Summer Camps in Taiwan?

Can Anyone Recommend a Summer Camp in Taiwan?-  If you have experience with a summer camp or have have a website of a summer camp, please post below.  Remember this is a public site, so please keep your children's names off this site.

BANG!- A Halloween Themed Game

Here's a way to practice whatever vocabulary you want while still tying in this western holiday.

The original BANG! game can be found using a quick Pinterest search.  The version below has a few added rules to include the Halloween theme.

Print out the file below.  The simple rules are included.


BANG-Halloween Theme, blank

Dumpling Days

Dumpling Days by Grace Lin is based on the author's experiences in Taiwan as a child and as an adult.  In the story, Pacy Lin is the daughter of two immigrants from Taiwan.  She has never learned Chinese, but now her family is traveling to Taiwan for the entire summer!  Initially, worried about how she will fit in, Pacy learns about her Chinese heretiage and discovers what it means to be Chinese-American.

I highly recommend reading this book with your young children.  It is filled with information on what to expect when visiting Taiwan (or China) from learning that the ice cream truck song might not mean what you think to discovering the 101 building.  My children and I read through this together (a chapter or two a week) before our summer-long trip to Taiwan and it has really helped my kids talk about some of the things they had been worried about.  It also helped us create a list of things we wanted to do while in Taiwan, like eat soup dumplings!

No matter whether your family speaks Chinese or only English and no matter whether your children have never been to Taiwan/China or if they've only been a few times, this is a great book for kids in
kindergarten through 5th grade.

For more information, please visit the author's website at www.gracelin.com.

This Baby Blues strip has been modified. The original (dated December 4th, 2013) used "French" instead of "Chinese."

I couldn't pass up the chance to pass this on to you.  I don't know where the artists of Baby Blues are from, but here Chinese is definitely the up-and-coming language.

Off the Great Wall

Off the Great Wall is a series of funny videos that explain Chinese culture from "how to eat" to "what to call your maternal grandmother."  (Parents should review each video prior to allowing their children to view it.)

Mini-Book 8- 小狗穿鞋 (Little Dog Wears Shoes)

小狗穿鞋 (Xiǎo Gǒu Chuān Xié, Little Dog Wears Shoes)- Similar to Mini-Book 6, this book originates from 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 this post into a book and added pictures.

小狗穿鞋- traditional characters with 注音符號

小狗穿鞋- simplified characters with 漢語拼音(Hànyǔ Pīnyīn)

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