"The Weather Today is Not So Good" Song and Game

After our first lesson on weather, I began looking for a catchy way to practice our new weather vocab, plus review/reinforce some other words we've been working on.
The sentence "Jīntiān de tiānqì bú tài hǎo" (The weather today is not so good) got stuck in my head, and after mumbling through it a few times, I realized that it would work well sung to the tune of "The Wheels on the Bus." 
After a little caffeine (i love my java) & creative brainstorming, a Mandarin song and game about the weather was born!
First, the song: Sung to "The Wheels on the Bus." It's a super catchy tune, one you've probably sung a million times between storytimes and preschool with your little ones. 
Here are the lyrics (download pdf here):

-->To intro the song, I first read the text out loud, asking the girls to highlight any words they didn't recognize.
-->Then, we read it out loud together, translating the text line by line.
-->Next, we sang it together.
Now, for the game!

What you'll need: 

•       "Jīntiān de tiānqì bú tài hǎo" song lyrics
•       weather and food cards (click here to download)

How to Play:

1. Sing through the song. After singing "wèishénme?," point to a player. 
2. This player turns over a weather card and answers in Mandarin, "Jīntiān lěng" (or Today is cold) 
3. Repeat the process until everyone has had a turn. 

**The girls had recently learned the word "yīnwèi" (because), so they began their answer with "yīnwèi" and then filled in the weather condition.
**To make it more challenging, I threw in other weather conditions (Hěn lěng--very cold, and Bú tài rè--not too hot, Xià dàyǔ--heavy rain)


Now, the silly part: 

• To switch things up, I introduced the stack of food cards. 
• This time through, after we sang through the song, and asked "wèishénme?" whoever was it, turned over one card from each pile.
• Instead of answering in Mandarin, the kiddo translated the weather card into English and combined it with the item on the food card to create a funny weather condition (i.e. it's snowing pancakes)

**This takes a little imagination, but it really stretched their "translating" muscles and made them giggle. 
What songs have you created to help you learn and/or teach Mandarin? 

Dressed for the Weather Mandarin Language Game

We're starting a new unit on weather, which could be a really boring topic to a kid...But we're having lots of fun with it, and I can't wait to share what we've been up to.    Last week,  I introduced 4 new weather-related vocab and related hand motions--we use hand motions as a memory tool.

After going over the new vocab and hand motions, we ran outside to practice (listening comprehension) the weather words with a twist on a dress-up relay race, which I call "Dressed for the Weather."  Here's how to play this game at your house.

What you will need: * index cards with weather vocab written on it. Click here to download.

* basket/laundry basket filled with weather-related apparel (umbrellas, sunglasses, flip flops, snow boots, hats, scarves, etc...).

Directions:  1. Fill a large box/laundry basket with clothing items for each type of weather listed on the index cards (umbrellas, sunglasses, flip flops, snow boots, hats, scarves, etc..). Think creatively--the sillier the choice, the more giggles when the game is played!
2. Place the basket at one end of the room/yard. Players line up opposite the basket (you choose the distance). 
3. Read one of the weather vocab cards in Mandarin. If your kids don't recall the English meaning of the vocab, show them the related hand motion. 
4. Players race to the basket and get "dressed for the weather."  If you have a few players and lots of clothing, you can specify that each child must put on 2-3 items. 
5. Once they are dressed, players race back to the starting point, and announce "Hǎole!" (好了), which means "I'm done!"
6. First one back--dressed appropriately for that weather condition--wins that round. 

Notes:

• This game can be played with 2 + people. If you have a group, divide into teams. 
• Play as many rounds as you like.
• Offer incentives for the winners of each round such as letting the winner choose the next weather card.
• Get silly! Combine two different weather conditions. such as cold and rainy (see photo), hot and snowy. This elicited lots of giggles and silly dress-up combinations--which they loved.

What types of activities do you use to reinforce new vocabulary?
 

Mid-Autumn Festival Moon Craft DIY

Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节, Zhōngqiū jié) is tomorrow--Monday, Sept. 8th!  

We like to celebrate this Chinese holiday by reading stories about Chang E and Hou Yi (The kids like the version in Moonbeams, Dumplings, & Dragon Boats best=), nibbling on mooncakes or mooncake cookies, and staying up a little later than usual to gaze at the moon.
This year, I shared about the holiday with Monkey #1's 4th grade class. They listened to a story, nibbled on moon cakes, and learned how to write the character for "moon" (月，yuè).

