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Chinese Playgroup #1 🏡♥
Last Saturday was our first Chinese playgroup. We're two* semi-fluent families with a fifth grader, a fourth grader, a second grader and a kindergartner. The kids stayed engaged for 40+ minutes; all in all, it went well.
We started with the song 我的朋友在哪里 (Where is My Friend?). I've taught this song (first verse only) to two different co-op preschool groups; it's repetitive and very easy to learn. Plus, "一二三四五六七" is one of the first things kids learn when they learn Chinese.
(My kindergartner Brooks wrote the pinyin and 一二三四五六七 for this song.)
Next, we introduced ourselves (even though we already know one another) with a simple "我叫NAME. 我AGE岁."
Afterward, we had a super brief show-and-tell where the kids bring an item from home and say "这是OBJECT."
- River said "这是老鼠 (lǎo shǔ)" and "这是鼠标 (shǔ biāo)." "This is a mouse" and "This is a (computing) mouse." This actually has endless circling possibilities.
- Brooks pointed to the XBox and said "那是游戏机 (yóu xì jī)." "That's a game console."
I didn't ask my kids any follow-up questions because they have extremely limited Chinese vocabulary.
- A said "这是眼镜." I asked her "这是你的眼镜吗?" And then "你的眼镜是粉红色还是紫色?" She wants to say "galaxy color" but neither adults have any idea how to say that...
This one also has circling possibilities (眼镜 glasses vs. 眼睛 eyes) if your kids don't already know the vocabulary.
- N said "这是牙齿." He just had his tooth extracted earlier that day. This would actually make a really great show-and-tell conversation, but my Chinese level is not good enough to come up with follow-up questions on the spot. (I'll level up, I promise!)
Next, we did a hand & foot radical activity. I showed them what 手 and 足 look like as radicals. I haven't set up the activity yet, so V led the group while I put up post-its at random on the wall. She asked them what their favorite colors are.
Radicals snatch-up game:
1. You can only grab two Post-it notes at a time.
2. Sort the characters into two piles depending on their radical.
3. Take turns reading your character piles.
We only have four kids in our group, so I only have two Post-it notes for every character.
Since all the characters were action verbs, I had each child pick two characters to read and act out.
(There was a bit of contention on what radical this character has. A insisted that "It's obvious!")
Lastly, we did Bingo that V prepared using BingoBaker. A was very motivated and wanted to do another round. The other kids, however, were getting antsy. We ended the playgroup there and ate the cookies V made instead.
* I was inspired by this MultilingualChildren article that says, "Fewer than three is not really a group, but go ahead and start anyhow!"
Plans for next playgroup, which happens to be on the weekend of Dragon Boat Festival:
1. SONG:
1a. 我的朋友在哪里 (Where is My Friend?)
Show/teach them the ASL gestures for 我的 (My), 朋友 (Friend), 在哪里 (Where) and 在这里 (Here).
1b. Teach them 小白兔，白又白 (Little white bunny)
2. INTRODUCTION:
Introduce their sibling instead of themselves.
"这是我的RELATION. 我的RELATION叫NAME. 我的RELATION AGE岁了."
3. READ-ALOUD:
Read a book on Dragon Boat Festival.
4. SHOW AND TELL:
"这是OBJECT."
One or two additional sentence about the object's color/size/physical characteristics.
Ask follow-up questions as appropriate.
5. ACTIVITY #1:
Have each child read and act out two or three action verbs from last playgroup's radicals snatch-up game.
(?) 6. ACTIVITY #2:
Bingo, if time and attention span permits
7. ACTIVITY #3:
Build dragon boats out of drink cartons/bottles and cardstock dragon head & tail. I have a laminator in case the kids want to make the boat water-resistant.
8. REFRESHMENTS:
粽子 (zòng zi) and cookies 饼干 (bǐng gān), labeled with their Chinese names.
We started with the song 我的朋友在哪里 (Where is My Friend?). I've taught this song (first verse only) to two different co-op preschool groups; it's repetitive and very easy to learn. Plus, "一二三四五六七" is one of the first things kids learn when they learn Chinese.
(My kindergartner Brooks wrote the pinyin and 一二三四五六七 for this song.)
Next, we introduced ourselves (even though we already know one another) with a simple "我叫NAME. 我AGE岁."
Afterward, we had a super brief show-and-tell where the kids bring an item from home and say "这是OBJECT."
- River said "这是老鼠 (lǎo shǔ)" and "这是鼠标 (shǔ biāo)." "This is a mouse" and "This is a (computing) mouse." This actually has endless circling possibilities.
- Brooks pointed to the XBox and said "那是游戏机 (yóu xì jī)." "That's a game console."
I didn't ask my kids any follow-up questions because they have extremely limited Chinese vocabulary.
- A said "这是眼镜." I asked her "这是你的眼镜吗?" And then "你的眼镜是粉红色还是紫色?" She wants to say "galaxy color" but neither adults have any idea how to say that...
This one also has circling possibilities (眼镜 glasses vs. 眼睛 eyes) if your kids don't already know the vocabulary.
- N said "这是牙齿." He just had his tooth extracted earlier that day. This would actually make a really great show-and-tell conversation, but my Chinese level is not good enough to come up with follow-up questions on the spot. (I'll level up, I promise!)
Next, we did a hand & foot radical activity. I showed them what 手 and 足 look like as radicals. I haven't set up the activity yet, so V led the group while I put up post-its at random on the wall. She asked them what their favorite colors are.
Radicals snatch-up game:
1. You can only grab two Post-it notes at a time.
2. Sort the characters into two piles depending on their radical.
3. Take turns reading your character piles.
We only have four kids in our group, so I only have two Post-it notes for every character.
Since all the characters were action verbs, I had each child pick two characters to read and act out.
(There was a bit of contention on what radical this character has. A insisted that "It's obvious!")
Lastly, we did Bingo that V prepared using BingoBaker. A was very motivated and wanted to do another round. The other kids, however, were getting antsy. We ended the playgroup there and ate the cookies V made instead.
* I was inspired by this MultilingualChildren article that says, "Fewer than three is not really a group, but go ahead and start anyhow!"
Plans for next playgroup, which happens to be on the weekend of Dragon Boat Festival:
1. SONG:
1a. 我的朋友在哪里 (Where is My Friend?)
Show/teach them the ASL gestures for 我的 (My), 朋友 (Friend), 在哪里 (Where) and 在这里 (Here).
1b. Teach them 小白兔，白又白 (Little white bunny)
2. INTRODUCTION:
Introduce their sibling instead of themselves.
"这是我的RELATION. 我的RELATION叫NAME. 我的RELATION AGE岁了."
3. READ-ALOUD:
Read a book on Dragon Boat Festival.
4. SHOW AND TELL:
"这是OBJECT."
One or two additional sentence about the object's color/size/physical characteristics.
Ask follow-up questions as appropriate.
5. ACTIVITY #1:
Have each child read and act out two or three action verbs from last playgroup's radicals snatch-up game.
Bingo, if time and attention span permits
7. ACTIVITY #3:
Build dragon boats out of drink cartons/bottles and cardstock dragon head & tail. I have a laminator in case the kids want to make the boat water-resistant.
8. REFRESHMENTS:
粽子 (zòng zi) and cookies 饼干 (bǐng gān), labeled with their Chinese names.