I'm Still Here!

Just thought I'd pop in and let you know that I haven't dropped off the face of the earth. Also a BIG welcome to all my new followers!!! Thank you so much for joining me on this journey. I hope you find this info as helpful as I have!

I have just had a wonderfully sick pregnancy and even though I'm over half way now, I'm still getting sick at least once each week which is very annoying. I'm also a little sidetracked with sewing and knitting baby stuff. :-)

Aside from that, I did start reading our Chinese books to my son again and he has now been asking me what each page says and then repeats it back to me. He just turned 3 and has realised that when you read a book, you read the words (or in Chinese, characters) that are on the page so he likes to know what they all say. I finally got my ipod replaced too (there are some perks to having my husband work in an Apple store!) so we have been able to listen to his Chinese songs again. It's so cute to hear him copying everything they say and sing. He still isn't really doing tones yet but I can hear some tonal change in his voice which is an improvement. I can't wait to see how our new little bub takes to Mandarin as he (yes, it's a boy!!!) will get to hear it from the moment he is born. He'll also have his big brother using Chinese so it won't just be me talking.

Well I hope to get back into this very soon. I have the rest of the flashcards for my 1st textbook to post and I am always stumbling across more wonderful Mandarin resources that I can't wait to add here.

Thanks for reading!!!

Another Little Chinese Student is on the Way...

Thought I'd better give a quick explanation of why I've been so quiet lately. I've got another little bubba on the way, due next November! I've been feeling pretty sick and tired for the last couple of months so haven't been able to do much about learning Chinese, let alone doing the stuff I 'have' to do like keeping the house clean and cooking. My little son has kept me on my toes though pulling out Chinese flashcards and begging to play and practice Chinese. He has also started choosing to count in Chinese instead of English which is great. It will be very interesting to see how things go with our new bub hearing Chinese from the day he/she is born. I didn't start learning until my son was 1 1/2 so I'm curious to see if speaking Chinese seems even more natural to bub #2. Hopefully I'll start feeling better in the coming weeks and will be able to be a bit more active in my learning and finding more great stuff to post here. :-)

My Son & Chinese

This year since my babysitter has gone back to work, I am not able to attend Chinese classes. :-( I'm disappointed because this will only prolong the process of learning the language and increasing my proficiency. Anyway, I'm doing my best to keep up what I have learnt so far and slowly add new words and phrases along the way. It really helps that I am teaching my son what I have learnt because we can speak it to each other and I have some way to practice...even if it isn't ideal. He is 2 1/2 years old.

It's so great to see him pick up Chinese while he is learning English. I try and use Chinese and English words when teaching him different things so that he learns right from the start that different languages exist and we can easily use and learn each language. I really hope to help him grow up with the idea that being bilingual is a completely normal and great part of life.

I have a set of books for him to read in Chinese that are all on simple topics suitable for children and I had the most wonderful experience a few weeks ago when I saw him pick up one of the books and tell himself the story in Chinese!!!! He can't read but he had completely (almost perfectly) memorised the story in Mandarin. It was so rewarding to see some results from my effort to teach him. Because he is so young, he just picks up the words as though he was learning English words and it is completely normal to him. I can even ask him simple sentences like 这是谁？ (who is this?) and he understands and answers me! It's really exciting. :-)

I discovered 'international schools' the other day. Ok, maybe it has taken me awhile but anyway, I finally discovered them and would totally love to teach at one and send my son to one. One particular school I looked at in China has 2 teachers for every class, one Chinese and one Western, so that everything is done bilingually and multiculturally. I would love to give my son this wonderful opportunity to learn about Chinese culture and learn the language while he is young. My husband will finish his teaching degree in a couple of years so we are considering applying for teaching jobs then and heading over and with us teaching at an international school, it makes the perfect opportunity for our son to attend and for us all to really increase our knowledge and proficiency in the language. I don't know whether this will happen but I am so glad I discovered this option and I hope we will get the opportunity to make the most of it.