Mandarin Question-Word Cube

Question words. They are a common hangup in our weekly Mandarin lessons, causing the girls confusion and frustration as they mix up the meanings of the words. 
For example, last week we were deep in the middle of story creation when I asked the question, "为什么?" (Wèishénme? Why?) The blank expression on their faces informed me that they didn't understand the question. 
"Okay," I took a step back, "What does 'wèishénme?' mean?"
"Who?" "What?"  They guessed. 
We run into this problem more often than not when we encounter a question word. To help with this problem, I thought that we needed a visual: a question-word cube. 

Our question-word cube after being sat on

What's a question-word cube? Glad you asked! A question word cube is a cube (haha!) with Mandarin question words and translations written on each face of the cube. It can be manipulated when the girls need a quick memory jog and used to help generate new stories and sentences (more on that later). 

How to make your very own Mandarin question-word cube: 
1. Brainstorm a list of Mandarin question words that you use in lessons OR copy some words from this list. Yes, there are more than six question words in Mandarin so maybe pick the words that need the most practice or make two cubes with different words on each.

2. Print out a die template. Download a free template from First Palette or another website. There are lots of options out there! Print out your template (card stock works best) and write a Mandarin question word/pinyin/translation on each face of the cube. If you're new to writing Chinese characters, you can look up characters and view animated stroke order at Yellow Bridge.
Easy Peasy! 
Now, how will we use this cube in our Mandarin lessons? More on that later...


What tools do you use to learn new Mandarin words? 

Mandarin Adjective Match It

The big kids have started a new unit on adjectives. We're moving beyond dà (大, big) and xiǎo (小, small), to words like thick and thin (hòu, 厚; báo, 薄), short and tall (Ǎi, 矮; gāo, 高), heavy and light (zhòng, 重; qīng, 轻). 
To help the girls learn this new vocab, I found a game called Adjective Match It on Busyteacher.org. It's designed for the ESL classroom, but I thought it would be great for helping the girls become more familiar with our new set of Mandarin adjectives. 

A bit like Gin Rummy, the goal of Mandarin Adjective Match It is to collect four adjective cards that best describe the selected picture card.

Prep:

• Make a set of flashcards for the adjectives you'll be introducing. I printed out some fabulous images of Mandarin adjectives from Mandarin Chinese from Scratch (here, here, here, and here).

These images are shared under a post about antonyms so not all are adjectives. They print out in pairs so I cut each card down the center to make smallish rectangular cards. I also made some adjective cards of my own to supplement. 

• Cut out from magazines or print from internet 4-5 pictures that can be described using a variety of the adjective cards. You can use anything really. I looked for pictures that included more than one person, animal or object. 
• Shuffle the adjective card deck and deal four cards to each player. Don't forget to count in Mandarin!
• Place the remainder of the adjective card deck face down in the center of the table.
• Choose a card from the image pile and place it face up on the table.

How to play:

1. Player 1 discards one adjective card from her hand, the one that least describes the chosen image card, and draws a new adjective card from the deck. 
2. Player 2 does the same. 
3. Play continues until one of the players has four adjective cards that describe the image card and declares "Wǒ yíngle" (我赢了, I won!)
4. Play 1 round or 20!

The Challenge:

Once your Mandarin students become familiar with the new adjective vocab, add another level of difficulty by requiring them to "make a case" for each of their winning adjectives.

For example, one of the girls won a round by using the adjectives "heavy" "wet" "tall" and "thick" to describe this picture    ----->
She said, "Shítou hěn yìng, yě hòu. Kōngqì hěn shī. Nánrén gāo." (石头很重，也厚。空气 很湿。 男人高." The rock is very hard and thick. The air is wet. The man is tall.) 
As long as they tried to explain their "win" (perfect grammar not necessary!), I let them keep the win: they held on to the picture card. 

How do you use games to practice new vocab?

