Today is the last day of the Year of Rabbit, or Chinese New Year’s Eve, known as Chú Xī or “Eve of the Passing Year.” In Chinese/Asian tradition, Chú Xī is the day where Chinese families gather for their annual reunion dinner, chatting, playing and waiting for the first day of the Chinese new year to come.

Bringing up Baby Bilingual, chinese for children, chinese language for young children, Chinese learning for babies, teaching young children chinese | January 21, 2012 4:41 pm | Comments (1)

According to Chinese zodiac*, 2012 is the year of dragon. In Asian/Chinese culture, the Dragon is the sign of the Emperor of China or the male element Yang. The Dragon is the symbol of power and wealth.

Bringing up Baby Bilingual, chinese for children, chinese language for young children, Chinese learning for babies, teaching young children chinese | January 15, 2012 3:44 pm | Comments (0)

“Jingle Bells” is one of the best-known and commonly sung winter songs in the world. It was written by James Lord Pierpont (1822–1893) and published under the title “One Horse Open Sleigh” in the autumn of 1857. Even though it is commonly thought of as a Christmas song, it was actually written and sung for Thanksgiving.

Bringing up Baby Bilingual, chinese for children, chinese language for young children, Chinese learning for babies, teaching young children chinese | December 14, 2011 8:45 am | Comments (0)

“If You’re Happy Clap Your Hands” is a popular repetitive children’s song, stemming from an old Latvian folk song.

Music to this song coincides with the music of the song “Molodejnaya” written by Isaak Dunayevsky for the 1937-1938 Soviet film Volga-Volga. Another version was written by songwriter Alfred B. Smith (1916–2001). It has, like many familiar childhood cantations, been altered in various ways over the years for various uses.

Bringing up Baby Bilingual, chinese for children, chinese language for young children, Chinese learning for babies, teaching young children chinese | October 28, 2011 3:15 pm | Comments (0)

Monkey King, also known as Sun Wukong, is a main character in the classical Chinese epic novel Journey to the West, written by Wu Cheng’en and published in the 1590s during the Ming Dynasty. It is one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature.

Journey to the West has a strong background in Chinese folk religion, Chinese mythology and value systems; the pantheon of Taoist immortals and Buddhist bodhisattvas is still reflective of some Chinese religious beliefs today. Enduringly popular, the tale is at once an adventure story, a spring of spiritual insight, and an extended allegory in which the group of pilgrims journeying toward India represents individuals journeying toward enlightenment.

As the real hero of this novel, this resourceful, brave and humorous Monkey King has been loved for four hundred years by Chinese children and adults alike.

Bringing up Baby Bilingual, chinese for children, chinese language for young children, Chinese learning for babies, teaching young children chinese | September 28, 2011 6:56 am | Comments (0)

I just added 8 bilingual books (each book contains a bilingual CD) onto my website. And I am happy to recommend these books to you.

Each bilingual book and bilingual CD set features an excellent selection of 6-10 lovely and fun children’s stories perfect for babies and young children. And the English part is excellent as well, since it is edited by a native English-speaker. The accompanying appealing and colorful cartoons help engage young children and compliment the text.

Bringing up Baby Bilingual, chinese for children, chinese language for young children, Chinese learning for babies, teaching young children chinese | September 24, 2011 6:58 am | Comments (0)

Songs and share nursery rhymes are playful (e.g. “Rub-a-dub-dub, three men in a tub”,) and are easy to remember. They also help babies build phonological awareness and sensitivity—the ability to hear the breakdown of sounds within words and to diagnose rhythms and patterns of languages. As he grows, learning the rhymes himself will help him expand vocabulary, learn number skills and get confidence to express himself through speech.

When DD was little, I sang and played a lot of Chinese children’s songs and nursing rhythms to her. Being simple, repetitive and full of fun, these songs and nursing rhythms are excellent ways for DD to learn, memorize and practice new words and phrases. Currently, she can sing some of them independently by herself.

Bringing up Baby Bilingual, chinese for children, chinese language for young children, Chinese learning for babies, teaching young children chinese | September 15, 2011 9:37 am | Comments (1)

For over 50 years, children around the world have been blessed with the magic and spirit of Disney. With its’ first motion picture animated film, Snow White, Disney became an instant success, creating joyous characters and plots that children will remember forever.

I have been trying to collect classic Disney animations for DD. Fortunately, I found a number of bilingual (Chinese/English) or trilingual (Mandarin/Cantonese/English) Disney DVDs with concealed subtitles in Chinese and English. All the menu options are in English and Chinese, making it really handy to use.

The image data was recovered digitally, making the video quality of the DVD amazingly fine (thinking about a lot of these cartoons were made more than 50 years ago). Thus the DVD itself is a classic collection.

Here is the list of bilingual (Chinese/English) or trilingual (Mandarin/Cantonese/English) DVDs I collected so far:

Bringing up Baby Bilingual, chinese for children, chinese language for young children, Chinese learning for babies, teaching young children chinese | August 31, 2011 7:30 am | Comments (0)

Kitty Goes Fishing is a lovely story about a little cat who goes fishing with his Mom. The moral behind this story is to teach children that success comes from staying focused, yìxīnyíyì, meaning with whole heart and mind. It is one of DD’s favorite Chinese children’s stories.

Bringing up Baby Bilingual, chinese for children, chinese language for young children, Chinese learning for babies, teaching young children chinese | August 17, 2011 6:42 am | Comments (0)

In November 2010, I approached the local public library and expressed my interest to start a Chinese language seminar for children and parents who want to learn Chinese as a second language. I didn’t expect to receive the approval half a year later. Since I knew that I was pregnant with twins, I told the program manager that I would start the seminar in the summer 2012.

Bringing up Baby Bilingual, chinese for children, chinese language for young children, Chinese learning for babies, teaching young children chinese | August 10, 2011 3:21 pm | Comments (0)