Teaching Chinese at Home

[MyBaby]

I have these compilation CDs -

- 滚石金韵民歌 (80 Greatest Folk Songs)
- 梁文福绕梁一世 (total of 5 CDs)

I've also found some of the songs on you-tube:
- 光阴的故事 （http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrtZUUPiEMM）
- 快乐天堂 （http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5M8tB_OA8M). I like this video best as the animation is very pretty and I love the singing by the children

For some of these songs that DD likes, she will even type out the lyrics and memorise the words. She will also ask me for the meanings of the words and song. Some of the songs that appeal to her are 光阴的故事， 日出， 请你告诉她 (from 雨季 musical) ，天冷就回来.

tamarind:

MyBaby:

I've found the book list in your blog to be very useful, especially for my DD. Will check out the 雾灵三部曲（全3册) and see if can interest her to read. Besides reading, I've also introduced songs like 民歌/新谣 (eg. 童年，光阴的故事，排排坐 etc) and brought DD to musicals like 雨季 (but expensive ... )

Songs are excellent for learning Chinese. Why did you find those CDs ? I cannot seem to find them in shops any more.

Also, if a child loves a story book in English, parents can also try to find the same book translated into Chinese for him. He may be interested to read the same book again in Chinese. dangdang.com has tons of books translated into Chinese from other languages.

I read that the top PSLE scholar last year, likes to read both English and Chinese version of the same book

[tree nymph]

tamarind:

Actually I love 14只老鼠 for the beautiful illustrations, personally I think one of the joy of reading is looking at pictures. This is especially important for kids because they don't like to be told that they must be learning new words all the time. Pictures are essential for kids to understand what they are reading. Otherwise kids may be able to read many words, but they don't know how to use the words.

I also did not like the pictures in 鸡蛋哥哥 and 永远永远爱你, but my boy loves these books very much and he has read them many times. So kids really think differently from adults.

In fact, for 笑猫日记, at first I did not think it is very good because I just quickly scanned through. But after I asked my girl to read every word out loud to me, I realized kids find these books are interesting because the writing style is humorous, the characters are well defined, the author writes about things that matter to kids.

Hi Tam,
I thought you boy will like 永远永远爱你 series, cos its all dinosaurs! Personally, I like the series, cos I thought the stories are quite moving and the values behind is quite good. My kids love them too.

Thanks for the recommendation of the books, I'm getting some from dangdang. I also want to get some books with bigger words for my gal, else I may have to think up of some stories and write it for her liao. and I'm TOO busy to do it! Need to get her to practise reading more Chinese books else...

[tree nymph]

MyBaby:

I have these compilation CDs -

- 滚石金韵民歌 (80 Greatest Folk Songs)
- 梁文福绕梁一世 (total of 5 CDs)

I've also found some of the songs on you-tube:
- 光阴的故事 （http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrtZUUPiEMM）
- 快乐天堂 （http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5M8tB_OA8M). I like this video best as the animation is very pretty and I love the singing by the children

For some of these songs that DD likes, she will even type out the lyrics and memorise the words. She will also ask me for the meanings of the words and song. Some of the songs that appeal to her are 光阴的故事， 日出， 请你告诉她 (from 雨季 musical) ，天冷就回来.

Hi!

These are my favourite songs too! could you tell me if you have complied both the CDs yourself? These songs have also accompanied me through my growing up years too and I remembered going to bras basah complex for the open air concert for xingyao...

[porcupine12trade]

toddles:

I find it very frustrating to find chinese books in the library. If I have nothing in mind, browsing to sift out gems is near impossible. most of them have very thin pages and the words are 密密麻麻. if there is something specific, the cataloging (to me) is also quite inexplicable.

so for those that are 'keepers', should just buy direct from dangdang. or through one of those motherhood forum sprees that are always ongoing. If you buy more than 100 sgd, the shipping can be capped at 20% of book price, which is a good deal. can PM me if you want more info, I don't organise but have participated in a few.

Hi toddles

You mean if i order from dangdang.com >SGD200, the shipping is only 20%? I did not get this \"promo\" leh, how to get it? aiyo so stupid, i paid so much for the shipping liao

Hi Tamarind,

How to get a refund from dangdang if we do not like the books? Thanks!

[porcupine12trade]

and yes, if we do not have specific books in mind, it's almost impossible to sieve out good books from the library, be it chinese or eng. So i usually check at home first for the books i want, I i can find many, i will make a trip to the library


Tamarind is it you who reco the book The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe? I found it in the library and my gal loves it, though she has nvr watched Narnia. Anymore books to reco? We are running out of books to borrow, the usual ones she borrows are rainbow magic (i dont like), tiara club (i dont like), magic ballerina, all enid blytons esp the adventure ones, naughty gal, malory towers etc, nancy drew, roald dahl, and others i cant rem.. I have no idea what else to search in the library for her. I buy quite many books too, esp those i feel may benefit my #2, #3.

[porcupine12trade]

tamarind:

Actually I love 14只老鼠 for the beautiful illustrations, personally I think one of the joy of reading is looking at pictures. This is especially important for kids because they don't like to be told that they must be learning new words all the time. Pictures are essential for kids to understand what they are reading. Otherwise kids may be able to read many words, but they don't know how to use the words.