3 FUN! Activities and Games Using Flashcards in Mandarin Learning

Let me start by saying that I've never been a fan of flash cards as a tool for learning Mandarin. They bring back memories of hours and hours spent falling asleep... ...er...memorizing Mandarin vocab as a student. I'm sure I benefited in some way from my flashcards, but they did not engage me in learning Mandarin the creative and active way I want my kids to learn. 
So lately, I've been re-thinking flash cards, using them as a jumping off point for active and creative language learning. 
I downloaded this set of action word flashcards from Teachers pay Teachers in effort to expand our verb vocabulary this fall. I liked the cute illustrations on the cards and that they included pinyin (they didn't include the often-used verb-object combinations though, so I wrote on them).
Each week, I've used this set of action cards in a different activity or game. Now that the girls are familiar with most of the vocab, I'm adding my own winter activity verb-object flashcards to the deck (Click here to download). 
Read on for 3 fun activities and games that use flashcards in Mandarin language learning. 

1-2-3 At a Time

This is a great game to play immediately after introducing a set of 10-12 new verbs. It's an active game for 2 or more players, which can result in fits of giggles. 

1. Introduce a set of 10-12 verbs to your students. Have your students repeat the word in Mandarin after you, while simultaneously performing the action you've selected for the verb. 
2. Once you have gone through the set, place the verb cards face down in a pile.
3. Choose someone to be the first "actor." Have them choose a card from the deck, and perform the action that goes along with the card they have chosen for the rest of the students, "the audience." 
4. The "actor" must continue to perform the action until the "audience" yells out the correct Mandarin word that matches the action.
5. Switch "actors" and repeat the process.

Challenge: When your students become familiar with the deck of cards, challenge them by asking the actors to choose 2 cards (and perform 2 actions at a time) until the audience guesses both actions. If this is still too easy, try 3 cards (3 actions). The silliness of performing 2 or more actions at the same time (e.g. singing while drinking water) will make this game a hit with your kids and make the vocab stick in their brains!

Memory Match

This is another great way to reinforce new Mandarin vocabulary. Play this game just like the well-known childhood game, except you'll be matching the pinyin action card to its corresponding English card. 

Tips: 

• Start with a small stack of new vocab (6-10 action cards and their matches). When your students become familiar with these cards, add in a few extra sets of matching cards. 
• Each time your student takes a turn, encourage them to say the Mandarin word they choose out loud as a way to familiarize themselves with pronunciation. 

Sentence Generator

I came up with this activity after noticing that the girls, although familiar with the vocab we had been studying, were struggling to use the new words in sentences they generated by themselves. I decide to use the action flashcards as our "word bank" for a question and answer pattern we were practicing. 

• We placed the action flashcards face down in a pile, our "word bank.
• The "asker" chose an action card from the pile and used it in the sentence pattern we were practicing,  “你什么时候 (insert verb from card)?” (When do you ____? Nǐ shénme shíhòu
  ?)
• The "answerer" responded with a truthful answer, or when they got stuck, we broke out another stack of time flashcards and used them to help generate a response. 

That's just a snapshot of how we've been using flashcards lately. I'd love to know how you use flashcards in Mandarin language activities and games!

Mandarin Winter Verb-Object Flashcards

Hi all!
I'm working on a new post on FUN! activities and games for incorporating Mandarin language flashcards into lessons. 
While I'm hard at work, I'd like to share a free flashcard printable with you...just in time for winter! 

Click here to download
I've included both pinyin and Chinese characters for 9 Mandarin verb-object combinations related to winter activities. 
Print on 2 pages to keep the illustration and translation on separate cards or print 2-sided if you want the translation to appear on the opposite side. 

Enjoy!

Learning Mandarin with Dry Erase Tape Magnet Board: Part 2

October flew by! And although we met for Mandarin class, I ran out of time to share what and how we learned---So sorry!
Since my last post, we have used the dry erase magnet boards a lot. At some point, I decided that we needed more writing space on the cookie sheet so I flipped the pan over and covered the backside with dry erase tape.  
Now we have the best of both worlds: magnetic and dry erase!

So how are using these fabulous dry erase tape magnet boards to learn Mandarin?  I adapted an activity from a few weeks back (which I will call "Fix the Silly Mistake") to reinforce some new time words I had introduced.

