Mother’s Day is a day for celebrating and thanking mothers. In the United States, it is held on the second Sunday in May. Although festivals honoring mothers can be traced back to the Greek celebration honoring Rhea, the Mother of Gods, it was not until the 1870′s that the holiday became a possibility in the United States.

Bringing up Baby Bilingual, chinese for children, chinese language for young children, Chinese learning for babies, teaching young children chinese | May 12, 2012 5:32 am | Comments (0)

Last night, I received an email from one of my customers, now also a friend, in New Zealand. She bought a set of Easy-Read Pen and audio books from me last October for her toddler son to learn Chinese. She told me in her email that her boy made some impressive progress in his Chinese learning thanks to the help of the Easy-Read Pen and audio books. She also offered some excellent tips on how to parent kids to learn a second language.

With her permission, I published her email on my blog as below. I am sure the readers will benefit from her personal feedback of using the Easy-Read Pen and audio books and her wonderful parenting tips as well.

Bringing up Baby Bilingual, chinese for children, chinese language for young children, Chinese learning for babies, E-reading pen & audiobooks, teaching young children chinese | May 1, 2012 10:06 am | Comments (0)

Chinese poetry is a most highly regarded literary genre in Chinese classical literature. In ancient China, poetry-writing was a favorite pastime for all educated men or women, for it was the genre which, sanctioned by tradition, to express the emotions of themselves.

Therefore, Chinese poets and artists concentrate heavily on history of humanity, the beauties of nature and landscape, love, friendship, courtship and marriage, and even everyday trials.

Bringing up Baby Bilingual, chinese for children, chinese language for young children, Chinese learning for babies, teaching young children chinese | April 5, 2012 12:54 pm | Comments (0)

I dreamed DD to reach the perfect bilingualism, which was defined as “the full range of competence in both languages that a native monolingual speaker has in one”(John Lyons, 1981, p. 282). In another words, I would like her to be equally competent in English and Chinese both actively (through speaking, writing, or signing) and passively (through listening, reading, or perceiving).

But, it seemed she was more like a receptive bilingual, who has the ability to understand a second language, but does not speak it. With no doubt, DD understood perfectly when I spoke Chinese or read Chinese books to her. She could follow the story line when watching Chinese cartoons. But she choose to speak to me in English, the community language.

Bringing up Baby Bilingual, chinese for children, chinese language for young children, Chinese learning for babies, teaching young children chinese | March 25, 2012 10:52 am | Comments (0)

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)