I’d like to say it’s my French training that’s getting in the way.  Truth is, I picked up that lovely little French flourish to Beijing right here in the US.  My apologies to the citizens of Beijing and Mandarin speakers everywhere.  I just never knew. 

In my continuing quest to learn Mandarin Chinese, I went back to the beginning (not very far back in my case!) to master the correct pronunciation of Beijing.  Enjoy this fun little Chinese lesson by the “Two Chinese Characters” and you’ll master it, too!  I love these guys . . . for the first time I don’t feel intimidated by this beautiful, but challenging language.  Visit the Two Chinese Characters website to learn more.

Get your little ones on their feet with the Total Physical Response (TPR) method of language learning. Dr. James J. Asher developed this effective approach calling for physical movement in response to commands.

Ready for some Olympics sports fun? 

Event:  Olympics Sports Vocabulary 

Warm-up:  Teach the sports vocabulary with both actions and visuals.  Cut out pictures of athletes doing their thing, glue them onto construction paper, and laminate.  In fact, laminate everything.  It really pays off—-some of my sports pictures are almost 20 years old!  

My littlest learners (3 and 4 year-olds) are discovering some of the sports for the very first time.  I take my time and show them how to play.  The kids repeat new words in rhythm while acting out the sports.  For example, we say “le basketball, le basketball, le basketball” while pretending to dribble.  Then I teach the words for “jump” and “throw” as we try for pretend baskets.

It’s easy-breezy to think up actions for something as active as sports.  For cycling, we sit on the floor or chairs, lift our feet, and pedal.  For swimming, we chant the word “la natation“ in unison as we do the “swim”, getting faster and faster and faster until we reach that Olympic finish line.

The only challenge for me was “la gymnastique“.  My child (of course, it would be my child) decided to do a couple of somersaults when I showed the gymnastics picture.  That fun idea resulted in a roomful of Olympic somersault-ers.  Oh la la!  I’m trying to encourage pretend balance beams, which should be a bit safer as long as my little guy doesn’t try a full-twist or some kind of crowd-pleasing, death-defying dismount.  

Competition:  Play sports charades, sports concentration, and sports pictionary.  Play the “Olympic Ring Toss Game”—kids toss a ring onto a picture of a sport, then say whether or not they like it.  Older kids can conduct interviews and polls.  

Medal Ceremony:  Everyone’s a winner!  Make up an Olympics cheer and congratulate all of the participants.  My little ones just clap and cheer “Les Olympiques sont fantastiques!”  Or why not stand and play your country’s national anthem?  

To get ideas for summer Olympic sports vocabulary in English, Spanish, French, and Chinese, visit the official website of the Beijing Olympics.  (You can change the language in the upper right corner of the page.)

Photo Credit:  by manuere at http://morguefile.com/archive/?display=220441&

Ni hao - Hello
Zai jian - Goodbye

But now, thanks to Big Bird, I can add one more expression to my repertoire:

Wo ai ni – I love you

I am truly at the novice, beginner-beginner level.  Thank goodness for pinyin (Chinese written with the Roman alphabet) and for Sesame Street!  

Children’s programming is just my speed.  You’ll have to check out Big Bird in China.  This award-winning special originally aired in 1983.  While in New York’s Chinatown, Big Bird learns about the magical phoenix that lives in China.  So, off he goes on a Chinese adventure in search of the beautiful foreign bird.  Barkley the dog comes along for the international experience, too.  And Oscar the Grouch decides to dig his way to China. Here’s a cute, short language-learning clip from Big Bird in China:

Did you know . . .

Each Olympic ring represents a continent?  In case you’re wondering, North and South America are combined as one continent, and Antarctica, which is mostly populated by penguins, is not included.

Even though the rings symbolize continents, no particular color represents a particular continent.

Baron Pierre de Coubertin, a teacher from France, invented the modern Olympic Games, the interlocking rings symbol, and the flag.  Aren’t French teachers clever?

The Olympic Rings on a white background make up the official flag of the Olympic Games.  Every single country who participates in the Olympic Games has one of these colors on its flag.

The Olympic Flag was officially adopted in 1914, and it was first flown for the 1920 Olympic Games.

The 2008 Beijing Olympic mascots, the Fuwa, each represent one of the Olympic rings?  Read my previous post Meet Fuwa to learn more about these cute little guys!

Let’s Learn a Language!  Here are the colors of the Olympic Rings:

English: blue, yellow, black, green, red

French: bleu, jaune, noir, vert, rouge

Spanish: azul, amarillo, negro, verde, rojo

German: blau, gelb, schwarz, grün, rot

Chinese: baolán, huángnse, heise, luse, hongse (Sorry, most of my accent marks are missing.  Mandarin is challenging for me!  Maybe this will video will help:)

Practice your new words, then get ready to participate in the Language Olympics.

