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 domin...

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 ...

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 wher...

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 ...