Using Minecraft to bribe our kids into learning Chinese

Yes, we bribe our kids, and we're not ashamed of it. Although this isn't really a parenting blog, I guess a lot of teaching your kids Chinese comes down to how you parent. There are lots of resources on this site to help you teach your kids Chinese, but what good are resources if you don't implement them? We have found a lot of success recently, and we just wanted to share. If you parent in a different way, I hope that sharing our experience will be helpful in one way or another to you.

We tried many times in the past to have a rewards system to help our kids make good choices. We tried sticker charts and point systems, but they always seemed to fizzle out. One day, I realized it was because there wasn't an adequate reward that the kids could work for. Our oldest is 6 years old, and all of his friends are starting to talk about Minecraft. That was a light bulb moment!

Here is how we implemented it.

We downloaded a simple star reward system for our phone:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.starspointskids

(White stars are 1 point, gold stars 2 points, red stars -1 point, black stars -2 points)

We established a few basic rules to establish law and order in our house:

• Hitting = black star
• Using bad language = red star
• Getting up on time for breakfast in the morning = white star
• Miss the bus = black star
• Do homework as soon as get home = White star
• Practice piano = White star
• Don't practice piano = Black star
• Pick up dog poop = Gold star
• etc etc etc

What are the consequences of points?

• Have negative points by dinner time = Go straight to bed
• Have 10 points = 1 hour of Minecraft

It sounds simple and cheesy, but this has really helped our 3, 5, and 6 year old boys. It has been very effective. They love earning white and gold stars, and getting red and black stars allows us to keep our calm and let the stars be the enemies. We are not the bad guys and we don't have to yell, they simply broke the rules and suffer the consequences. And, of course, they love love love minecraft and will often do anything it takes to earn more points.

Which leads us to.... getting white stars for practicing Chinese!

One way that we do this is offering a white star for writing a page of Chinese characters in the little workbooks that we have. Our kids have happily written page after page of Chines characters, all in the quest to play Minecraft:

These little books are great for learning Chinese characters. They have the pinyin to help you pronounce and look up the word if you don't know it, pictures, tracing, stoke order, and then empty boxes to write it on your own. Books are way more convenient than printing out pages from the internet. Kids love having their own little workbook.

Where to get them?

We carry them at my store, Sharon's Dynasty!

The books we sell are slightly different than the ones pictured above, with all the same features:

As far as we know, our store has the best prices on the internet! Each book is only $3.99. Check it out if you're interested!

给我糖果 (Give me Candy)

We just had fun making a new video. Watch it and see if it doesn't make you smile a little bit and maybe help some kids learn a bit of Chinese!

Happy Sunshine Friends

We were emailed by the creator of "Happy Sunshine Friends" with some short educational Chinese videos they made. They are pretty well made and we're always glad when people are creating more Chinese content. Check them out!

Little Pim Chinese for kids -- Free with Amazon Prime

We're back! Sorry for the relatively long absence... we moved across the country, bought a house, started a new job, got a dog, etc etc etc. Life is busy! But it's calmed down just a tad so maybe we'll start writing more again.

Thanks everyone for liking us on facebooks! Up to 49 likes, keep them coming! We're almost to 50, so we'll try to organize a giveaway of "A Little Mandarin!"

And now for today's subject: Little Pim's series of Chinese videos for kids

What is it: These are roughly 30 minute videos entirely in Chinese that go over basic vocabulary. They are clearly meant for kids learning Chinese as a second language. There's lots of footage of kids doing things like eating, sleeping, playing, and then the narrator will say the vocabulary word that is featured on the TV screen. They also display the pinyin that goes along with it.

Target Age Range: 1-5

Pros: It's free if you have amazon prime! There's lots of footage of other kids, and our three kids under age 5 are all somewhat entertained because of this. The mandarin is also clearly spoken, and it's helpful for those that can read pinyin. Kids that don't know much mandarin or don't have parents who speak Mandarin will probably learn a lot from this.

Cons: It's sort of boring... the pace is very slow and there's just not that much that's fun or interesting about it. It's sort of like glorified flash cards. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, just know what you're getting. By the end of one 33 minute episode, my 3 and 5 year old were wrestling on the floor and had completely lost interest. This is probably something you're going to have to watch with your kids if you want them to not get bored.

