We will read ‘Dear Zoo’ by Rod Campbell this week.
This is a great book to reinforce how we say ‘too’ in Chinese. We use 太 (tài) then the adjective, then add 了(le) 。 So to say ‘too big’ we just say 太大了!(tài dà le!).
Here are some of the animals and adjectives from the story:
Elephant | 大象 | Dà xiàng | Big | 大 | dà |
Giraffe | 长颈鹿 | cháng jǐng lù | Tall | 高 | gāo |
Lion | 狮子 | shī zi | Fierce | 凶 | xiōng |
Camel | 骆驼 | luò tuo | Grumpy | 脾气坏 | pí qi huài |
Snake | 蛇 | shé | Scary | 可怕 | kě pà |
Monkey | 猴子 | hóu zi | Naughty | 顽皮 | wán pí |
Frog | 青蛙 | qīng wā | Jumpy | 蹦蹦跳跳 | bèng bèng tiào tiào |
Dog | 狗 | gǒu | Perfect | 完美 | wán měi |
Here is a song ‘What animal?’ that some of you already know with some of our zoo animals in….and as a bonus we get to sing about our face parts again! If you need a reminder of face parts, see blog post for a refresher on the face song.
It kind of goes to the ‘Skip to My Lou my darling’ tune, but here is my little girl singing this one for you. Animals and lyrics below. Older kids can write their own version using other animals, face/ body parts and different adjectives.
青蛙 (Qīngwā)
Here are the lyrics for you in characters, followed by pinyin and translation for non-Mandarin speaking parents:
什么动物耳朵长?
什么动物鼻子长?
什么动物嘴巴大?
什么动物眼睛大?
兔子兔子耳朵长
大象大象鼻子长
河马河马嘴巴大
青蛙青蛙眼睛大
Shénme dòngwù Ěrduo cháng?
Shénme dòngwù bízi cháng?
Shénme dòngwù zuǐbɑ dà?
Shénme dòngwù Yǎnjing dà?
tùzi tùzi Ěrduo cháng
dàxiàng dàxiàng bízi cháng
hémǎ hémǎ zuǐbɑ dà
qīngwā qīngwā Yǎnjing dà
What animal has long ears?
What animal has a long nose?
What animal has a big mouth?
What animal has big eyes?
rabbit rabbit has long ears
Elephant elephant has long nose
Hippo hippo has big mouth
Frog frog has big eyes