Chinese Lesson 1

We have been conversing with Phoebe in English. Hence, her spoken English is rather strong. Her vocabulary is expanding each day. Last night, I was taken by surprise when she told me,

"Mommy, I cannot breathe."

She could use the word breathe!! Wow! Fantastic. I don't remember teaching her the word "breathe". She must have picked it up somewhere and somehow.

Although my parents communicate with her in Mandarin, Phoebe is not picking it up fast enough. She can understand what you are saying in Chinese and she can even translate from Chinese to English. However, her spoken Mandarin is atrocious - e.g. grapes, she would call it "bu dao". You'll cringe when you hear that. Her Mandarin has a funny accent in it. My mum said that she's speaking Malaysian Mandarin. But I don't want Phoebe to have Malaysian Mandarin! I want her to be able to communicate in basic Mandarin. And I'm fearful that she might develop a dislike for Chinese in future and that will pose a problem when she goes into the primary school. I have seen too many examples of English-speaking children struggling with Chinese and I hope Phoebe will not fall into this category.

So I decided to sign her up for Chinese Fun Class. Her lesson is once a week, total of $60 lessons for 4 lessons, in Beijing Language Centre. Last Saturday morning at 10.35 a.m., she attended her first Chinese class. They did singing, reciting of poem and a little basic writing. Phoebe enjoyed herself. She was very keen and attentive during lesson. Here're some of the pictures.

After her lesson, which lasted for 1.5 hours, we went to Ajisen for lunch. Phoebe had an aeroplane set for lunch. A little reward for being a good girl in class. :)