Saturday, March 9, 2019

What is Mid-Autumn Festival?

中秋节  (zhong qiu jie

What and When is Mid-Autumn Festival?

The joyous Mid-Autumn Festival was celebrated on the fifteenth day of the eighth moon, around the time of the autumn equinox. According to the lunar year, Mid-Autumn festival of 2012 year is TODAY, Sept 30th.





This day was also considered as a harvest festival since fruits, vegetables and grain had been harvested by this time and food was abundant. Food offerings were placed on an altar set up in the courtyard. 


Why do we celebrate it? 
There is a beautiful story behind this festival. 


What is moon cake? 
We LOVE to have moon cakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival. It has always been a child's sweetest dream when celebrating it. For generations, moon cakes have been made with sweet fillings of nuts, mashed red beans, lotus-seed paste or Chinese dates wrapped in a pastry. Sometimes a cooked egg yolk can be found in the middle of the rich tasting dessert. Nowadays, there are hundreds varieties of moon cakes on sale a month before the arrival of Moon Festival. 

BTW, I found them sold in COSTCO around every September.  Four moon cakes in one box. 



1st Grade numbers and body parts


Numbers
• 1-10 and gestures in China 
    It is different to do 1-10  using one hand in China than in US.
    Yes, just one hand to do all numbers! 

 Watch the video below and find out how to do that! 



Body Parts

 Head 头 (tou)
 Mouth 嘴巴 (zui ba)
 Shoulders 肩膀 (jian bang)
 Nose 鼻子 (bi zi)
 Knees 膝盖 (jian bang )
• Feet 脚 (jiao)
• Arms 胳膊 (ge bo)
 Eyes 眼睛 (yan jing)
 Ears 耳朵 (er duo) 

And we also learning the body parts song. It is so fun to sing this song and dance to point to our body parts.  Check it out on youtube:















Two videos worth watching

I watched these two videos during the summer teacher workshop and found them worth watching. One is about 'hard work' and the other one is about 'focus.' In Chinese classroom, it is so important to work hard and focus to help all the student succeed.




Three Chinese Learning Apps


Last year, 2nd grade students tried an app called 'Fun Chinese' on Ipads during April. This app functions properly and has five units. The first one 'color' is free and 2nd grade students played two games 'memory' and 'bubble' in this unit. They loved these games!

I also found the other two apps that can help student to learn Chinese at home. Here is the comparison of these three games. Please take a look at it and try them if you are interested. I would love to hear all of your opinions about them!


Comparison of Three Game-Based Chinese learning Apps


The Name of App
1.   Rick & Jacky

2.Fun Chinese


3.   KidslearnMandarin


For Iphone or Ipad?
This app is designed for both Iphone and Ipad.

This app is designed for both Iphone and Ipad.

This app is designed for both Iphone and Ipad.

Brief Description
Ricki & Jacky combines Chinese learning with fun and engaging games. You will help Ricki to practice Chinese by interacting with the animations on the screen to follow Jacky’s instructions.
Mandarin Chinese Learning Games for Kids. Educational activities teach kids to read, speak & spell.
The Full Kids Learn Mandarin Game is a comprehensive and curricular approach to kids' Chinese learning, teaching over 240 Mandarin words through playful and progressive games and activities.
Units taught in App
Emotions
Hobbies
Colors
Fruits
Places
Color
Animals

Numbers

Vehicles

The House
Numbers
Colors & Shapes 

Animals

Fruit & Vegetables

Family & Occupation
• Body Parts

Clothes

Toys & Transport

Sport & Hobbies

Things at Home

Eating & Drinking

Nature & Outdoors

Fee
Color unit is free.
The rest of units are charged.
Color unit is free.
The rest of units are charged.
Number unit is free.
The rest of units are charged.
Features
- Five unique games with        interactive gameplays.

- Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese are available for users.

- Provides Pinyin and English to assist in learning Chinese.

- Motivating progressive reward system.

- Colorful, vivid images and animations
- 6 or more unique games in each fun-packed lesson.

-Original music, songs, sound effects and beautiful cartoon artwork

-Engaging learning games will keep your child entertained as they learn
- A Shared Family Account makes it easy for kids and parents to share a device and allows parents to track the game play and learning of multiple children under a single account.


- In-App messaging lets children and parents to send one another fun and encouraging messages.
 

- A curated Game Catalog suggests new Apps based on your child's interests and learning levels.



Greetings, self introductions, days of week, and weather

Since the very begging of school year, students get to know the routine of Chinese class. First part of class includes:


Students will know:
Greetings 

Hello 你好 /您 好 (ni hao)
Thank you 谢谢 (xie xie)
You are welcome 不客气 (bu ke qi)

Good morning 早上好 (zao shang hao)
Good afternoon 下午 (xia wu hao)
•  See you tomorrow 明天见 (ming tian jian)
•  Goodbye 再见 (zai jian)

How are you? 你好吗? (ni hao ma)
And you 你呢? ni ne
Tired 累 (lei)
So-so 马马虎虎  (mama huhu)
Not so well 不太好 (bu tai hao)
Well 很好(hen hao)
•  Sad 难过 (nan guo)
•  Sick 病了(bing le)


Introductions
What's your name? My name is⋯.你叫什么名字? (ni jiao shen me ming zi)我叫。(wo jiao....)
How old are you?  I _years old. 你几岁?(ni ji sui) 我___岁(wo .... sui)
I am ⋯⋯我是 (wo shi)
Numbers 7(qi) and 8(ba)





Days of the week, months and seasons

•What's the day today? 今天是几月几日?(jin tian shi ji yue ji ri)
•Today is 今(jin)天(tian)是(shi) 
• Year 年(nian)
• Month 月(yue)
• Day 日(ri)
• Monday to Sunday 星(xing)期(qi)

Weather 
• How is the weather today?  今天的天气怎么样?(Jin tian de tian qi zen me yang?) 
•  Sunny 晴(qing)天(tian)
•  Rain 下(xia)雨(yu)
•  Cloudy 多(duo)云(yun); 阴(yin)天(tian)
•  Snowy 下(xia)雪(xue)
•  windy 刮(gua)风(feng)






Welcome! 欢迎!


Nihao! 你好! 

Welcome to my Grade 1-4 Mandarin class at Driscoll! Usually I send home students' work and letters to explain their work and performance in my Chinese class. I also want to take the blog as a platform to update what is going on in school and give more resource to support parents and students at home.  

First, I would like to take this opportunity to briefly introduce myself. My name is Wan Wang. Students call me ‘Wang Laoshi’, which means ‘teacher Wang’ in English. I graduated from Huazhong Normal University in China with a bachelor degree in Pedagogy. I did my student teaching at a local school, where I taught 3rd grade students Mandarin. Then I came to US to pursue a master degree of Special Education at Boston College from 2008-2010. After graduating, I taught at a Chinese Immersion Charter School in Amherst, Massachusetts, where I taught Massachusetts curriculum, including math, science, and Mandarin, all in Mandarin for two years.  Then I moved back to Boston and joined Driscoll School since 2012. Currently, I am teaching grade 1 to 4. 

If you should have questions  about Chinese program through the school year, please contact me via email wwang@psbma.org.