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.

兔子 (tùzi) 大象 (Dàxiàng)

河马 (Hémǎ)

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