I also did not like the pictures in 鸡蛋哥哥 and 永远永远爱你, but my boy loves these books very much and he has read them many times. So kids really think differently from adults.

In fact, for 笑猫日记, at first I did not think it is very good because I just quickly scanned through. But after I asked my girl to read every word out loud to me, I realized kids find these books are interesting because the writing style is humorous, the characters are well defined, the author writes about things that matter to kids.

Ya i tot the pics in these books are very nice! but my #2 was put off by the small words. I will try again today coz she was probably tired yday and 14只老鼠 is not as brightly coloured..mostly tones of brown, yellow etc haaa

Mo fa xiao gong zhu li li has very nice colour, my #1 was excited abt it and grabbed it for silent reading today, will see if she likes it :).

[toddles]

porcupine12trade:

and yes, if we do not have specific books in mind, it's almost impossible to sieve out good books from the library, be it chinese or eng. So i usually check at home first for the books i want, I i can find many, i will make a trip to the library


Tamarind is it you who reco the book The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe? I found it in the library and my gal loves it, though she has nvr watched Narnia. Anymore books to reco? We are running out of books to borrow, the usual ones she borrows are rainbow magic (i dont like), tiara club (i dont like), magic ballerina, all enid blytons esp the adventure ones, naughty gal, malory towers etc, nancy drew, roald dahl, and others i cant rem.. I have no idea what else to search in the library for her. I buy quite many books too, esp those i feel may benefit my #2, #3.

I would love to get my hands on this. A bit too advanced for my kids, but definitely a keeper!

http://www.amazon.com/Stories-Poems-Extremely-Intelligent-Children/dp/0684868733

I find it easy to find good english books for young kids... esp the boardbook types, since they have a section of those in every library.

[toddles]

porcupine12trade:

toddles:

I find it very frustrating to find chinese books in the library. If I have nothing in mind, browsing to sift out gems is near impossible. most of them have very thin pages and the words are 密密麻麻. if there is something specific, the cataloging (to me) is also quite inexplicable.

so for those that are 'keepers', should just buy direct from dangdang. or through one of those motherhood forum sprees that are always ongoing. If you buy more than 100 sgd, the shipping can be capped at 20% of book price, which is a good deal. can PM me if you want more info, I don't organise but have participated in a few.

Hi toddles

You mean if i order from dangdang.com >SGD200, the shipping is only 20%? I did not get this \"promo\" leh, how to get it? aiyo so stupid, i paid so much for the shipping liao

I was referring to the sprees organised at some local forums... cos they order in bulk (like HUGE bulk) so save on shipping cos spread across quite a few buyers. PM me if you would like some self-explanatory links...

[porcupine12trade]

toddles:

porcupine12trade:

[quote=\"toddles\"]

I find it very frustrating to find chinese books in the library. If I have nothing in mind, browsing to sift out gems is near impossible. most of them have very thin pages and the words are 密密麻麻. if there is something specific, the cataloging (to me) is also quite inexplicable.

so for those that are 'keepers', should just buy direct from dangdang. or through one of those motherhood forum sprees that are always ongoing. If you buy more than 100 sgd, the shipping can be capped at 20% of book price, which is a good deal. can PM me if you want more info, I don't organise but have participated in a few.

Hi toddles

You mean if i order from dangdang.com >SGD200, the shipping is only 20%? I did not get this \"promo\" leh, how to get it? aiyo so stupid, i paid so much for the shipping liao

I was referring to the sprees organised at some local forums... cos they order in bulk (like HUGE bulk) so save on shipping cos spread across quite a few buyers. PM me if you would like some self-explanatory links...[/quote]Hi toddlers,

I pm'ed you. I just saw in SMH's \"bulk purchase\" for dangdang and shipping cap at 20%. Sigh too bad i too kancheong, ordered alot liao :p. But would appreciate if u can reply my PM on these sprees, so i can join on my next purchase, thanks v much

[MyBaby]

Ha ha, I think all these bring back more memories for the mummies than our kids :lol:


The 2 CDs are commercial compilation CDs. I bought them in Singapore but some years back.

滚石金韵民歌 is a box of 4 CDs, each with 20 songs, released in 2004. 滚石just held a 30 yr celebration concert and there might be some newer compilation CDs out in the shops.

梁文福绕梁一世 was released in 2007 by Ocean Butterflies (海蝶) - should be a box of 6 CDs (not 5). You can check out this url for the look of the box-set http://www.chinesealbumart.com/2008/05/albums_5433.html but it does not tell you where to buy from...

tree nymph:

MyBaby:

I have these compilation CDs -
- 滚石金韵民歌 (80 Greatest Folk Songs)
- 梁文福绕梁一世 (total of 5 CDs)

I've also found some of the songs on you-tube:
- 光阴的故事 （http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrtZUUPiEMM）
- 快乐天堂 （http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5M8tB_OA8M). I like this video best as the animation is very pretty and I love the singing by the children

For some of these songs that DD likes, she will even type out the lyrics and memorise the words. She will also ask me for the meanings of the words and song. Some of the songs that appeal to her are 光阴的故事， 日出， 请你告诉她 (from 雨季 musical) ，天冷就回来.

Hi!

These are my favourite songs too! could you tell me if you have complied both the CDs yourself? These songs have also accompanied me through my growing up years too and I remembered going to bras basah complex for the open air concert for xingyao...