Mini-Book 7- 動物護照 (Animal Passport)

動物護照 (Dòng Wù Hù Zhào, Animal Passport)- I'm branching out a bit and trying something new.  This is actually a project that I have wanted to do with my own kids (ages 5 and 7).  It is a "passport" listing some of the animals at the zoo.  The book is designed to reinforce some of the animal names they already know (but haven't learned to read yet) and to introduce some new words.  It is not a teaching book; any learning the kids do will be a result of hearing the words over and over again as they are used while at the zoo.

Inside the book are 14 animals names and the corresponding animal stickers.  As the kids travel through the zoo, the animal stickers can be placed next to the correct Chinese name.

HAVE FUN!

Notes on Printing-

• Printing a file makes 2 copies of a passport.
• The passport is simply much more cooler if the cover (first page) is printed in color on white card stock.
• When you print the animal stickers, print them on Avery Shipping Labels 48863.  They can be found in the office section of large retailers.
• After printing the animal stickers, cut the stickers into sections of 2*2 pictures so that the sections fit the dimensions of the passport book and you can staple the stickers into the book.

Click here for a Video Tutorial.

動物護照- traditional characters with 注音符號

動物護照- simplified characters with 漢語拼音 (Hànyǔ pīnyīn) 
Animal Stickers
 

Mini-Book 6- 象想要飛

象想要飛 (Xiàng Xiǎng Yào Fēi, Elephant Wants to Fly)- This may be a big leap in vocabulary and grammar structure from Mini-Book 5, but please forgive me.  I post these books as the children I know need them and it has been over a year since my last Mini-Book post.

This is the sixth book in the series.  To locate other Mini-Books, click on the "Mini-Book" label on the right hand side of the web page.

Unlike other books I've posted, this one was written by another person- Kendra from ChineseReadingPractice.com.  She offers leveled text on her blog and writes a post about once a week.  With her permission, I have reformatted it into a book and added pictures.  I also enlisted the help of a native Chinese speaker (from Taiwan) to look over the text.  A few words have been adapted and this may reflect the Taiwanese way of saying things.


象想要飛- traditional characters with 注音符號
象想要飛- simplified characters with 漢語拼音(Hànyǔ Pīnyīn)

Halloween Vocabulary & Halloween Bingo

I know that Halloween is not a traditional Chinese holiday, but it's a plethora of vocabulary that kids will enjoy learning.  And, because stores start advertising Halloween in September, they'll have lots of opportunities to practice the vocabulary!  So, if your planning on introducing this topic, here's some flashcards and a Bingo game to get you started.

*Note- Consider cutting out the flashcards and posting them around your house, pocketing them when going for a walk, and even keeping a set in your car.  This way if you see a Halloween decoration or costume, you'll be able to talk about it using your new vocabulary!  Also, I've created 6 Bingo boards below.  If you need more, have Learners cut out their own flashcards and tape them to a blank sheet to create an infinite number of boards.

Flashcards- traditional characters with 注音符號
Flashcards- simplified characters with 漢語拼音 (Hànyǔ Pīnyīn)
Bingo- traditional characters with 注音符號
Bingo- simplified characters with 漢語拼音 (Hànyǔ Pīnyīn)
Bingo- no characters

Mini-Book 5- 我是 . . . .

我是 . . . . (Wǒ shì . . ., I am . . .)- This is the fifth book in the series.  To locate other Mini-Books, click on the "Mini-Book" label on the right hand side of the web page.

The fifth Mini-Book is designed to reinforce the use of 我是 . . . . (Wǒ shì . . ., I am . . .).  It also continues to expose the reader to common characters in order to reinforce character recognition.

This Mini-Book was created to be personalized by your child.  Please, take the time to paste photos of them into the books.  This makes reading more fun for your child and encourages them to practice reading.  Also, when you print be sure to print on both sides of the paper.  Page 2 prints on the back of page 1, etc.  Then stack the pages so that when they are folded along the center line, the page numbers proceed in numeric order.

我是 . . . . - traditional characters with 注音符號
我是 . . . . - simplified characters with 漢語拼音 (Hànyǔ Pīnyīn)

Learning Mandarin for Beginners & Pinyin Pronunciation HD

These apps, developed by Kotech Services Co., are exactly what's needed for anyone learning pinyin.