Fly Swatter Event: Scatter colored rings around the room.  Hand competitors a fly swatter.  Call out a color in the language of your choice, and see who can be the first to swat it!

Olympic Ring Toss Event: Give each player a small flying disc.  (The ones I use look just like the Olympic Rings.  You can find them at the Oriental Trading Company.)  Set up targets in the colors of the rings.  Call off a color in the language of your choice and let the kids toss their rings.  The ring that lands closest to the correct color earns a point.

The Olympic Flag Grab Bag Event: Give each player a picture of the Olympic flag.  Place several small pieces of colored paper in a paper bag.  Pass the bag around.  Players close their eyes and reach inside for one color.  If they can identify it in a foreign language, they may keep it and place in on the matching ring on their flag.  Continue with the next player.  Whenever a duplicate color is drawn, that player loses a turn.  The first player to collect all five colors wins.

For more fun color ideas, check out  Foreign Language Color Games.

To purchase classroom materials for teaching novice-level French or English learners about the Olympic rings, follow these links:

Olympic Flag for ESL

Olympic Flag for French Learners

Want to learn a French song about the Olympic rings?  Click here.

Photo Credit:  http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Olympic_rings.svg

I’d love for my boys to get an early start learning Mandarin. But I’ve got a confession to make—-Asian languages intimidate me. Learning Chinese definitely requires me to step out of my usual English-German-Romance Language comfort zone. Chinese, with all of those symbols and tones, freaks me out.

Of course, it’s a completely different story for my language-ready preschoolers. I’m confident that they will pick it up as easily and naturally as can be. Still, I’m starting off nice and slow with something I think I can handle: Hello and Goodbye. Ready? Here we go:

Ni hao – Hello
Zai jian – Goodbye

There, that wasn’t so scary, was it? Of course, you’ve got to hear the correct pronunciation and practice it a few times. You can listen here at ClearChinese.com

Let the Olympic language games begin!  

Warm-up:  Practice these phrases with your kids.  Don’t forget a customary bow with the greeting.  

Training: Toss balls or frisbees back and forth, saying Ni hao as you catch and Zai jian as you throw.

Event:  Gather a group of fun-loving kids to play what I like to call Mandarin Duck, Duck, Goose.  Instead of “duck, duck, duck . . .” say “Ni hao, Ni hao, Ni hao . . . “; instead of “goose” say “Zai jian” and get ready to run.

Medal Ceremony:  Everyone’s a winner when you can use Ni hao and Zai jian naturally throughout every day of the Olympics.

For more ideas, visit my article on Foreign Language Greetings Games.  

Do you want to learn Chinese along with your kids?  Check out ChinesePod.com to get started:

Learn Chinese with ChinesePod.com
Learn Chinese with free lessons, vibrant community, web review, vocab study & more.

Zai jian!

Photo Credit:  http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:LogoBeijing2008-2.jpg

In just a few more weeks, I’ll be glued to the TV humming, “It’s a Small World After All.”  The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympics has arranged for 5,000 translators, mostly Beijing-based university students, to provide 55 language services.  55 languages!  Two of those 55 are official languages of the Olympic Games:  English and French.

Why French?  Well, besides being an influential language spoken worldwide, we have the French to thank for the modern Olympic Games.  Sure, the original games were a Greek invention.  But they had disappeared for over 1000 years until a teacher from France named Baron Pierre de Coubertin had the idea to bring them back.  The first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens, Greece, in 1896.  The first Winter Olympic Games were held in Chamonix, France, in 1924.

In honor of the French contribution to the Olympic Games, see if you can guess the names of some Olympic events en français.  The answers are at the bottom.  Bonne chance! 

1. Athlétisme
2. Base-ball
3. Basket-ball
4. Boxe
5. Canoë-kayak
6. Cyclisme
7. Escrime
8. Football
9. Gymnastique
10. Lutte
11. Natation
12. Sports équestres
13. Tennis de Table
14. Tir à l’arc
15. Volley-ball de plage

1-Track/Athletics, 2-Baseball, 3-Basketball, 4-Boxing, 5-Canoe/Kayak, 6-Cycling, 7-Fencing, 8-Soccer, 9-Gymnastics, 10-Wrestling, 11-Swimming, 12-Equestrian, 13-Table Tennis, 14-Archery, 15-Beach Volleyball

Photo Credit:  Public Domain from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Olympic_rings.svg

The Olympics on ShopPBS – Shop for Olympic Related DVDs at ShopPBS.org