How we played "Fix the Silly Mistake" 1. I wrote 3 sentences on the white board that were mostly correct, except for one word per sentence. This one word (written on a magnet) made the sentence false (and very silly).
For example, on the tray pictured above I wrote: -Dog was 1 year old last year. (The dog in question was born 6 weeks ago) -Girl A wants to go to France next year.  (A was hoping to go to France this year) -Girl L went to China this year.  (L went to China last year)
Okay, so maybe these sentences don't sound very silly here, but trust me, the girls were laughing!
2. The girls first read the sentences: identifying and looking up any characters they did not remember, and translating the sentences to English to double check their comprehension.
3. Then, they discussed how to correct the sentence, and rearranged the magnet words so that the sentences read correctly. 
4. Last, they took turns reading the corrected sentence out loud in Mandarin and saying the English translation again to double check.
**More advanced Mandarin language students may not need this translating step, but the girls needed this extra step to reinforce their comprehension.

The take-away: We love the flexibility of the dry erase tape magnet board, providing endless possibilities for language learning. I love that it's small and portable too, great for our small house where language learning must be cleaned up to make space for dinner.
What are your "go to" tools for language learning? 

Memory Match with Chinese Characters

I am always on the lookout for fun and simple ways to review the Chinese characters we learn each week. After a few months, the number of characters start to add up and without the review, they quickly become forgotten.
Here is one easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy (as my kids would say) way to review Chinese characters. 

How to play: 

1. Type up and print out the Chinese characters you have been learning. Use font that is large (I used 60 pt) and easy to ready (I used Hannotate SC because it looks like the characters are handwritten). 
2. Draw their picture match, or if you are artistically-challenged (like me=) print out clip art.
3. Gluestick characters and pictures on to cardstock squares or love the earth and re-use cards from an old memory match game.

OR 

1. Forget steps 1-3 and print out this set:

• 
  
• 
  
• 
  

Helpful hints: 

• If you want to review Chinese characters that are not simple pictographs, match Chinese characters with their English translations. 
• Start small. (My K-2 kids match 10 characters-20 cards total, at the end of each 6-week class.) Once they master a few, add to it. It will be a great way to reinforce their character recognition. 

Why this works: 

• My kids (and probably yours too) have been playing this game since they were little tykes. They know the rules and are able to easily adapt to playing with Chinese characters.
• It's flexible: Play as a group or individually. Play with 10 cards or 100. Change the characters on the cards as your kids' character memory bank grows.

How do you review Chinese characters in your home? 

HedBanz! Learn Mandarin by Playing Board Games

A few weeks ago, we discovered that the game HedBanz (by Spin Master Games) is a great way to practice asking questions in Mandarin. 
We had been studying question patterns like these:
你是不是 green olive?            Nǐ shìbùshì green olive?                                                 Are you or are you not a green olive?
你喜不喜欢吃 green olives?   Nǐ xǐbùxǐhuān chī green olives?                                                 Do you like or not like to eat green olives?
你有没有 green olives?          Nǐ yǒuméiyǒu green olives?                                                  Do you have or not have green olives?

Click here to read more about how to ask affirmative-negative questions in Mandarin.
So what does this have to do with playing Hedbanz? 

This is how we played:

The kids asked questions about the card on their headband, as if they were playing the game by the original rules. But instead of asking questions in English, they practiced their new, fancy affirmative-negative questions patterns, and asked questions like this: 

• 我是不是 mammal?    Wǒ shìbùshì mammal?     Am I or am I not a mammal?
• 我喜不喜欢跑步？      Wǒ xǐbùxǐhuān pǎobù？   Do I like or not like running?
• 我有没有尾巴？          Wǒ yǒuméiyǒu wěibā？    Do I have or not have a tail?

They swapped in English words for any they did not know how to say in Mandarin, which was absolutely fine with me because the point of the game was to get them comfortable with asking these types of questions. 

Our one round lasted a good 15 minutes, which was slower than if we had played the game in English. It took time for them to think about how to say what they wanted to say in Mandarin, but they did not lose interest in the game. In fact, when I suggested stopping, they pleaded, "Just one more question!" 

We will definitely revisit this game when we need to review this question pattern or whenever we need a fun warm-up/change of pace. 

What games to you play to practice your mad Mandarin skills?