Chinese Class Program - Theme: Food

 

 

日期: 16.2.2013

时间: 9.30am - 12pm

地点: Elaine's place

 主题: 食物 -饭，粥， 鱼， 肉， 菜， 牛奶，面包，饼干，蛋糕，乳酪

 

9.30 – 9.35am: Open with a word of prayer and entrust the children's learning to God

 

9.35 - 10am: Montessori Number Rods in Chinese

10 – 10.15am: Revise last week’s words: 复习旧知识以及上周学的内容：衣，裤，鞋，袜，帽，球, 积木，拼图，洋娃娃，玩具熊)

10.15 – 10-30am: Learn new words: 食物 - 饭，粥， 鱼， 肉， 菜， 牛奶，面包，饼干，蛋糕，乳酪

10.30 –10.45am: Writing Chinese characters on salt

10.45 – 11am: Break: 休息，水果时间

11 – 11.15am: Chinese Nursery Rhyme with puppets:

 

儿歌: 吃饭

小宝宝,坐坐好，

妈妈盛饭喂宝宝，

细细嚼,漫漫咽，

宝宝吃的真叫好。

 

11.15 – 11.30am: Story-Telling - A book about food: 读一本关于食物的书

 

11.30 –11.45pm: Playing Shopping for Food

11.45 – 12.30pm: Lunch (own lunch pack) – Encourage kids to point out the food words in their lunch pack.

 

12.30 - 12.40pm: Close with a word of prayer and thanksgiving to God.

 

 

 

 

Happy Valentine's Day

 

 

Yesterday, I was busy preparing J's breakfast. When I went upstairs, to my pleasant surprise, Daddy was sitting down and supervising J iwith his morning homework in tracing "I" on his own initiative and without me requesting. That is a sure sign that he now truly believes in the value of it.
 

What touches me the most is when Daddy is taking an interest and being involved in our common project. That’s the best Valentine’s Day gift :-)

As a Dane, he was initially skeptical about the merits of homework – Will it kill the joy of learning? Is it worth the power struggle? Will it make J less creative? It made me doubt my belief in homework as well…

  

But as I analyzed through back from historical experience… all through 5000 years of Chinese history, Chinese scholars had been biting through years of hard work to memorize a heavy load of ancient Chinese classic literature… what modern day calls “rote learning” at its most primitive form… yet ancient China was one of the civilizations that made the one of the most number of inventions in their days. Seen from that perspective, I do not think that doing homework can kill the development of creativity.

And so what if it does. Daddy and I have seen so many people who are “creative”, but do not have the self-discipline and determination to bring to fruition their ideas, without the ability to put in hard work. In this sense, I would rather that J develops the character of hard work, self-discipline and self-control than creativity – if we have to choose only one.

So with that, I continue to implement homework in our child’s daily life. I believe in striking a balance – too much homework is no good, but no homework is equally detrimental. And no, I do not believe in rote learning.

For Daddy, as he sees the progress of J from last year when we first introduced homework – the discipline that J has developed, the sense of achievement that J felt, the development in his concentration and focus… Daddy is slowly being converted. And me too – I am less doubtful now about my decision in introducing homework into J’s life at an early age of 3 years old.

Okie dokie, I got side-tracked. This post should be about Valentine’s Day. And for that matter, I got also a Valentine’s Day present from J today. I was rushing to work this morning. After finishing tracing his letter “J”, he went down for breakfast and we had a pre-agreement that he would finish his coloring after breakfast. After breakfast, I had to leave for work. Before I left, I briefly mentioned to J about his coloring, not at all have any expectation that he would follow-through with it, since I was not around.

This evening as Daddy and I sat down after J had gone to bed, Daddy told me that this morning after I left, J sat down and told him that he wanted to color a very colorful Jaguar, and J went on to complete it – all without my nor Daddy’s supervision.

I am touched by J’s sensibility, maturity and discipline for he is barely close to 4 years old. (In fact, as I reflect sometimes, I feel that he is more sensible and mature than his Mommy. It inspires me to be better, so that I am fit to be his Mom.) I hope he will continue that way, but I just want to remember my two very precious Valentine’s Day presents, they could not be bought with money.

Hmmm... next Valentine's Day, I need to be better at sharing Daddy's projects... handball, home-improvement, cars - what is that call again? Golf, Touran, Audi...

