order

Today we began writing characters. The right way.

In Chinese, there is a very particular way to write each character. This is referred to as "stroke order". After time, it becomes habit, much like writing in English.

I'll be sending home some practice pages for them to work on. If you just follow the numbered arrows, you can help them know in which order to make the different strokes.

Today we worked on 

我 wo (me or I)

and 

 你 ni (you)

A great website for looking up stroke order is

http://www.nciku.com 

You can look up any word, then click on stroke order to see an animation of how to write that character.

We also began exploring basic shapes. The names of the shapes will be on next week's vocabulary list. 

Thank you to all the volunteers today! It really does help so much. The kids are much more able to focus and hence get a lot more out of smaller group activites, so really, thanks!

In one of the small groups, they reviewed simple phrases by looking at little books and saying them aloud.

Ni hao

xie xie

bu ke qi (that's fine/you're welcome)

dui bu qi( sorry)

mei guan xi (it's okay)

jia you (go! come on!)

We learned a new song about little chinese lanterns and counting

xiao deng long (little lantern) gao gao gua (hung up high)

yi er san si wu liu qi, yi er san si wu liu qi ba jiu shi,

yi er san si wu liu qi  (counting)

Sung to the tune of  "I love you, you love me" (made quite famous by a one purple dinosaur)

In the morning class we worked some more with the phrase "wo xi huan" = I like, and graphed who like different hobbies.

In the afternoon class, we had guests from China come for a special visit and answer questions. The kids seemed to really like talking to "real Chinese people". Many hadn't thought that people from other countries have to learn English when they come here, or realized how far away China is and that there are really people all over the world that speak Chinese.

I like

The focus for the day was "I like" and "I don't like".

Wo (I) xihuan= I like

Wo (I)  bu xi huan= I don't like

Bu is the negator of any statement. (Remember bu yao?)

The xi part is a low tone and the huan is high.

We introduced two fruits, apple (ping guo) and banana (xiang jiao). In Chinese the adjective is linked to the noun by adding a "de". So to say a red apple, you would say hong se de ping guo. Yellow banana is huang se de xiang jiao. 

Reminder that the fundraiser ends tomorrow, so all books and forms need to be in.

numbers

Today was all about associating numbers with the groups of objects they represent. Most of the class seems to feel pretty comfortable with both the chinese character for each number 1-10 as well as the numeral, though there are quite a few that need help remembering exactly how to write the numeral. (backwards 4's, 6's 7's etc)

One thing your child has heard a lot by now but never had explicitly explained is the phrase "zhe shi shenme?" It literally means " this is what?" and is used when you point to something, like maybe a color, and ask zhe shi shenme? (Remember the shi sounds more like shr) 

You can use this to quiz vocabulary. Colors and numbers especially at this point. Point to a seven and ask "zhe shi shenme?" They should be able to tell you in Chinese.

If you want to ask them about family members you can use a similar phrase "zhe (this) shi (is) shei (who)?"

The shei sounds like shay. 

A short vocabulary list will be sent home tomorrow, so ask about it and try to help them review these words.

today is.....

We're trying to get the concept of saying the date. In Chinese it is said

"jin tian shi"_____ = today is____

So today we said:

Jin tian shi jiu yue (September), san hao (third day), er ling ling jiu nian (2009 year)

We graphed numbers up to ten to start to see the relationships between them. Encourage your children to count everything they can and talk to them about more and less (ex. you have three cars. Is that more or less than your brother who has two)

Splitting up groups of things into smaller groups will also help them see number combinations and help them with addition and subtraction. You can ask then to see how many ways they can split things up (ten fruit snacks total can be split  into two groups how many different ways).

 And these are just suggestions if you get a chance, don't feel like you need to do all of them:)

Also here's some websites if you're wondering how to pronounce these strange letter combinations you're now seeing......

http://mandarin.about.com/od/pronunciation/l/blsounds.htm   Basic pronunciation 

http://www.languageguide.org/mandarin/    Listen to vocabulary

http://mandarin.about.com/od/pronunciation/a/tones.htm  Tone practice

There is so much (good and bad) out there to help with Chinese.  I'll keep looking and posting things as I find them. If you come across something great, post it one here so all can know.