The first app, Learning Mandarin for Beginners, is an excellent program for teaching how to pronounce the pinyin sounds.  The user can select either an initial (beginning) or final (end) sound.  Then the viewer is taken to a screen that displays an video of how to produce the sound.  The video is an animated cross-section of the articulators (palates, lips, teeth, and tongue) so it is easy to see what is happening inside the mouth to make these Chinese sounds.  This is particularly important because often foreign language learners cannot hear differences in foreign sounds.  This app provides a visual context that allows the user to see how the sounds are produced differently.  Once foreign language learners can produce the difference in the sounds, they can begin to hear the difference in other speakers, which in turn allows for better comprehension during conversation.


As you navigate this app, pay particular attention to the positioning of the tongue in each video.  The slight differences between placement of the tip of the tongue is important.  For example, note if the tongue is placed behind the upper front teeth (as in the sound "s") or behind the lower front teeth (as in the sound "x").  The difference in placement is difficult to see, but it is there.  It would be nice if the developers would provide a written description of how the sound is pronounced to go with the animated video.  Until then, you can look here for access to more information about pronunciation.

The second app, Pinyin Pronunciation HD, is the follow up guide to the first app.  In Pinyin Pronunciation HD, the user can quickly select a initial, final, & tone and then listen to the correct pronunciation.  Not only is the interface very easy to use (my 5 year old could do this), but this app only allows you to make legitimite initial-final-tone combinations.  This allows observant users to see the pattern of rules that create legal combinations of sounds.  For example, the user might observe that "q" can only be combined with finals that begin with the letters i or ü.

I recommend buying these apps together as they compliment each other very well.  I've looked for similar free resources online but have been disappointed with the interface as the resources online tend to be very clumsy.  These apps are definitely worth the 0.99¢ each app costs and will allow you to have access to them wherever you go as they don't require internet access to utilize the apps after downloading.

Mini-Book 4- 妹妹和哥哥

妹妹和哥哥 (Mèimei hé gēgē, Little Sister and Older Brother)- This is the fourth book in the series.  To locate other Mini-Books, click on the "Mini-Book" label on the right hand side of the web page.

The fourth Mini-Book is designed to reinforce the use of 和 (hé, and).  It also includes common everyday actions such as 吃早飯 (Chī zǎofàn, Eating breakfast) and 去學校 (Qù xuéxiào, Going to school).

This Mini-Book is a large file (35kb) so give it time to load.  It is larger than the others because it includes photos.  Please feel free to paste your own photos over these so that your Mini-Book is personalized to your children.  Also, when you print be sure to print on both sides of the paper.  Page 2 prints on the back of page 1, etc.  Then stack the pages so that when they are folded along the center line, the page numbers proceed in numeric order.

妹妹和哥哥- traditional characters with 注音符號
妹妹和哥哥- simplified characters with 漢語拼音 (Hànyǔ Pīnyīn)

Mini-Book 3- 我的朋友

我的朋友 (Wǒ de péngyǒu; My Friend)- is the third book in the Mini-Book series.  To locate other Mini-Books, click on the "Mini-Book" label on the right hand side of the web page.

This book supplements the teaching of the words 我的 (wǒ de; my) and 他的 (tā de; his).  It discusses a boy who is Chinese and his friend who is American.  The book discusses how to two boys are alike and reinforces the idea of friendship between cultures.

This Mini-Book file is much smaller than the first, so if you had difficulty downloading the first you may be more successful with this one.  Also when you print, print on both sides of the paper.  Page 2 prints on the back of page 1, etc.  Then stack the pages so that when they are folded along the center line, the page numbers proceed in numeric order.

我的朋友- traditional characters with 注音符號
我的朋友- simplified characters with 漢語拼音 (Hànyǔ Pīnyīn)

Mini-Book 2- 我有很多

我有很多 (Wǒ yǒu hěn duō; I Have a Lot)-  Here's the second book in the series.  To locate other Mini-Books, click on the "Mini-Book" label on the right hand side of the web page.

The second Mini-Book is designed to reinforce the 有 . . . 也有. . .  (yǒu. . . yě yǒu. . .; have . . . also have . . .) . practiced in the previous Mini-Book.  It also introduces 多 (duō; many) and 少 (shǎo; a few) as well as continuing to expose the reader to everyday vocabulary such as fruits and animals.

This Mini-Book file is much smaller than the first, so if you had difficulty downloading the first you may be more successful with this one.  Also when you print, print on both sides of the paper.  Page 2 prints on the back of page 1, etc.  Then stack the pages so that when they are folded along the center line, the page numbers proceed in numeric order.

我有很多- traditional characters with 注音符號
我有很多- simplified characters with 漢語拼音 (Hànyǔ Pīnyīn)