Saturday, May 23, 2015

Play "Spot It" in Chinese to learn colors, shapes, & numbers

"Spot It" is one of our favorite children's games. There are several different versions of spot it, but we prefer the letters, shapes, and numbers version to play with our kids.




Spot it, numbers, shapes, colors



There are several ways to play, but no matter how you do it it's all about matching. We think it's fun because it's very fast paced. There are 31 cards, and every card has one number or shape that matches another number or shape on another card. They are also color specific. We put all the cards in the middle, and everyone gets one card. Then, if you find what matches on your card with the cards in the middle, you add that middle card to your own pile. You keep on playing until all the cards in the middle are gone, and whoever got the most wins.

This game is really easy to play in Chinese, and it's great for teaching colors, shapes, and numbers! Just make your kids say the match they found outloud in Chinese, and before you know it they will have mastered colors, numbers, and shapes.

Here is our kids playing it:





If you're new to Chinese, no problem! Here's the words you need to know to play this game:


Red 红色 Hóng sè
Yellow 黄色 huáng sè
Orange 橘色 (or 橙色) jú sè(chéng sè)
Green 绿色 lǜ sè
Blue 蓝色 lán sè
Purple 紫色 zǐ sè
Square 正方形 zhèngfāngxíng
Circle 圆形 yuán xíng
Triangle 三角形 sānjiǎoxíng
Rectangle 长方形 chángfāngxíng
One 一 yī
Two 二 Èr
Three 三 sān
Four 四 sì
Five 五 wǔ
Six 六 liù
Seven 七 qī
Eight 八 bā
Nine 九 jiǔ


What other games do you like to play in Chinese?


Sunday, May 17, 2015

Having a garage sale

We're moving soon... trying to get rid of some of our Chinese stuff! It's kind of an eye opener realizing how much stuff we've accumulated. This is what we're willing to part with, but we have tons more we are keeping and taking with us.



Thursday, May 14, 2015

Who got eaten 谁被吃了 (Bilingual Chinese / English book)

App name: Who got eaten
Developer: Tinman Arts(Chengdu) Co.,Ltd
Cost: Free
Target Age range: 3-8 years old
Type of app: Chinese immersion
Language: English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese
Our description: There are a lot of bilingual English / Chinese book apps on the market. Many of them are free, and they are of varying quality. They generally all follow the same pattern, with a menu that lets you choose English or Chinese narration. You can autoplay or read yourself. They are pretty spiffy. The only feature missing from all these books (this app included) is the ability to touch the words and here narration of words you touch, which is a common feature in US apps such as the Dr. Dr. Seuss books.

Many of these English / Chinese story apps we've seen previously are Chinese takes on American fairy tales. They can be fun because we are familiar with the stories, but they can also be weird because they aren't quite the same as the versions we're used to. This story is a wonderful breath of fresh air. It's a story about animals eating animals, illustrating how the food chain works. We think it's very educational, and it's fun because the story periodically stops and has sticker activities.

Cons: The opening has lots of advertisements to other Tinman apps
The bottom line: This is one of the more interesting English / Chinese story apps we've seen. It's even educational and teaches about the food chain.
Our rating: 5/5


The menu of Who got eaten






What do you think?

Sunday, May 3, 2015

Like us on Facebook!

Just a reminder to like us on Facebook! When we get 50 likes we will do a giveaway (potentially of A Little Mandarin)!

Saturday, May 2, 2015

Podcast 6 -- Chinese Folktale 1 (The Sly Fox 狡猾的狐狸)

We are back with our 6th podcast! This podcast will be great for adult learners of Chinese, too. When we first came up with the idea for doing podcasts, all we really wanted was to have interesting or fun things in Chinese for our kids to listen to. We think this hits the nail on the head. Kids love stories, and this is a Chinese folktale about a sly fox. It's about 8 minutes long, and we read it in both English and Chinese. We hope to do many more stories in the future!



Please give us a 5 star review on iTunes if you enjoy the podcast!

Subscribe and listen to us on iTunes here!



If you are new to podcasting and don't have an apple product, you can add our feed URL to any podcasting app on Android or any other platform:

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/tkcrssfeed/Teach_Kids_Chinese_XML_1-1.xml

Alternatively, listen here:



Or download the MP3 here

Enjoy! Don't be afraid to comment below!


Text of the story:

The sly fox 狡猾的狐

Two cats were fighting over some food 两只猫互相争夺美食。
Cat 1 said: “I found it, so it’s mine!”“这是我发现的,所以是我的!”
Cat 2 said  “No, I found it first, it should be mine!”“不对,我先发现的,应该是我的!”
Cat 1 said  “No, I was first, give it to me!”“不,是我先的,拿来!”
Cat 2 said  “I won’t give it to you!”“才不给哩!”
Cat 1 said  “Let go!”“放手啊!”
Cat 2 said  “I won’t let go!”“才不放手!
Both cats wouldn’t give in, and they grabbed tightly to the food and didn’t let go. 两只猫互不退让,紧抓着食物不放。
A fox that was walking by stopped, and looked at them with his shiny eyes. 过路的狐狸停住了脚,用两只闪亮的眼睛看了看。
Then he got right in between the two cats. 然后硬闯入这两只猫中间。
Uncle Fox said: “Children, what are you fighting about?”“孩子们,你们吵什么?”
Cat 1 said  “Um… Uncle Fox, please judge, he wants to steal the food I found!” “嗯!狐狸伯伯,请评理,是他想抢走我发现的食物啊!”
Cat 2 said  “Wrong, I found it!”“不对,这是我先发现的!”
Uncle Fox said: “OK, I know! Uncle Fox will fairly split the food in half. Stop fighting, and go get a scale.”“我知道了,知道了!伯伯会好好地把食物分成两半的,不要在吵了,去拿秤来.
The fox divided the food into two halves, and he weighed them on the scale. 狐狸将食物分成两半,并且用秤量了起来。
Uncle Fox said: “Gee, the right side is heavier!” “咦,右边比较重喔!”
As the fox said this, he ate a small bite from the half of the food on the right. 狐狸说着就把右边的一半咬下了一小口。
Uncle Fox said: “Ah! This time the left side is heavier!”“啊!这次变成左边比较重啦!”
Then the fox again ate another bite from the right side. 接着狐狸又咬了一口右边的食物。
Uncle Fox said: “Now the right side is too light!”“这样右边又太轻了!”
Next he ate a bite from the left side.于是再咬下一口左边的。
The two cats watched with open eyes as the food on the scale became the size of a bean. 两只猫睁着眼睛看着秤上的食物,变成了豆粒般大小。
Cat 1 said, “There's really no choice, just let uncle eat it all, I guess! “实在没办法啦!就让伯伯吃光吧!”
As a result the fox ate up all the food, and then even said "Ah! So yummy! Ok, bye!"  结果狐狸把食物吃的一干二净,还说:“啊!真好吃!嗨!再见了!”
What a sly fox! 多么狡猾的狐狸呀!
Cat 1 said "how great it would have been if only we didn't fight and equally shared the food!"  “我们两个如果不吵架,好好的把那食物分开来吃该多好啊!”

The two cats hung their head in sadness, and afterwards were never willing to fight again. 垂头丧气,以后再也不敢吵架了。