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)

The following titles are some of the most famous masterpieces that represent the highest level of Chinese animation in technique innovation and aesthetic expression. They are also typical representatives of Chinese culture and art.

Bringing up Baby Bilingual, chinese for children, chinese language for young children, Chinese learning for babies, teaching young children chinese | July 14, 2011 10:51 am | Comments (0)

Now you know How to say camel, cat, caterpillar and chicken in Chinese?. How about other animals start with c? Here they come: chinpmunk, cow, crab and crocodile.

Bringing up Baby Bilingual, chinese for children, chinese language for young children, Chinese learning for babies, How to say animals in Chinese, teaching young children chinese | June 24, 2011 4:21 pm | Comments (0)

The following titles are some of the most famous masterpieces that represent the highest level of Chinese animation in technique innovation and aesthetic expression. They are also typical representatives of Chinese culture and art.

Bringing up Baby Bilingual, chinese for children, chinese language for young children, Chinese learning for babies, teaching young children chinese | June 9, 2011 7:39 pm | Comments (0)

The “one-parent-one language” (OPOL) approach is regarded as the most common family language system in use to attempt to raise bilingual or multilingual children. With the OPOL approach, each parent or caregiver consistently speaks only one language to the child.

It is often believed that consistency or strict OPOL is the key to the succuess of perfect bilingualism.

However, how consistently or strictly we should follow OPOL rule?

Do we have to pretend not to understand if the child asks us something in the non-target language? Can we switch language in front of children when talking outside of the four walls? Can we allow a certain degree of language-switching, code-mixing, or flexibility? Do extra “language supplements,” such as playgroups, visits from family, or a trip to the country, help children achieve perfect bilingualism if OPOL is not religously followed?

As a parent who is greatly interested in brining up baby bilingual, I particularly want to find out answers to these questions, and discover a realistic way to adapt OPOL to suit my family.

I am beginning a new series on the topics of OPOL. Today, I am reviewing some research done on OPOL system and child bilingualism.

Bringing up Baby Bilingual, chinese for children, chinese language for young children, Chinese learning for babies, OPOL, teaching young children chinese | May 18, 2011 1:41 pm | Comments (0)

The following titles are some of the most famous masterpieces that represent the highest level of Chinese animation in technique innovation and aesthetic expression. They are also typical representatives of Chinese culture and art.

Bringing up Baby Bilingual, chinese for children, chinese language for young children, Chinese learning for babies, teaching young children chinese | May 13, 2011 1:56 pm | Comments (0)

The following titles are some of the most famous masterpieces that represent the highest level of Chinese animation in technique innovation and aesthetic expression. They are also typical representatives of Chinese culture and art.

Bringing up Baby Bilingual, chinese for children, chinese language for young children, Chinese learning for babies, teaching young children chinese | April 13, 2011 10:47 am | Comments (0)