春 Character

Spring is coming!  It's time to take down all the paper snowflakes filling your windows and replace them with some simple paper-cutting decorations!

A fairly simple one is the character 春 (chūn, spring).  First, print the file below.

SpringCharacter

You'll notice that half the character is missing.  That's ok, the idea of this handout is to have your Learner engaged in the making of this character.  This will help him/her remember the strokes that make up the character better.

There are several ways to use this worksheet:
1)  The easiest thing to do is to fold the paper in half so that the blank half of the character is hidden.  Then ask your Learner to hold the paper up to a mirror and look at the character.  What do they see?  Why did this work?  (Hint: this character is symmetrical.)

2)  Have your Learner draw, color, or decorate the character in order to fill-in the missing side.  They can use crayons, paint, play-dough, pipe-cleaners, glue and glitter, stamps, invisible ink, whatever you can think of!  Be creative!

3)  Have your Learner fold the paper in half so that the blank half is hidden.  Then cut out the outline.  When done, unfold the paper and see your beautiful 春 character!  NOTE:  You will see this character written in a couple of ways.  If you cut out the printout, you will see the right "leg" of the character (not printed) will begin on the middle horizontal line.  Sometimes, this character is written with the same leg extending from the bottom horizontal line instead.

An additional resource that I would recommend for very young Learners is the Lacing activities below.

 

I found this idea from "mummyshymz.wordpress.com".

Pot Stickers

Just a quick note to record this link I found on how to make pot stickers for the Chinese New Year.

BrainPop- Chinese

BrainPop- 中國

If you've ever seen BrainPop, you know how great it is and it needs no more introduction.

But if you are new to the experience, this is what you should know.  BrainPop presents topics on Math, Science, Social Studies, English, Technology, Arts & Music, and Health in 5 minute videos.  The movies give an overview of a topic and can be used in the classroom as a starting point for more in-depth discussion.  In fact, thousands of schools all over the world subscribe to BrainPop and use the videos in the classroom.  BrainPop is aimed to teach kids in grades 3 and up (or about 8 years old and up)

Now, BrainPop is available in Mandarin!  This is a great resource to students learning Chinese, at any level.  The first reason why I would recommend using this app is that it gives the Chinese language student a chance to listen to nonfiction material.  Often textbooks provide stories to engage young readers.  Here is your opportunity to expand a learner's abilities with comprehending nonfiction.  This is a valuable tool if your learner is planning on using Chinese to read a newspaper, listen to the news, or study immersed in the Chinese language.  BrainPop includes a quiz that you can use to asses a learner's comprehension.

To help you navigate:  BrainPop is color-coded.  Green represents Science, Red is for Social Studies, Yellow is Literature/English, Purple is for Math, Blue contains Engineering & Technology videos, Orange teaches about Health topics, and Brown is for Arts & Music.

There are several free videos available which you can browse whenever you like.  However, if you like you can subscribe to BrainPop (there are several different BrainPops such as BrainPop, BrainPop ESL, BrainPop, Jr., and BrianPop- 中國 so be sure to subscribe to the correct one).  Subscribing will allow you to access all the videos and the accompanying materials.

Ideas for how to use BrainPop-中國

Beginners- Teach target vocabulary before viewing the movie.  When watching the movie, ask learners to raise their hand whenever they hear the target vocabulary.  For example, teach the word 企鵝 (qì'é, penguin), then watch the Science movie about penguins and each time a learner hears the word 企鵝, then s/he should raise his/her hand.

Intermediate- Preview the quiz questions in English, then watch the movie in Chinese.  Take the quiz in Chinese.  This helps students know what information to listen for.

Advanced- Have a discussion (in Chinese) about the topic before watching the movie.  Preview the quiz questions in Chinese and then watch the movie in Chinese.  Answer the questions in the quiz to assess comprehension and facilitate discussion.

Contact BrainPop
If you are interested in this program, but are finding it difficult to navigate a website only in Chinese, I encourage you to leave a message for the creators on their Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/pages/BrainPOP/8706396621).  This is a wonderful resource and it would be wonderful if the website could be translated in order to be more accessible to English speakers interested in learning Chinese.

2Kids 学拼音

2Kids 学拼音- Written by 2kids.cn, the same company who wrote 2kids学汉字, this app aims to help your child learn and practice the sounds that make up Chinese (also known as Hanyu Pinyin).  This app is written for children who already are familiar with the language and need to learn the writing system.  However, this app is a good way for non-native speakers to practice Hanyu Pinyin after an introduction from another source.

This app is engaging for kids ages 3-7.  It uses the same "Dora" type set-up that its counterpart uses.  Children complete mini-missions by using what they've learned about Hanyu Pinyin.

The first set of lessons are free as an introduction to the app.  There are two further in-app purchases that each cost about $3.  I would recommend these purchases only if the child has someone else to help them learn the sounds.  This app is inadequate by itself to teach Hanyu Pinyin.

Create Your Own Handwriting Sheets-Chinese Vocabulary Book

Create Your Own Handwriting Sheets-"Chinese Vocabulary Book" is FREE!  It's a very basic worksheet generator, but is worth posting because it offers teachers the option of including the

注音符號 with traditional characters or the 漢語拼音 (Hànyǔ Pīnyīn) with simplified characters. Each worksheet will contain rows for tracing and rows for copying.

This link is from Chinese Normal University.

Here's a sample worksheet of numbers 1-5:

Worksheet-  注音符號

Worksheet- 漢語拼音 (Hànyǔ Pīnyīn)

Create Your Own Handwriting Sheets-Hanzi Grids

Create Your Own Handwriting Sheets-"Hanzi Grids" provides leveled membership.  That means it provides access to the website with many features as free.  However, you can upgrade by paying membership.  This is a very neat website.  It has several features including:

• Control of spacing between characters grids/boxes,
• Control of the size of the characters within each grid/box,
• The option of using either traditional or simplified characters, and
• Control of whether the Learner is copying or tracing the character (slide the "Visible Characters").

Here's a sample worksheet of numbers 1-10:

Tracing

Copying

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