I was just looking through my son’s Highlights magazine (www.Highlights.com) and I came across a fantastic game that can be effectively adapted to help kids practice numbers in Spanish, French, Chinese . . . any foreign language.  In the March 2010 issue there’s an activity on pg. 38 by Jennifer Coleman called “Make 11.”  Two players count to three and extend any number of fingers.  Count the total number of fingers between the two players in the target language.  See how many tries it takes to equal 11.

11 ELEVEN

onze (French)

once (Spanish)

elf (German)

undici (Italian)

ju-ichi (Japanese)

shí y? (Mandarin)

I’m going to play with an entire classroom of children this afternoon, but I’ll make it a wee bit competitive by seeing which set of players can be the first to make eleven.

Have fun playing!  Thank you, Highlights, for another fantastic idea.

Photo Credit: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/935146

I’ve recently become a fan of the award-winning Little Pim language learning dvd’s for children.  They are cute, eye-catching, and age-appropriate for the littlest language learners.  The short segments are just right for holding my 4 year old’s attention. He repeated some words in Spanish with no prompting, and then he asked to watch the dvd again. Yay!

The web site contains some free little gems, too: coloring pages, other printables, and my favorite–the Talking Coloring Book.  Check out this video by Little Pim’s creator, Julia Pimsleur Levine:

Little Pim DVD’s are available in these languages:

Spanish

French

Japanese

Mandarin Chinese

Italian

Hebrew

English/ESL

Introduce your baby, toddler, or preschooler to another language with Little Pim!

Ni Hao! I just came across a few fantastic online articles about the benefits of learning Mandarin:

Why You Should Learn Chinese by Ryan Edward

Why Let Kids Learn Chinese  from NewsForNatives.com

Starting young is the way to go! In case you don’t have access to children’s Mandarin classes in your area, check out some of these dvd’s.  Why not create a little Chinese “staycation” this summer?  You can learn words and phrases with the videos, eat a Chinese meal with chopsticks, and make some crafts (from artistshelpingchildren.org)  Have a great trip!

Image Credit: by Simona Dumitru at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/933050

I’ve come across a few interesting articles this week that I’d like to share.  Here are some news stories from the world of foreign language education:

Utah leads the nation in public school students learning Mandarin.  Not only is there a high percentage of secondary students learning Chinese, but the language is finding its way into elementary schools, as well.  By next year, 6000 students in the state will be learning Chinese.  Furthermore, 21 elementary schools in Utah will soon implement dual immersion programs in Mandarin, Spanish, and French.    Way to go, Utah!

New preschool language programs near Gainesville, GA.  Hall County Schools recently received a grant to fund four preschool immersion programs.  Get this–students will learn in three languages:  English, Spanish, and Chinese .  90% of instruction will be in Spanish, 10% in English, and then there is also an hour of Mandarin at the end of every day.  There’s already a waiting list.   If I lived in the area, you’d better believe my four year old would be on it!    

Language programs successful despite rocky economy.  Houston’s Rice University language classes continue to thrive as professionals aim to make themselves more marketable.

Seniors learn Spanish.  What a wonderful idea!  A resident at a senior living center in Colorado is teaching a Spanish class to the other residents.  That will keep minds sharp!  This article got me thinking . . . wouldn’t it be cool to teach the young and old together?  My family used to frequent a nursing home to visit a relative, and my oldest son who was 5 at the time absolutely loved to go.  He would make little presents to give to the residents and he loved all of the attention he received.  Maybe we could go volunteer together and teach some French. 

$125,000 teacher salaries!  Okay, this article isn’t about foreign language education per se, but as a teacher I am intrigued.  The Equity Project is an innovative charter middle school in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City.  They’ve recently hired a dream team of teachers.  The founder is out to prove that teacher excellence is the critical ingredient for a school’s success.  What’s really amazing is that this charter school is simply reallocating existing public funds.  The principal will earn less than the teachers, and other administrative positions have been eliminated.  The teachers’ days are long:  7:45 – 5:00.  But many, many teachers I know already put in those kind of hours as well as work at home.  The Equity Project teachers have three planning times built into their day, and they teach only one course to four different groups of students.   There is a 6 week intensive planning session in the summer.  Not only will teachers earn $125,000, they also have the possibility of earning a $25,000 bonus.  They can be fired at any time.  The school will serve mostly students from low-income Hispanic families.  In case you were wondering about the foreign language offered at the Equity School–it’s Latin.  If they ever need a French teacher , I’m available

Image credit:  by sanja gjenero  at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/853246

Dankie (Afrikaans)

Shukran (Arabic)

Dekuji (Czech)

Tak (Danish)

Dank u wel (Dutch)

Dankon (Esperanto)

Kiitos (Finnish)

Merci (French)

Danke (German)

Mahalo (Hawaiian)

Toda (Hebrew)

Shukriya (Hindi)

Takk (Icelandic)

Grazie (Italian)

Arigato (Japanese)

Grazzi (Maltese)

Xie xie (Mandarin Chinese)

Dziekuje (Polish)

Multumesc (Romanian)

Spasibo (Russian)

Gracias (Spanish)

Ahsante (Swahili)

Tack (Swedish)

Photo Credit: by cidinha28 at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/772189

There isn’t Chinese in my son’s school just yet, but we’re getting ready with the Early Start Mandarin Chinese Bao Bei the Panda dvds.  These age-appropriate programs are prepared especially for preschool learners.  Check out my previous post about Volume One to learn more.  I really like the variety of visuals and creative repetition in the Early Start Mandarin series.

In Volume Two, you and your kids will learn numbers and fruits in Chinese.  The written words in pinyin are provided at the end of the program.  As an adult learner, it’s helpful for me to have a little cheat sheet.  Hope the following vocabulary lists help you out, too.   (I don’t have access to all the accents I need.  Forgive the missing ones.)

Numbers:

1  yi

2  èr

3  san

4  sì

5  wu

Fruits:

apple - píng guo

banana – xiang jiao

grape – pú tao

Stop by the Early Start Mandarin site to purchase your Chinese dvd’s.  Just imagine the future opportunities you’ll provide your kids!

I’ll be the first to admit it:  I feel challenged by Mandarin Chinese.  Although I was concentrating intensely, most of the time I was thinking, “What did they say?”  Meanwhile, my 3 year-old was repeating the words.  No biggie.  And Chinese colors?  Honest to goodness they all sounded alike to me.  My 5 year-old set me straight,  ”No, Mom, that’s yellow.  This is how you say red . . . ”  Just goes to prove that preschoolers are language sponges and the Bao-Bei approach is working.  Fortunately, the written words are provided at the end of the program.  After a few viewings and the written words in pinyin, it’s finally starting to sink in for Mommy, too.

Here’s just some of what you and your kids will learn with Bao-Bei in Volume 1:  (Forgive a few of the missing accents.  My computer is having difficulty learning Chinese, too!)

Ni hao – Hello

Bao Bèi – Treasure

Xio péng yu – Little Friend

Tiào – Hop (nice opportunity for TPR–Total Physical Response method.)

Yán sè – Colors

Hóng sè – Red

Lán sè – Bue

Huáng sè – Yellow

Lu sè – Green

Dòng wù – Animals

Go – Dog

Mao – Cat

Ya zi – Duck

Tù zi – Rabbit

Zài Jiàn – Goodbye

Xiè xiè – Thank you

It’s really encouraging to see my kids respond to Chinese like it’s no big deal.  They hop around, repeat words, and it’s sinking in naturally.  Hurray!

To order or download the Bao-Bei DVD’s, visit the Early Start Mandarin Chinese website.

You can also order from the links below:

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: