speaking is a huge part of language development. Remember four or five years ago when your baby was just learning to speak and you filmed every precious moment? This is it. I know there might be lots of tears due to anxiety, so lots of encouragement will come in handy! 

CHINEASY
If you have not watched TED: Learn to Read Chinese with Ease, you should! 

Blurb from Amazon 

 Learn to read and write Chinese with Chineasy - a groundbreaking approach that transforms key Chinese characters into pictograms for easy recall and comprehension.

Chinese is one of the oldest written languages, and one of the most difficult to master, especially for Westerners. With Chineasy, learning and reading Chinese has never been simpler or more fun. Breaking down the Great Wall of Language, iShaoLan Hsueh draws on her entrepreneurial and cultural background to create a simple system for quickly understanding the basic building blocks of written Chinese. Working with renowned illustrator Noma Bar, she transforms Chinese characters into charming pictograms that are easy to remember.

In Chineasy, she teaches the key characters, called radicals, that are the language’s foundation, and then shows how they can be combined to form new words and even phrases. Once you’ve mastered these key characters, you can practice your skills with three stories—a fairy tale, an Asian legend, and a contemporary fable—told using the radicals.

With Chineasy, readers of all ages will be able to navigate a Chinese menu, read signs and billboards, and grasp the meaning of most articles in a Chinese newspaper. 

Below are just few of the art we have been making. Watching the characters progress is just another creative way to introduce the infamous Chinese characters. I don't think I ever thought the words were pretty until I opened this book. 

MATH
We compared numbers using numerical symbols as well as Mandarin characters. 

|Introducing...| WATCH ALL VIDEOS HERE!

Enjoy!
If you have sent me the Youtube link, it's here! Keep them coming!!
Listening Exercise - We did this in class today and it was very successful. You may have your child translate the videos at home and see what he can comprehend. 

|Project| Due: Friday, 3/28/2014

IMPORTANT UPDATE - A lot of you have expressed concerns and worries regarding this project. It is important to let you know that the purpose of this video is NOT to make every word, every tone, and every phrase perfect. It is simply a practice to put words and phrases together while making sense of them. Please encourage your child to try their best and not be afraid of making mistakes. There will be mistakes, and they are the beauty of the learning process. 

We have been practicing and reciting conversations in class, and now it's the time to put the skills into practice. Over the next few days, your child will be introducing someone, anyone. Mention their name, birthday, and likes/dislikes of foods. That is it. Whatever extra you want to throw in there would be great, but it must have something to do with the person.

E-mail me the video clip by Friday, 3/28. You may choose to post it on your personal youtube page and send me the link IF you want the clip to be shared on the blog.

Get creative. The kids can even talk about someone whom he/she has never met (the president). Holding up a picture while filming would be a plus!

Here is a sample -

他(tā)的(de)名字(míngzì)是 (shì)____________________. His/Her name is_______.

他(tā)的(de)生(shēng)日(rì)是(shì)_____________________. His/Her birthday is_________.

他(tā)喜歡(xǐhuan)吃(chī)____________________, He likes to eat_________.
他(tā)不(bù)喜歡(xǐhuan)吃(chī)_____________. He doesn't like to eat_______. 

PS. In Mandarin, he or she are both called ta (他/她).

Week of March17-21, 2014

Culture plays a big chunk of the Dual Language Immersion Program. Today we watched a video clip on a travel documentary in Taiwan. We focused on three components - Scenery, Food, and Transportation. The children noticed the huge contrast between their environment and that of Taiwanese's. The mountains are very much like the Midwest of the US (although I have never been), but the markets are so different. I have attached the video so you can see it for yourself. 

Below are some observations the children made ... 

 Notice the detailed picture of the market...

Mountains after Mountains, Taxis after Taxis...

 Night Market

              

WATCH | Math Story Problems |

MCCKOA2 : Solve addition and subtraction word problems

Week of March 10-14, 2014

Mandarin Journal has been coming home in the past two weeks and will continue to be sent home until the end of the school year. Students have been learning so many songs and poems, so it's only appropriate for them to read and sing to the words at home. This should be a fun activity to be enjoyed. Please encourage your child to share a new poem he or she has learned. 

Good pre-reading skill - Point at each word as you read! 

Writing - Like and Dislike of a certain weather

 Class Picture

 Mystery Reader with Rick Beato

 Girls building a nest on this beautiful Friday!

Thanks Mrs. Boyanton for donating your time, energy, talent, and supplies for the project! Thanks Joe Lane for building the tables. Thank you for all the parents who donated the metersticks! Can't wait to see the final product!!