Week 2 - 4 [ New Words, Songs, A Note on Stroke Order, and Book Sharing ]

From 9/14 to 9/28, we finished lesson 2 to 4 in our textbook. In average, we learned how to read and write four new characters per class. Those characters are listed as the following: 白、云、中、文、上、下、再、见、天、气、鸟、儿. For homework, please remind your child the stroke order of each character while writing.  (A little extra note on the stroke orders. Personally, I believe that it is better to follow the standard order when we start learning how to write Chinese characters; for one, it helps to write the character in a nice shape; two, it helps when using computer programs if you want to input Chinese in the future; three, it is a habit building process. It usually is more difficult to correct the wrong habit than building something new from the beginning. However, I am sure there is no just ONE correct order for certain characters; several conventional/traditional orders are possible. So, it will be up to the parents to decide how rigid they want their kids to follow those stroke orders. I might make mistakes, too, occasionally. But I’m striving to teach the order that our textbook regards as correct. If you noticed any mistake in our handouts or my blackboard writing in the classroom, please feel free to let me know!  )  

We also learned some lovely children’s songs in mandarin Chinese. Here’s the list of the songs that you may expect your child to sing/recite whenever you have the chance:

1) 你好歌（调子：两只老虎）你好，你好，你好吗？你好吗？我很好，我很好，谢谢你，谢谢你。再见！再见！

2）声调歌： 中文四声很重要，说不好会让人笑，一声平平走，二声上山坡，三声山谷下又上，四声滑下坡。

3）拍手歌： 拍拍手、拍拍手、大家都来拍拍手，上拍拍、下拍拍，左拍拍，右拍拍，前拍拍，后拍拍，石头、剪子、布！石头、剪子、布！

4）上学歌：太阳当空照，花儿对我笑，小鸟说“早、早、早，你为什么背着小书包？”我去上学校，天天不迟到，爱学习，爱劳动，长大要为人民立功劳！

On 9/14, we read the English book “GOOD NIGHT, MOON.” After reading each page aloud in English, I asked someone to translate it into Chinese. Amazingly, they were able to do this without problem. Everyone loved the book. We’ll read more books as long as we have time in the end of our class. If your child want to share a book of his or her favorite, English or Chinese, please don’t hesitate to contact me and we can definitely arrange that in ahead of time.