Click here to download this printable. 
Before sharing with her class, I scoured Pinterest and Google, looking for creative ways for the kids to practice writing this character. 
The criteria were: 

• must be simple (5 or fewer steps; 5 or fewer minutes to complete)
• must use few materials and not be messy 
• and most important of all--must be interesting enough to a 4th grader that it will help them remember how to write the character and what it means. 

And...with 60 minutes left on the clock...this is what I came up with:

Materials:  tracing paper bright card stock or construction paper magic tape big sharpie scissors star stickers (optional) Step 1:   Cut a piece of tracing paper in half or quarters (depending on how large you would like your "window"). My tracing paper was 8X11 so I cut it in quarters to get the most "bang for my buck."
Step 2:  With a thick sharpie, write the Chinese character for moon on it (see above printable for instructions). It can be as large or small as you want.

Step 3: Cut a brightly-colored piece of construction paper or card stock to the same size as your tracing paper. 
Step 4:  Tape the tracing paper to the top of the card stock, using a piece of magic tape.
Step 5: Noting the location of the character, draw a moon with a sharpie on the colored card stock. Your moon can appear behind the entire character (like the one below, left), or just appear in the top half of the character, as if seen through a window (below, right).  And done!

Simple?  Yes! Easy to remember?  Yes! Fun for a 4th grader? Let's just say, the neon paper helped=)

Wishing you a very Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! 中秋节快乐！

Back-To-School Printable: How to Write Numbers 1-10 in Chinese Characters

If you're just joining me here at Monkeys & Mooncakes, Welcome! I'm so glad you're here. Click here to read a little about this blog, or continue reading this post for a great back-to-school printable. 
It's hard to believe that we are already in Week 2 of Back to School! While the big kids are in class (and the little one is napping), I've been working on curriculum for a K-2 Level 1 Mandarin class I'll be teaching later this fall. 
This week I combed the web for character practice printables that showed both stroke order and direction. I was totally surprised when I couldn't find anything that fit the bill, except of course, for some websites that offered printables that I could download for a hefty yearly membership fee--Yikes! The cheapskate in me was not ready for this.  
So, I decided to use my new-found love of Picmonkey and make them myself. And because I want other people to have access to this resource, I am sharing them with you!

Click here to download. 

FAQ

What's included in the printable? 

• 1 practice sheet for each number 1-10.
• Stroke order and direction of the stroke is shown for each character.
• Guide lines are shown to give student a general sense of where to place each stroke.

Why numbers 1-10? 

• With 5 or fewer strokes, these characters are great for beginners. 

Why don't the characters look like Chinese calligraphy?

• This printable is not intended for calligraphy practice. I decided to show Chinese characters as if written with a pencil or marker (like your kiddo or student will be using).  

Why is stroke order and direction important?

• Some people don't think that stroke important is important, as long as you are able to write the character. While this is a valid point, I think that having a standard way of writing each character helps with muscle memory. 

Why are they only black and white? Where's the pizazz?

• I did this so they would be easy (and inexpensive) to print. 

What do you think about this printable? Will you use it in your home or classroom?

Practice Your Chinese Characters! Beach Edition

One of our favorite beach activities is writing in the sand. Names, secret messages, long squiggly lines--there's something just plain fun about a long blank canvas of wet beach sand that resets itself with each crashing wave. 

On a recent beach outing, Monkey #1 and I practiced writing Chinese characters (family names) in the sand. She practiced her Chinese name, 露希 Lùxī--literally "dewdrop, hope", and I practiced her brother's, Cháolì--"tide, encouragement," and sister's, Àilín--"love, heavy rain."  

Monkey #2 would have joined in the fun, but he was too busy throwing his body into the crashing waves--it was a good wave-jumping day. 
Can writing in the sand really be that fun? It was. We had to rush to finish the two characters that made up each name before the waves washed them away, leaving us giggling (because we could never seem to finish them in time) and staring at a wet, blank canvas ready for more sand writing. 

What I love about this activity:

1.  The act of writing Chinese characters in the sand is tactile. You feel each stroke as you carve it in the sand. This repetitive carving process helped the characters "stick" in my memory.
2.  As you write these large characters, you focus on each component of the character.  As I wrote Monkey #3's Chinese name (above, right), I found myself speaking the parts of the characters: hand, roof, friend; rain and forest. This helped me really learn how to write her name (something I should know as her momma=)  

     

3.  It is a challenge! Monkey #1 and I raced against the waves--trying to carve full names before the waves washed them away--and lost almost every time. 

Variations: 

Play with a friend and race the waves. See who can first carve their full name or another set of characters (legibly) before the waves wash them away. 

Which materials work the best? We tried sticks, beach grass, and gnarled roots.

Take photos of the sand characters--turn them into memories to hang in your home. I'm working on this (on the right) because I'm obsessed with beach photography. 

Instead of writing in the sand, form your character with found items from the beach. Monkey #1 used bits of seaweed, beach grass and stones to form the first character of her name.

What Mandarin learning activities are you doing this summer? 

Not your typical Chinese language textbook

Summer has hit, which for us means that my kiddos are taking a well-deserved break from formal Chinese lessons. This also means that I get to start reviewing materials and activities for next year.

One book that I’ve been dying to review is Chineasy: The New Way to Read Chinese by ShaoLan Hsueh, and published by Harper Design (2014). 

This is not your typical Chinese language textbook. It’s not a textbook at all, really, more of an exquisitely beautiful book designed to teach you the meaning of Chinese characters while enchanting you with ingenious to-the-point graphics.

The book is divided into four sections 

1. Where the author introduces herself, her method, and how to use the book
2. This is the main part of the book—where characters are introduced as either building blocks, compounds, phrases, or advanced sentences.
3. The classic story Peter and the Wolf is told using her method of illustrated Chinese characters (my phrase).
4. Reference, where building block plates are listed for quick reference, and Chinese characters and phrases are indexed (by English translation only).

Her Method

If I had to describe ShaoLan’s method, I would call it illustrated Chinese characters. She takes a Chinese radical such as 人 (rén, person--her building block) and then draws an image on or behind it to illustrate the meaning of this character (i.e. 人 is turned into a walking person). 

Then, she shows other characters that make use of this radical, such as 从 (cóng, follow--a compound), and illustrates these characters also to show the new meanings  (从 becomes two walking people).

Instantly, two characters make perfect sense and become easy to remember. This, my friends, is the simple genius of this method.

What I love about this book 

·        ✔ While some of the ideas for these illustrated characters are not new (they pick up on the ancient etymology of the character; for example, 火--huǒ,fire--was once drawn to actually resemble a fire), others are ShaoLan’s own creative inventions. Check out her building block plate for 女 (nǚ, woman).  

     ✔ The graphics themselves, created by the super-talented graphics artist Noma Bar, are beautiful--simple, yet striking, in a happy color scheme. This book could easily be a coffee table book, yet it is better than your average coffee table book, because if you put it out, people will learn something.

✔ Shaolan’s notes on each character are super helpful. She explains the construction of the character and gives cultural insights to the character’s meaning. For example, she explains how the character 羔 (gāo, lamb) is a combination of lamb over a fire, which is how  lamb would be prepared in certain parts of China.  She also includes snappy little phrases that will help you remember characters. For the character 众 (zhòng, crowd): "two’s company, three’s a crowd.” 

How you can use Chineasy

✔  Supplement your daily/weekly lessons. The book is chock-full of ideas for teaching certain characters. A lot of this information is already on the web but this book brings it all together in one place with simple, yet visually appealing color graphics.

✔  Put it out on your coffee table. It’s fun for guests to browse and can be a good conversation starter. And have I mentioned how beautiful these graphic illustrations are? Your guests will be surprised that they will be able to recognize a bunch of Chinese characters in just a few minutes.

✔  Use the accompanying Chineasy website where you can listen to the pronunciation of the characters, watch a TED Talk where ShaoLan describes her method, andsee a video in which Chinese characters are animated and explained.

The bottom line

This is a really great tool for teaching Chinese characters. This likely will not be your only tool because it doesn’t teach all the characters, but its approach is super creative, beautiful, and intuitive. Shaolan, I look forward to Volume 2!

Disclaimer: Neither ShaoLan nor Harper Design gave me anything to endorse their book. My fabulous friend Jill gave it to me because she is just that awesome—thanks, Jill!