Our rating / The bottom line: We give these a B. If you have Amazon prime, you should definitely check them out (free is free!), and if money isn't that big of a deal then go ahead and buy them. If you're the type of parent who doesn't speak Mandarin and really wants your kids to learn Mandarin, this is probably a great thing to buy and let your kids watch while they are young and still entertained by it. If your kids are 5 or older these might not have a long shelf life and might be a bit pricey for what you get.












What do you think?

Rock, paper, scissors in Chinese

Lately we've been playing rock, paper, scissors a lot with our 5 year old and our 3 year old. We taught them how to play it in Chinese, which has been fun because they've been able to play it with their Chinese grandparents and other family in China.

In Chinese, Rock Paper Scissors has the exact same hand signs, with the same rules. There are a few differences, however. In Chinese, they actually say "Scissors, Wrapping cloth, Hammer" (剪子包袱锤 Jiǎnzi bāofú chuí).

Comparing the differences again:

• In English, we say "rock", but in Chinese they say "hammer" 锤 
• In English we say "paper", but in Chinese they say "wrapping cloth" 包袱
• In English, we say "scissors" last, but in Chinese they say it first 

(EDIT -- Since publishing this, someone from a different part of China told me that they say 石头，剪子，布  Shítou, jiǎnzi, bù [rock, paper, cloth] -- I guess there are a few ways to play it in Chinese!)


Play this with your kids in Chinese, and the next time the see a native Chinese speaker they will be able to have lots of fun playing with them. Here's a picture summary:

Also, I thought I would show you all my 5 year old son's modification of rock paper scissors that he made up in Chinese.... :-)

Have fun playing!

Play Uno in Chinese

There are lots of games you probably already play with your kids that are easy to also do in Chinese. Uno is one of them. Uno is a great game because it teaches colors, numbers, and advanced concepts like skipping, reversing directions, and basic strategy. You will probably be surprised how easy it is to talk to your kids about Uno in Chinese and get everyone speaking in Chinese.

My kids playing Uno with their Chinese relatives

We are visiting family in China now, and we brought Uno. Our 5 year old son pulled it out and started explaining in Chinese to his extended family how to play. Within 20 minutes everyone was gathered around and having a great time playing. They had all never seen a children's game like this and all quickly caught on and joined in the fun.

For parents that don't speak much Chinese, here are the terms you need to know to play Uno in Chinese:

Yellow -- 黄色 huáng sè 
Red -- 红色 hóng sè 
Blue -- 蓝色 lán sè 
Green -- 绿色 lǜ sè 
Skip card -- 跳过卡 tiào guò kǎ
Reverse card --  回转卡 huí zhuǎi kǎ 
Wild Card -- 全能卡 quán néng kǎ 
Draw 2 cards -- 抓两张牌 zhuā liǎng zhāng pái 
Draw a card -- 抓一张牌 zhuā  yī zhāng pái 
Draw 4 cards -- 抓四张牌 zhuā sì zhāng pái 
It's your turn -- 轮到你 lún dào nǐ 
My turn -- 轮到我 lún dào wǒ 
I win -- 我赢了 wǒ yíng le
I lose -- 我输了wǒ shū le
Say Uno -- 说UNO shuō UNO

The following video is probably hard to follow, but I thought it was fun, showing my son directing everybody how to play UNO



If you don't have UNO, buy it here!


I hope you have fun playing with your kids! Let us know how it goes!

Our 3 year old teaches his brother to count to 10 in Chinese

Took this video at a family dinner in China, thought it was cute, and educational for those learning the basics of how to count to 10.

Podcast 5 -- Counting to ten in Chinese

We are back with our 5th podcast! This is probably our most accessible podcast ever, great for beginners and fun for everyone. It's based off the youtube video we made about counting to ten, with a few extras added in.

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!

Getting started -- Aha Chinese

If you are a parent who speaks little to no Chinese, please read this first. Parents who speak Chinese have a goal to make their kid fluent from an early age, and parents who don't speak Chinese should have a goal to give their kid an introduction to the language that will springboard into future learning opportunities. You should still give your kids Chinese TV to watch, Chinese games to play, and Chinese music to listen to. But you are also going to need structured programs that teach Chinese as a second language.

Aha Chinese is one program we have found.

This video sort of sums up their program:



Essentially, they provide some cartoons that are mostly in English but also introduce Chinese terms, some story books that introduce Chinese culture and some Chinese words, some flash cards, and an audio CD.

Stuff included in the Aha Chinese package

Here's a really cute video they made of kids who have used their product:




Unfortunately, I just realized that maybe they are going out of business? I couldn't find a way to actually buy their product.... Hmmmm...