I'm working on getting some sort of recording that I can send home so you can listen to the vocabulary.

9/2/09

We're working on the concepts of days, weeks, and months, which is actually a pretty hard-to-grasp concept for many first graders.  In Chinese, the word for month is "yue".  And being the very logical language that it is, the names of the months are just a number followed by "yue".

Example:

January is yi yue (first month)

February is er yue(second month)

March is san yue (third month)

and so on.

So it actually helps the child convert easily to the 9/2/09 form of writing the date, while helping with number sense and understanding  more clearly the sequence of the year as well.

 In math we've continued looking at patterns, and made our own with two colors. We'll be expanding from AB patterns to ABB and ABC tomorrow. 

We began learning parts of the body, beginning with the face.

Today's vocab:

Eyes: yan jing

Ears: er duo

Mouth: zui ba

Hair: tou fa

Nose: bi zi

and the verbs that go with them:

see/look : kan

hear: ting

talk: jiang

nose: wen 

We drew self portraits and labelled the above parts.  We'll keep working with the verbs tomorrow. 

You can encourage them to say "wo yao" (I need/I want/ I have to) for things like

-wo yao wash my hands

-wo yao he shui (I need to drink water)

-wo yao qu cesuo (I need to go to the bathroom)

-wo yao go to bed

9/1/09

Today we began talking about patterns. Most were very quick to pick up on the patterns they saw, so keep encouraging them to find, notice, and create patterns with the things they see and use every day.

One concept that was a little hard to get across without speaking English is "dong" or "bu dong". which means understand, or not understand. If you get a chance, talk about this with your child. In class, I want to ask if they "dong" after I explain things. If they do, they'll give a thumbs up and say "dong" . If they're still confused, a thumbs down with a "bu dong".

Beginning next week, I'll send home a list of vocabulary we're using in class that you can practice with your child. They don't have to memorize the list, but it will help you be aware of the sounds you might be hearing and encourage them when they make them.

One little issue we have been having is using the bathrooms too frequently beginning right when school starts. Because it's first grade, I don't want to risk an accident, but it's disruptive of their learning. So if at all possible, try to have them go right before they come so we can make it at least 20 minutes without one having to leave the classroom:) 

Thanks to all the volunteers! And if there is anyone with a child in my afternoon class that can come in the afternoons, we could definitely use your help:)

One other thing. We went to library for the first time today, so you should see a white note from the librarian that needs t be signed and returned to me by next tuesday at the latest. Thanks!

 p.s. You might be interested.....

 

TAIWANESE ART & FILM FESTIVAL 

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18TH, 2009 

UTAH CULTURAL CELEBRATION CENTER 

1355 West 3100 South, West Valley City, Utah 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RECEPTION:  6:00 – 7:00 P.M. 

Hors d’ oeuvres & Refreshments 

Featuring the Utah Chinese Folk Orchestra 

  

Hosted by: 

Salt Lake County Mayor PETER M. CORROON 

West Valley City Mayor Pro-tem RUSS BROOKS 

Salt Lake City Councilman CARLTON CHRISTENSEN 

 Director General THOMAS CHEN, Taipei Economic & Cultural Office in San Francisco 

 

 

 

 

 

FILM SCHEDULE: 

10:30 A.M. - Noon  “GRANDMA’S HAIRPIN”   Documentary 

12:20 P.M. - 1:10 A.M. “ELEPHANT BOY and ROBOGIRL” Documentary 

1:30 P.M. - 3:10 P.M.   “SUMMER’S TAIL”    Feature film 

3:30 P.M. – 5:35 P.M.  “FOR MORE SUN”    Documentary 

7:45 P.M. – 9:20 P.M.           “THE SHOE FAIRY”    Featured film 

WELCOME:  7:00 P.M. 

 

Featuring the 

 

Sil Lum Kung Fu Kwoon Performing Arts Group 

 

   Salt Lake Chinese Choir 

ALL EVENTS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC