Articles for helping kids learn about china culture

A s a speech-language pathologist and as a multilingual mother of bilingual children, I am finding myself shocked and confused at the number of parents I run into who have chosen not to speak their native language to their children for various reasons or who have been persuaded to believe that speaking their native language to their children will hurt them socially or academically if the primary language of the community is different. There are so many great articles and literature (based on good research) available on the topic of bilingualism and its benefits, even for children who may be experiencing language delays, that it seems redundant to write on the issue, but I feel compelled to do so because the passing down of a parent’s native language appears to be diminishing more and more. So why should parents talk to their children in their native language?    The first and simplest reason is because  that is the language in which they are likely to be most dominant or profici

Confucius (孔子, Kǒng Zǐ ) was a government official, teacher, and philosopher, he lived through a chaotic period (551- 479 BC) and decided to take it upon himself to fix a broken system and create a better society. He developed a new moral code based on strong family and societal bonds, respect, honesty, and education. His moral code still has strong lasting effects in the social structure of Chinese society. Mandarin chinese learning teachers are required to be professionals with a bachelor’s degree. He wrote many books, (we call them analects) but I’ve picked some of my favorite quotes. Jǐ suǒ bú yù ，wù shī yú rén “己所不欲，勿施于人。” What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others. hìzhě bú huò ，rénzhě bù yōu，yǒngzhě bú jù “知者不惑，仁者不忧，勇者不惧。” Education breeds confidence, confidence breeds hope, hope breeds peace. Guò ér bù gǎi ，shì wèi guò yǐ “过而不改，是谓过矣。” Read more: https://blog.lingobus.com/ https://blog.lingobus.com/chinese-culture/

Weddings are a wonderful occasion where two families unite through the mutual love of two people. In China being invited to someone’s wedding as a guest is a great honor. It signifies you are close friends and there is a hidden understanding that you are building a connection for the future as the couple inviting you are expected to automatically be invited to your wedding in the future. So it’s a loss of face and seen as extremely rude not to attend. But don’t worry there’s a ‘get out of jail free’ card for this that involves another hidden wedding tradition. In China, guest do not give gifts and the happy couple do not make a registry gift list like we do at home, instead cash in the form of red envelopes or Hongbao is expected. If you cannot make it to someone’s wedding a good way not to offend the couple is to still give a hongbao. Hongbao’s are serious business and one of the couples’ parents will record how much money is given by who in a book so that in the future the coup

Chinese painting is similar in style to calligraphy, even using the same techniques and materials, such as black liquid ink and thin calligraphy paper.  Its main aim is not to only capture the likeness of the subject, but also it’s spirit.  Usually, teachers in Chinese learning centers offer such courses at the elementary level. Chinese painting is known as “国画” (guó huà), roughly translates to ‘nation/country painting’, and can be broken down into two styles, “工笔画” (gōng bǐ huà, Chinese realistic painting) and “水墨画” (shuǐ mò huà, ink-wash painting). Chinese realistic painting is often very colorful and with a lot of details, it involves first drawing a basic outline of the object with a thin brush in black and then meticulously coloring in the detail with specialized brushes. A famous example of this style is the painting from the Song dynasty by the artists Zhang Xuan called ‘Court ladies preparing newly woven silk’. It depicts an annual celebration where the court ladies

Recent research suggests that for second language acquisition, children are more likely to reach the proficiency of a native speaker instead of adults. Plus, learning a language not only helps in practical and economic gains but also leads to a number of cognitive advantages. If you have kids learning Mandarin Chinese, you might want to help them. But the problem arises when we ourselves do not know the language. But there is no need to worry as I will discuss a few tips on teaching kids Chinese effectively. Although you don’t know Chinese, there is plenty of material available online for teaching kids Chinese . There are various websites which provide material specifically aimed at teaching kids. It is much easier for young children to understand Chinese characters if they are able to associate physical objects to them. You can find flashcards online or you can make them yourself and tape these all around the home on objects which they describe. It will create a more Chinese immer

As you might have noticed, if there’s one thing I love, it’s Chinese food. Even now when I go home on holiday from China my stomach craves the mouthwatering Chinese food I’ve left behind. So I decided to pick three snacks to introduce to who learn Chinese or have children learning Chinese online . It was hard to just pick three, but here are my favorites that can be found easily everywhere. Perhaps not the healthiest of breakfasts, but I’ll be happy to admit I often start my day by picking one of these up from the street corner alongside a cup of soya milk. Imagine a huge crepe topped with an egg, sesame seeds, which then has spice and bean paste spread on the inside, finishing with some Chinese onion, a crusty fried dough sheet, and lettuce. It’s the perfect mix of the right textures and taste, crunchy yet soft, spicy with a slightly sweet and sour taste… I’m hungry just thinking about it! A famous Northern snack that can actually be eaten with ice inside! This has become popular

In fact, China is where this game was born! 2300 years ago, ancient Chinese begun to play 蹴鞠, (cùjū), a game in which people kicked a ball with their feet. In 2004, FIFA confirmed that this ancient game was the prototype of today’s soccer. Of course, the football game we watch today, the modern football, originated in England in the 11th century. Football fans in China are used to watching the World Cup without their own national team. But they see this world-class event as a big celebration once every four years. I can still remember that the college I studied at once prolonged the light-off time during the World Cup because so many students watched the game in their dorms. In Chinese college dorms, the lights and electricity get switched off at night to encourage students to sleep and use their time wisely. Soccer and the World Cup will be a hot topic for the next month! But for second language learners, it would be quite difficult to talk about an event like this using a seco

Teaching a language can be said to be a modern concept. Perhaps you are curious about how ancient people learn foreign languages or you want to know if there are any similarities or differences between ancient time methods and modern methods, your search is over as you are on the right page. How people in ancient Roman learn? Learning the language of a foreign land was a necessity mostly for the traders in the ancient Rome. Many Romans admired Greek and Latin. Greek was the  lingua franca  of the Mediterranean and  more Greek was probably spoken in Rome than the local lingo. There were manuscripts which consist of vocabulary lists, basic grammars, and texts. The texts appear in two columns, similar to the texts used today to teach modern foreign languages . With these texts, learners were introduced to the foreign language culture like how to use the public bath, how to greet a friend, and so on. The learner then writes and master them in order to practice them in their day

When talking about China and Chinese Culture , what will come to your mind first? Its long history, tasty food, or the big cities like Beijing or Shanghai? But, you might have missed the fact that, geographical speaking, China is also one of the largest countries in the world. How large is it? What are some fun facts about its geographic features? This article will introduce some to you! China has a territorial area of 9.6 million square kilometers and an aquatic territory spanning 4.73 million square kilometers. That’s a lot of abstract numbers! So here are some comparisons to make it more relatable: it’s the third largest country, coming behind Russia and Canada. Its territorial area roughly equals to the total area of Europe excluding Russia. It’s true that China is a very large country. But it also has a huge population, about 1.4 billion by 2017. This is nearly 19% of the whole population of the world. Therefore, the area per capita is fairly small, only 29% of t

Reading to children has proven to be of great importance as it helps not only in their cognitive development process but also in their language acquisition and literacy skills. For kids learning foreign languages , books about the culture with the target language can help further language acquisition and inspire children to learn more, since children will learn knowledge related to the language whilst also getting familiar with the cultural background. If you read books about Chinese culture to your kids, they will get to know more about the local people and their tradition, which in turn will also help them to understand Mandarin Chinese better. Here are some fun books for you to choose from! In the book, a child describes the various dim sums she and her family enjoyed during a visit to a restaurant in Chinatown. According to the Chinese tradition, they share their food with each other so that everyone gets a bit of everything. The book is right for young children as it celebrates

We all agree that language education is the best tool you can give your child to help them succeed in the future, that is an understatement in China. Education is everything! It’s a widely held belief by all parents in China, education will ensure a better life for their children, and so the worries about education start before you even have a child. Some schools will pick students not just based on the children abilities but also the parents, so the pressure is on for women to be good mothers. But at the same time, the emphasis on education makes it easier for mothers who have to juggle a busy career as many schools offer after-school programs. The emphasis on education is one of the greatest things about education in China, there are so many options and choices! From after-school language programs to schools that focus on robotics, in China, your child has a million opportunities and many educational paths they can follow. Expectant mothers in China have a 3-month maternity

Research shows that in China students can spend up to 77 hours a week studying! That’s because schools will give students a lot of homework, and on top of this, they need to do homework for extra-curricular classes. But unlike their western counterparts, a higher percentage of Chinese students actually enjoy studying, because they begin studying form a young age. With so much stuff to remember students have some useful tricks for online Chinese learning . For example, studying a subject for long periods of time can get boring, which is not conducive to learning, Chinese students will study every day but switch between subjects to maximize their learning. Self-discipline is the major characteristic of Chinese e-learning habits , although parents will bulk up their kids’ timetable most of the studying is done individually by the students. Most students understand the importance of education from a young age and learn not to waste precious study time.

There are numerous online dictionaries available. But the choice of the dictionary is crucial for an effective language learning process. There must be some elements to be taken into account while choosing a good dictionary. First of all, it should be accurate. It should provide an exact meaning of the word taking into account all aspects of that word. It must clearly explain that how and when a word should be used. It should demonstrate the grammar rules that should be considered while using that word. Dictionary also has to include the most relevant examples of word usage of any word. Moreover, there must be an option of the pronunciation of that word. It should pronounce the word as accurately as pronounced by native speakers. In addition to giving definitions, a good dictionary will write the word in the International Phonetic Alphabet to show you how to say it. The second thing is the convenience in its usage. It is essential for an online dictionary to be able to respon