Report Cards Are Coming

Report cards are on the way! And what a proud Chinese teacher I am! Our LJA keiki Chinese certainly try their best in Chinese class.

3rd graders are really working up a sweat learning new dialogues on greeting friends at different times of the day and making apologies. Now keiki know what to say if they accidentally step on someone's toe! 对不起 - I'm sorry.

2nd graders are digging into flashcards to help with memorizing those pesky new words! Keep it up and you will have all your new words memorized!

Get ready for 1st graders to learn how to use chopsticks　as well as say this fun word in Chinese. So the next time you are at L & L and the waitress says chopsticks or fork you can answer chopsticks in Chinese!

Just in case you wanted to make another panda cupcake I included this cute panda picture. Anybody making panda cupcakes out there? Let me her from you!

Remember...practice what you know and see you in the classroom!

Celebrate in Style!

Students enjoyed decorating panda cupcakes. The recipe is easy! Chocolate discs for eyes and ears. Candy eyes and black gel icing for mouth and nose. What a fun and nontraditional way to celebrate the New Year. Three students even came back to school and said they were able to successfully reproduce these yummy Chinese American treats at home with their families.

KHON visited our classroom. 3rd graders hammed it up with smiles, giggles, and lots of Chinese chit-chat for the camera. Start looking on KHON for our commercial.

Good Things in the Chinese Room!

Aloha Chinese Learners!

What fun the children had with Mr. Terry while I was out sick. (thank you, I am feeling much better now). Mr. Terry is a certified ECE teacher who specializes in music and storytelling. Children had a wonderful time singing to Mr. Terry's enjoyable ukulele playing and listening to thrilling and sometimes scary Chinese New Year stories. Mr. Terry comes to our substitute Ohana from the Army Reserve where he serves as an officer. His dynamic teaching skills kept the children engaged, learning, and laughing while I was at home getting better! A big xie xie to our friend Terry Laoshi!

Do you know how to play Chinese checkers? Well, jump into 2nd grade and you will learn more than just Chinese checkers. You can practice your colors as well as some useful phrases when playing your favorite game on the playground like your turn, is it my turn?, ball, and thank you. Hey! Did you know Chinese checkers was invented in Germany? Funny stuff in the Chinese classroom!

3rd graders performed lovely skits today for their classmates. Want to view one of the skits? Just click on the video link and watch our five star performers rattling in Chinese!

Happy Presidents Day and remember...Practice What You Know!

Kids Say Really Funny Things!

Imagination is the best way to learn. 3rd graders are begining to learn about ancient civilizations and what could be more fascinating than an ancient Chinese classroom. Yes, an often cruel and dark place. 3rd graders got to feel what it was really like when Laoshi took on the role of an actual Chinese classroom teacher during the Han Dynasty and two different students got to practice being the class monitors. After the day ended most of the children (and Laoshi) agreed we all missed our supportive and kind classroom environment! WOW! What a lucky, lucky teacher I am!

Things seem to be settling back into our regular routine after Winter Break. I am back to my blog and students are back to caring for our bonsai plant and cheerfully singing in Chinese. Ah, life is grand at LJA. So I must tell a cute story.

One of the little Kindergarteners came to class yesterday quite excited. He proceeded to share with the entire class about the new panda in his backyard. He went with his mom to Chinatown to purchase this panda from the pet store so the panda could eat all the bamboo weeds in the backyard. Now he and his mommy are happy without so many weeds and his new pet panda is happily munching away! The children and I were in awe of the story and enjoyed the listening to his tall tell! Isn't imagination grand.

Enjoy the panda picture, even if it is not in Hawaii! And of course, I added a couple of pictures from my own backyard. Weenie Dogs!

圣诞节快乐！

圣诞节快乐！ Merry Christmas!
You may be wondering...how do you say Santa Clause in Chinese? Well, this is a very important question! Here it is 圣诞老人 sheng4 dan4 lao3 ren2. That's right. You got it. Remember, practice makes perfect.

2nd graders - Please don't forget to work on your vocabulary writing. Here is the list. Go ahead! Dazzle your visiting grandparents and cousins with your lovely Chinese characters
小 xiao3 small
大 da4 big
男 nan2 man
不 bu4 no
百 bai3 100
千 qian1 1000
茶 cha2 tea

3rd graders - I have included some super duper Chinese words for the Winter Break. Here you go...
中国 zhong1 guo2 China
门 men4 door
下 xia4 down
上 shang4 up
天 tian1 sky
你 ni3 you
好 hao3 good

Winter Concert & Chinese Singing

Ni Hao Chinese Learners! How lovely, lovely the K-2 Chinese students sing. It was like little angels had entered our gym and sang a darling Chinese song. The children have been singing their little hearts out since September learning this tongue twisting song. To remember all those Chinese words took a lot of brain power! It was nice to see all the students and teachers dressed up in their Christmas clothes and nice shoes. The concert was beautiful and the gymnasium looked magical. I was certainly proud of my little students!

2nd graders learned Yoga today in Chinese class. Yes, yes. Yoga is not traditionally Chinese. But you can certainly do yoga poses that look like Chinese characters! Want to try it? Try positioning your body to look like these characters.

大

小

Did you figure something out? Come by my classroom and show me your "Chinese Yoga"!

Happy holidays and remember...practice what you know.

2nd Grade Vocabulary List

2nd Grade Vocabulary List.
Try practicing the following vocabulary at home!
Practice makes perfect!

田 field
刀 knife
不 no
百 100
千 1,000
男 man
茶 tea
大 big


Can you find a word inside the word to the right? Look carefully and you will see one of your vocabulary words hidden inside the word. This lovely word means Beauty!