That's our Valentine's Day... simple but real.



I am relieved from making dinner. Daddy ordered sushi from Stick 'n' Sushi for dinner at home instead :-)



Celebrating Chinese New Year 2013

 

Here is wishing everyone a joyous and peaceful Chinese New Year. It will be the year of the snake (not my favourite animal).

 

For a post on how we celebrate Chinese New Year with an educational element, see my previous post here:

 

http://elainengfriis.blogspot.dk/2012/01/heritage-education-celebrating-chinese.html

 

We started the day with... hemmm... what else... but Chinese class... yes, even on the Big Chinese New Year's Eve day, the class shall go on... It is good that we three mothers think alike and wish to continue the class, and that I am not the only crazy one.

 

None of the modern Chinese mothers have any superstitions about touching books during Chinese New Year, so that was good. (Books in Mandarin sounds the same as "lose", and thus traditionally it is considered a taboo to touch books on Chinese New Year)

 

If there is one thing I miss, that would be the all important once a year Chinese New Year's Eve Reunion Dinner with my family back home in Singapore. Thankfully we were able to have a simple meal with some Chinese friends here in Copenhagen - Chinese hot pot. 

 

 

Yang Li telling the story of Chinese New Year in Chinese, while I did the English version

 

 

The time the children looked most forward to - dessert - we made the exception and serve western cakes

 

 

The children did the Chinese lion dance.... they tried feeding the lion with mandarin oranges.

 

References:

http://livingmontessorinow.com/2013/02/04/montessori-monday-montessori-inspired-chinese-new-year-activities/

J Summary (3Y11M3D) - J The Superman

Last year, J wasn't conscious of Fastelavn. This year, days before, he (3Y11M3D) already asked what he would be dressing up as. He wanted me to bring him to the store so that he could choose. I comtemplated spending the money to buy him a real Spiderman costume - equiped with muscles. The only thing that saved me from doing so was my super hectic work schedule, thus I didn't manage to get to the shop.

It is a Danish tradition to celebrate "Fastelavn". On that day, the children will dress up in fancy dress and hit a big wooden barrel full of sweets and other unhealthy stuff until the barrel breaks and all the sweets fall from the barrel. The child who broke the barrel is crowned as "King". It is a day with lots of sweets and super duper sweet "Fastelavn" buns. Not sure what the meaning behind this tradition is, but it is all in the name of fun. As a boring Chinese, I struggled with this idea of "fun" - not at all my idea of fun.

Firstly, it is an extravagant affair and it creates envy in the children as they couldn't help but to compare with one another over who has the most beautiful costume. The fancy dress costume is not cheap. Thus, it is not an easy day for the less well-to-do parents and children I am afraid. Secondly, it overloads the children with sweets and test their insulin production power at such a young age. Thirdly, it teaches the children a rather strange value -  that it is ok to gratify the satisfaction of destruction - destroying a brand new wooden barrel in the name of "fun" - ouch! But since it is a Danish tradition, I went along with as positive spirit as I could garner, all the time telling myself not to judge, not to judge.

Nevertheless, refusing to bow to contemporary pressure and spending a bomb, I bought this cheap "Superman" pyjamas from Netto some months ago and saving it for this day to turn it a "Superman" fancy dress costume.

On the day itself (today), after dressing J up, he wasn't too happy with his "Superman" costume, complaining that it wasn't beautiful enough. I had to agree with him. It wasn't fanciful enough. But adding the red bikini gave it just the spark needed to make it looked just a little more Superman-like. And that saved the day.

It was a blessing in disguise. There were 3 kids who showed up wearing the same "Spiderman" fancy dress and 2 "Batman". It turned out that the improvised "Superman" pyjamas wasn't too bad after all. It made J looked unique. J also stopped pestering me to buy him a real fancy dress costume after seeing all too many "Spidermen" and "Batmen". And we saved a bomb :-)

J Summary (3Y11M2D) - He Has Grown

What a year of difference last year this time and now. Last year this time J was nearly 3 years old. J spoke to me on the "phone" while I was in Singapore, but I could hardly make out what he was saying.

Today, we had to rush off to piano class. While waiting outside the piano class, we phoned Daddy. J reminded Daddy in a very considerate manner not to forget to turn off the oven, because otherwise the chicken would get burned, as J said.

