Around noon, the emperor ordered a concubine to bring a chessboard and invited his minister to a game of chess.1 Wei Zheng agreed, and they began to play. Move by move they set up their opening positions. It was as described in the Lanke Classics: Caution and discipline are the way of chess. The valuableContinue reading “Journey to the West – Chapter 10.4”
Tag Archives: language learning
The Cows on the Bus go Moo, Moo, Moo
Ro has started singing, and it wasn’t a gradual process. He has always loved listening to songs that we sing to him or play for him, both in Chinese and English, but the singing started with Baa Baa Black Sheep. They must sing this a lot at daycare because it wasn’t on our rotation atContinue reading “The Cows on the Bus go Moo, Moo, Moo”
21-Month Toddler Chinese/English Bilingual Book Review
It’s already time for another book review! We’re still loving many of the books from when Ro was 18 months, especially the CDs that come with 早安晚安 [Good Morning, Good Night] and 小雨滴 [Little Raindrop], but we have new favorites now too. I’ve heard many parents complain about having to read the same books over and over again,Continue reading “21-Month Toddler Chinese/English Bilingual Book Review”
Listening to Chinese children’s songs
In the last two months, the language explosion has continued. We have gone from “bus” and “no bus” to knowing the Chinese names for car, pickup truck, excavator, bulldozer, cement truck, fire truck, and many more. It occurred to me that unless you are learning Chinese as a child with an interest in trucks, youContinue reading “Listening to Chinese children’s songs”
New Podcast and Instagram
Hi 🙂 We started a podcast. It’s on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. We’re telling the story of Journey to the West and then discussing what surprises us or what we connect with based on our Chinese American and Taiwanese American experiences. I’m still feeling it out and there are a lot of improvements that canContinue reading “New Podcast and Instagram”
Journey to the West – Chapter 9.1
We’re turning to the city of Chang’an in Shanxi Province, the capital city for many generations of emperors. Through the Zhou, Qin, and Han dynasties, the flowers bloomed like brocade and waters flowed around the city. It really was a beautiful sight. It was the Tang Dynasty,1 and the Emperor Taizong had been on theContinue reading “Journey to the West – Chapter 9.1”
Bus, no bus!
I was right about the language explosion. Ro is 19 months old and we are hitting that phase where more and more sounds are becoming available to him and he is starting to repeat words that we say. He is also starting to put together subject-verb phrases like 妈妈抱！(Pick me up, mama!) and 妈妈拜！(Bye mama!).Continue reading “Bus, no bus!”
18 month Toddler Chinese/English Book Review
Hi everyone, it’s time for our first book review 🙂 These are the books Ro currently loves as an 18-month old bilingual baby. We as parents love these too, but out of all of the many, many books in our house, these are the ones he requests most often. Chinese books Sourcing Chinese board booksContinue reading “18 month Toddler Chinese/English Book Review”
Fourth word: 个!
Honestly, I’m not even sure how to explain this one. 个 is the most common measure word in Chinese, with a similar grammatical role as the word “piece” in a piece of cake or a piece of paper. Unlike piece, 个 can be used with most nouns. We use it with Ro when he’s alreadyContinue reading “Fourth word: 个!”
Journey to the West – Chapter 6.5
As the Immortal Master was running back and forth, the Plum Mountain brothers came up and surround him, saying: “Brother, did you catch the Great Sage?” The Immortal Master laughed and said, “Just now that monkey turned himself into a shrine to deceive me. Just as I was about to hit his windows and kickContinue reading “Journey to the West – Chapter 6.5”
Etymology Adventures 