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Bringing Chinese HomeIntroductionBasic, even if small, foundation in understanding Chinese gives parents confidenceLots that parents can and should do to help their children with Chinese.Learn PinyinBe able to follow along as child reads

Get character AND character/pinyin versions of classroom fluency practices

Read pinyin to sing songs together

Pinyin is the standard romanization system used for Mandarin3Happy Birthday To You

No tones needed when singing!

zhu ni sheng ri kuai le (repeat 4x)

Literally:Wish you birth/lifedayhappy

When spoken, add tones: zh n shng r kui l

https://chinese.yabla.com/chinese-pinyin-chart.phpComplete list of all Pinyin sounds5 nio do sh doBird Island is an island; nio do yu nioBird Island has birds. nio do de nio du de sh b qng leThe birds on Bird Island are countless. yo xing do nio doIf you wish to go to Bird Island, y dng yo i nioyou must love birds. n b i xio nioIf you don't love small birds, ji bi do nio dodon't go to Bird Island.

Tongue Twister Pinyin Read-a-long Practice6Decoding CharactersSome characters are based on drawings or concepts

Above: turtle, mountain, fireup, downRight: door/gateDecoding CharactersCharacters are usually combinations:Two drawings or two meanings...

Characters are likely a Sound/Meaning combination

Ex: Have the sound gu from their part:

=roof + pig = home/family = roof +cow = pen/prison = sun+moon= bright, light =wood+wood+wood =forest

Decode characters togetherAsk, What is the bushou? (b shu Radical)

The radical meaning woman is in words for mother , marry , little sister , good

Others: eye, water, power, knife, insect, dry, hand, spear, fire, ice, field, heart, mouth, sickness, silk...

9Examples from characters with part for sound gu

With radical for woman = paternal auntWith radical for enclosure = solid With radical for insect = mole cricketWith radical for gold [metal] = cobalt

From Characters, Build WordsCompound words make sense!

electric-brain, electric-vision, electric-talk

These have fire in the word: train, match, volcano, very mad, turkey, rocket, Mars

electric-brain = computer, electric-vision = television, electric-talk= telephonetrain = fire-vehicle; match = fire-kindling; volcano=fire-mountain; very mad= fire-big; turkey= fire-chicken; rocket=fire-arrow; Mars = fire-star11Decode Characters and Words Use the clues(pictures, sound parts, bushou/radical, etc.)

Encourage guessing

Master dictionary skills

12Sample questions to prompt guessing strategies

Could the character be a picture?Do you recognize any pieces of it?What sound does that piece have?Do you know any words with that sound?What is the bushou?Push writing practiceGet stroke order right from the start

Practice calligraphy(water only version or real ink)

Download practice apps

Feel the characters: wax sticks creations, sand, soap lather, back scratches

14Know Strokes

Have a common language to use to describe the [basically only] eight kinds of strokes15Goal: be able to see characters well enough to recognize its match, to make sure are looking up the right character16Reinforce charactersUse games:Speed drills --how many in a minuteStroke countdown--guess in as few strokes as possibleGame apps

Watch online animations

Invent zany character stories and mnemonics

17Read.End your print desert

Use technology: Toggle between languages, pinyin/characters, sound/mute

More than books: subtitles, menus, signs, tongue twisters...(e.g. concert DVD, exercise video, food packaging, online chats)

Move up: Add idioms; recognize trad. characters18More on reading:Read to get more contextGet in Chinese reading habit from startCheck out area librariesTry graphic novelsMove beyond baby level books, though hard to match reading level to age/English reading level

Share! Borrow!Join groups; follow blogse.g. Mandarin Immersion Parents Council and Elizabeth Weise: look at their Resources lists

Share great finds

Examples of efforts: peer reading groups, online chats in Chinese, Chinese-language martial arts instruction, Chinese-language barbers, poetry/speech competition, host exchange student, adopt a grandparent, read to a toddler

20Dictionary links:Try Pleco; Hippodict free versions(Tip: use v to input sound)

Yes!Chinese leveled readers, see index at http://www.yes-chinese.com/reading/list.do?type=1&level=GR-K&topic=

Sample story: http://www.yes-chinese.com/reading/view.do?id=20110726083026 and bedtime stories:

http://www.yes-chinese.com/story/index.jsp

pcbaby.com.cn for stories:http://book.pcbaby.com.cn/gushifor idiom/history stories:http://book.pcbaby.com.cn/guoxue/sj/for learning characters:http://edu.pcbaby.com.cn/book/zwsz/donghua/

http://welearntv.vansd.org/chinese-immersion-program Teachers in Vancouver Washingtons program have made videos of reading books aloud

Suggested links

(Links Continued)HowDoILearnChinese.comhttp://howdoilearnchinese.com/several games for fruit, body parts, colors etc.; two very catchy songs for learning greetings and Please give me...FluentUFree content includes videos such as recent TV commercials, songs, etc. but captioned in English, Chinese and pinyin, with vocabulary help. Sorted by difficulty level. Registration needed. http://www.fluentu.com/chinese/Silly Lilly, Stinky and a couple other kids books in different languages incl. Chinesehttp://www.professorgarfield.org/toon_book_reader/index.html36 Chinese Characters story told with animated pictographshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VhOCX5WLpwThe animation of Chinese characterhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4bwDfO2h28International Childrens Digital Library so far has 10 titles in Chinesehttp://en.childrenslibrary.org/

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Mandarin Immersion Parents CouncilSan Francisco Mandarin parents website was so popular they started a national versionmiparentscouncil.orgA Parents Guide To Mandarin Immersion, coming fall 2014 by Elizabeth Weise, Mandarin Immersion Parents Council webmaster

Blog by U.S. mom raising bilingual kidshttp://haomama.us/

Utah dual language immersion materialsutahchineseimmersion.orgsite not working?Utah Mandarin Immersion Parent Councilhttp://utahimmersioncouncil.org/

ChildRoad subscription stories (downloadable, free trial)https://www.childroad.com/s/

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Taiwans Ministry of Culturemany book selections; subtitles in trad. charactershttp://children.moc.gov.tw/home.php

Beginning Mandarin lessons by PeaceCorppronunciation not by native speaker, but topics covered are goodhttp://wws.peacecorps.gov/wws/multimedia/language/lessons.cfm

Talking Chinese app, for beginning to learn Chinese, by FLTRP (Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press)

Chineasy by ShaoLan Hsuehhere is her TED talk video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=troxvPRmZm8

Calligraphy PracticeFor INKLESS practice, shop online for magic water painting paper or magic cloth for water brush painting or Chinese calligraphy practice sheet water only. Also available for purchase locally.