Bao & Bun's Bilingual Journey

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Taiwan Summer Camps - I recently updated and put together a list of summer camps in Taiwan that are suitable for overseas children — ranging from the long-established NTNU Mandarin Summer Program to popular local camps like Eye on Nature. If you’re interested in getting the link to this presentation, leave me a comment, I’ll send you the link. Little Bao is still into playing with Play-Doh, even now that he’s much older. The other day, he made a character, and I asked him to tell me who the character was. A couple of days ago, little bun asked me what 紅樓夢 is about. I told her it’s a Chinese classic and she asked if it’s similar to Journey to the West and I said yes. Little Bao’s recent Chinese class requires them to write a composition about different animals and their lifestyle and environment. It’s really amazing to see how the teacher helps build those very advanced phrases and put them together into sentences, paragraphs and then one complete essay. I’m really proud of what he has done. Moving toward books without Zhuyin? Lately, I’ve been slowly but steadily working on character recognition with Little Bun. We’ll read through a column together and mark the characters she doesn’t know how to pronounce. Then she’ll write each one on a small square Post-it, and we stick them on the dining room wall where she can see them while we eat. It’s crucial at the intermediate stage that kids can find Chinese entertainment on their own. One of my son’s favorite Chinese activities is listening to audiobook through CDs. I know it’s really old fashioned but he likes it he can just pick up a CD and play on his own without my help. We don’t allow tablets yet so this is the best option he can find to play on his own. This video shows he’s listening to one of his favorite series which is called 【The Danger Zone世界歷史 CD版 】. Watching my kids’ Chinese reading progress over the past years really reminded me how much kids need frequent reading practice to keep improving. I often hear other parents say it’s hard to find time to read with their kids and I totally get it, especially as they get older and busier. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DSnIDS7kUeB/