Although only soon turning 4 years old, J is a very responsible boy. I don't think I deserve him.

A friend told me that I should try to think about what J is good at. Her 4 year old daughter is good at dancing, drawing and cycling. I still have not found any particular strength that J stands out, but J is responsible, sweet natured and kind, and that is good enough for me.

I count my blessing.

Chinese Class Schedule 2013

 时间: 9.30 - 11.30am

26.1: YL: 主题: 我的身体 - 口,舌,手,脚,眼,耳,鼻,头,发

2.2: J:  主题: 家庭物品 - 桌,椅,床,灯,钟,沙发,电话,风扇,洗衣机,电视机 (11-12pm: Børnerytmik Galaksen)

9.2: YL: 主题: 个人物品 - 衣 ， 裤， 鞋， 袜，帽，球， 积木，拼图， 洋娃娃，玩具熊 E (Chinese New Year Party) and J (Chinese New Year Story Telling) (11 - 2pm: Paper-cutting Lyngby Library)

16.2: E: 主题: 食物 - 饭，粥， 鱼， 肉， 菜， 牛奶，面包，饼干，蛋糕，乳酪 (1-2pm: Jazz Lyngby Library)

23.2: YL: 主题: 水果 - 苹果，橙，梨，草莓， 榴莲，木瓜，香蕉，西瓜，红毛丹

2.3: J:  主题: 动作 - 吃，喝，坐， 站，走，跑，跳，爬，哭，笑 (11-12pm: Børnerytmik Galaksen)

9.3: YL: 主题: 动物 - 猫，狗，鸡，鸭，鸟，牛，羊，马，猪， 兔

16.3: E: 主题: 文具和形状 - 书，纸，笔，尺，橡皮，圆形，正方形，三角形，长方形， 椭圆形 (11-2pm: Paper-cutting Lyngby library)

23.3: J: 主题: 自然景物 -日，月，星，水，火，花，草，树，风，雨

30.3: YL: 主题: 颜色 - 红，橙，黄，绿，蓝，紫，黑，白，灰，棕

6.4: E:  主题: 片语 - 红色的花，绿色的叶子， 橙色的萝卜， 黄色的香蕉，紫色的葡萄， 黑色的乌鸦， 白色的兔子，灰色的大象，棕色的桌子(11-12pm: Børnerytmik Galaksen) (J away)

13.4: YL: 主题: 反义词 - 大猩猩，小猩猩，男孩子，女孩子， 胖啊姨，瘦啊姨， 长头发， 短头发，高的椰树，矮的椰树 (J away)

20.4: E:  主题: 有 - 我有眼睛， 我有耳朵， 我有鼻子， 我有牙齿，我有帽子，我有手巾， 我有积木，我有气球，我有洋娃娃， 我有玩具熊 (J away)

27.4: YL:  主题: 会 - 我会读书， 我会写子， 我会画图， 我会唱歌， 我会跳舞，我会弹琴， 我会刷牙， 我会梳头， 我会穿衣 (J away)

4.5: J: 11-12pm: Børnerytmik Galaksen) (J just got back, so no Chinese Class, just go for rytmik) (E away)

11.5: YL: 主题: (E away)

18.5: J: 主题: (E back)

Celebrating Our 11th Year Wedding Anniversary

 

Life is fragile, we should never take it for granted...

 

We are thankful to God for the past wonderful 11 years through thick and thin... and we look forward to many many many more years together... through eternity.

 

To the love of my life, thank you for being the pillar of strength in my life.

 

 

School Time: Letter "D"

J (3Y10M25D). We matched the "d" mini figurines with the "d" pictures in the flash card:

We picked out the letter "d" magnet and listened to its sound on the Leap Frog Letter Factory

We picked out the letter "d" card from among others

We read the book on "My "d" Sound Box

We matched the "d" figurines from our own "Sound box" with the pictures in the "Sound Box" book:

We counted the number of letter "d" found in the book:

We practiced tracing small letter "d" from the workbook we bought from Singapore:

We practiced tracing capital letter "D" from the workbook we bought from Singapore:

Others:

We did the Addition with Number Rods.

We read an English Bible story.

We revised the Chinese characters for household objects.

We revised the piano letters and did piano finger exercise.

References: