一只两只蜘蛛 Incy Wincy Spider

下雨了!(xià yǔ le) It’s Raining! Well it has been a rainy few days, so it’s a good time to sing the Incy Wincy Spider song!  Kids recorded the song and made an animation to go with the Chinese translation for you, so that you can enjoy on rainy days at home too 🙂  Enjoy and we will see you at our Mandarin Song and Story time to sing it together…it is forecast to be still raining 🙂

Here are the lyrics:

一只两只蜘蛛爬呀爬出来,
雨水落下来帮它洗洗澡,
太阳出来了照着它身体呀
一只两只蜘蛛又爬呀爬出来

Yī zhǐ liǎng zhī zhīzhū pá ya pá chūlái
Yǔshuǐ luòxià lái bāng tā xǐ xǐzǎo,
Tàiyáng chūláile zhàozhe tā shēntǐ ya
Yī zhǐ liǎng zhī zhīzhū yòu pá ya pá chūlái.

Literal English Translation:
One spider, two spiders crawl and climb out,
The rain falls and helps them take a bath
The sun comes out, it shines on their bodies,
One spider, two spiders crawl and climb out again.

我不会咬你! I won’t bite you! Mandarin Story Time Wed 14th June 2017

We will read Rod Campbell’s 我不会咬你!(wǒ bù huì yǎo nǐ) ‘I won’t bite you’ at our Mandarin Motion Song and Story Time this week.  We might have a few crocodile rock songs to sing too!

Here are the animals, adjectives, and body parts in the book.

Animals

 

Adjectives

 

老鼠 lǎo shǔ mouse 小 xiǎo little
兔子 tù zi rabbit 顽皮 wán pí naughty
鱼 yú fish 漂亮 piāo liàng beautiful
猩猩 xīng xīng chimp 强壮 qiáng zhuàng strong
河马 hé mǎ hippo 友善 yǒu shàn friendly
鳄鱼 è yú crocodile 饥饿  jī è hungry
Body Parts

 

耳朵 ěr duo ear 软绵绵 ruǎn mián mián soft
尾巴 wěi bā tail 毛茸茸 máo róng róng fluffy
身体 shēn tǐ body 滑溜溜 huá liū liū slippery
胸膛 xiōng táng chest 毛毛 máo máo furry
皮肤 pí fū skin 韧韧 rèn rèn leathery
牙齿 yá chǐ teeth 锐利 ruì lì sharp
我不会咬你 wǒ bù huì yǎo nǐ  I won’t bite 我会咬你 wǒ huì yǎo nǐ   I will bite

The story of the little mole who knew it was none of his business, Mandarin Motion Song and Story Time 7th June 2017

We will read ‘The story of the little mole who knew it was none of his business’ this Mandarin Song and Story Time as requested by one of our students (It’s not just me that picks books about poo 🙂  We didn’t have a Mandarin version of the book, so I have made my own simple and repetitive Mandarin translation for us to read this week.  Here is a page:

It is a great story for repetitive input of the location marker 在 (zài), and for hearing how to say that ‘something looks like something’ 像…一样 (xiàng…yī yang).

It follows the pattern :

(对小山羊问)你拉大便便在我的头上吗? 我?不是我的。我的便便看起来就像这样… (它拉便便像巧克力球一样)。

( duì xiǎo shān yáng wèn ) nǐ là dà biàn biàn zài wǒ de tóu shàng ma ?  wǒ ? bú shi wǒ de. wǒ de biàn biàn kàn qǐ lái jiù xiàng zhè yàng …  tā lā biàn biàn xiàng qiǎo kè lì qiú yī yàng

(Mole asks the goat) Have you done a poo on my head?  (Goat) Me? That’s not mine.  My poos look like this… (The goat does a poo that looks like chocolate balls).

We will have a treat after the story time, a bowl of goat poos to share 🙂    (NB there will be nuts in these goat poos)

See you Wednesday 10am 🙂

手指大拇指动动动 One Finger One Thumb Keep Moving

Well the kids have grown a bit, but we did used to love the old Wiggles 🙂 So we translated the Wiggles’ version of ‘One Finger One Thumb Keep Moving’ for our Mandarin Motion Song and Story Time, which we had fun singing today 🙂

Here is the Wiggles’ English version to help you sing the Chinese version.  Just replace our Mandarin lyrics below.  My kids plan to make a Mandarin version video for you 🙂

手指大拇指 动动动

我们都很高兴 (repeat after each verse)

手指大拇指 胳膊 动动动

手指大拇指 胳膊 动动动

手指 大拇指 胳膊 点着的头动动动

手指 大拇指 胳膊 点着的头 站起来 坐下来动动动

手指 大拇指 胳膊 点着的头站起来 转个圈 坐下来 动动动

shǒu zhǐ dà mǔ zhì dòng dòng dòng

wǒmen dōu hěn gāo xìng (repeat after each verse)

shǒu zhǐ dà mǔ zhì gēbo dòng dòng dòng

shǒu zhǐ dà mǔ zhì gēbo tuǐ dòng dòng dòng

shǒu zhǐ dà mǔ zhì gēbo tuǐ diǎn zhe de tóu dòng dòng dòng

shǒu zhǐ dà mǔ zhì gēbo tuǐ diǎn zhe de tóu zhànqilai zuòxialai dòng dòng dòng

shǒu zhǐ dà mǔ zhì gēbo tuǐ diǎn zhe de tóu zhànqilai zhuàn ge quān zuòxialai dòng dòng dòng

One finger One Thumb keep moving
We’ll all be happy and bright.
One finger, One Thumb, One Arm, keep moving
One finger, One Thumb, One Arm, One Leg, keep moving
One finger, One Thumb, One Arm, One Leg, One nod of the head, keep moving
One finger, One Thumb, One Arm, One Leg, One nod of the head, Stand Up, Sit Down, keep moving
One finger, One Thumb, One Arm, One Leg, One nod of the head, Stand Up, Turn around, Sit Down, keep moving

The Pet Dragon, Mandarin Song and Story Time Wednesday 31st May 2017

We will read ‘The Pet Dragon’ by Christoph Niemann this week, as requested from one of our students 🙂 It is a lovely book to introduce Chinese characters through clever illustrations.

We might see if we can be just as clever and make some of these characters with our bodies, on our own or as a team 🙂 Here is the illustration for 上下 in our book.

And here are our kids making them with their bodies:

We sing lots of songs that have 上 (shàng) ‘up/above/over etc.’ and 下 (xià) ‘down/below/under etc.’ in them. A good song and video to keep watching for ‘Up/Down’  is the Groovi Pauli ‘Going Up Going Down’ song, which you can watch by clicking on the song name! And don’t forget our ‘Where is the teacher?’ song that has ‘Up there’ and ‘Down there’ in it.  We move our shoulders ‘Up and down’ in our Clap hands song.  Our ‘London Bridge’ activity too has ‘falling DOWN’ in there.  And our Jelly Fish song has Up/Down in it! Here is a video I forgot I had of my kids a couple of friends singing this a few years back! You can watch it here but click on the London Bridge link for more details and lyrics of the song. There are no excuses for getting our 上 and 下 mixed up 🙂

So come along for some kinesthetic character learning fun!

谁拉的便便?Who did the poo?

For our Mandarin Song and Story Time this week we will read  谁拉的便便?(shéi lā de biàn biàn?) or ‘Who did the poo?’, a perfect follow on from all that food the hungry caterpillar ate last week 🙂

who-did-a-poo

Kids will get to guess ‘who did it’ and we will also add a few words about what happens before a poo…(eating!) and what we do after our poo (this language is great to hear over and over in the wiping bottom song)!

Here is the transcript to the book:

谁拉的便便? 我拉的。shéi lā de biàn biàn? wǒ lā de.  Who did the poo?  I did! (Guessing whose poo belongs to which character).

怎么没有人? zěn me méi yǒu rén.  What, no one is there?

我正在冲便便呢!wǒ zhèng zài chōng biàn biàn ne.  I was just flushing!

拉完了便便还应该做什么呢? lā wán le biàn biàn hái yīng gāi zuò shén me ne ?When you’ve done your poo what should you do?

擦屁股,穿裤子,冲马桶,洗洗手 cā pì gu,chuān kù zi ,chōng mǎ tǒng ,xǐ xǐ shǒu.  Wipe bottom, pull up pants, flush, wash hands.

我们每天都要吃东西。wǒ men měi tiān dōu yāo chī dōng xi 。We eat stuff everyday.

我们每天都要上厕所。wǒ men měi tiān dōu yāo shàng cè suǒ 。We go to the toilet everyday.

I think our story ending might be a good springboard to learn about being hungry and eating things….so we will enjoy Groovi Pauli’s song ‘I’m Hungry!’  And do the Fruit Conga again 🙂

 

Lyrics to song:

What sound is that?  什么声音? shén me shēng yīn?
Are you hungry? 你饿吗? nǐ è ma?

I’m hungry 我饿了wǒ è le
I want to eat something 想吃东西 xiǎng chī dōng xī
So hungry.

Ah-ya. I’m so hungry. 哎呀。我好饿。āi yā  wǒ hǎo è
My stomach is rumbling. 我肚子咕噜咕噜叫。wǒ dù zi gū lū gū lū jiào
I want to eat eat eat eat something. 我要吃吃吃吃东西。wǒ yào chī chī chī chī dōng xī
I want to eat til I’m full. 我要吃到饱。wǒ yào chī dào bǎo

I’m hungry 我饿了wǒ è le
I want to eat something 想吃东西 xiǎng chī dōng xī
So hungry.

 

好饿的毛毛虫 Very Hungry Caterpillar

This week at our Mandarin Motion Song and Story Time we will read 好饿的毛毛虫  (hǎo è de máo mao chóng) ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’.  We have all the food ready to feed our very hungry caterpillar!

This book is great for kids to make so many connections in Mandarin!  It has days of the week, counting, and lots of different measure words to hear!

We can also sing along to these two cool Groovi Pauli songs , salsa to the fruit song, and listen to our bellies 咕噜咕噜叫 (gū lu gū lu jiào) ‘rumble’!

苹果,苹果,苹果 (píng guǒ, píng guǒ, píng guǒ) apple, apple, apple
香蕉,香蕉,香蕉 (xiāng jiāo, xiāng jiāo, xiāng jiāo) banana, banana, banana
葡萄,葡萄,葡萄 (pú táo, pú táo, pú táo) grapes, grapes, grapes
橘子 (jú zi) tangerine

水果,水果,水果 (shuǐ guǒ, shuǐ guǒ, shuǐ guǒ) fruit, fruit, fruit
营养 (yíng yǎng) nutritious
水果,水果,水果 (shuǐ guǒ, shuǐ guǒ, shuǐ guǒ) fruit, fruit, fruit
水果 好吃 (shuǐ guǒ hǎo chī) Yummy fruit

草莓,草莓,草莓 (cǎo méi, cǎo méi, cǎo méi) strawberry, strawberry, strawberry
西瓜,西瓜,西瓜 (xī guā, xī guā, xī guā) watermelon, watermelon, watermelon
梨,梨,梨 (lí, lí, lí) pear, pear, pear
柚子 (yòu zi) grapefruit

水果,水果,水果 (shuǐ guǒ, shuǐ guǒ, shuǐ guǒ) fruit, fruit, fruit
营养 (yíng yǎng) nutritious
水果,水果,水果 (shuǐ guǒ, shuǐ guǒ, shuǐ guǒ) fruit, fruit, fruit
水果 好吃 (shuǐ guǒ hǎo chī) Yummy fruit

 What sound is that? 什么声音 shén me shēng yīn
Are you hungry? 你饿吗 nǐ è ma

I’m hungry 我饿了wǒ è le
I want to eat something 想吃东西 xiǎng chī dōng xī
So hungry.

Ah-ya. I’m so hungry. 哎呀。我好饿。āi yā wǒ hǎo è
My stomach is rumbling. 我肚子咕噜咕噜叫。wǒ dù zi gū lū gū lū jiào
I want to eat eat eat eat something. 我要吃吃吃吃东西。wǒ yào chī chī chī chī dōng xī
I want to eat til I’m full. 我要吃到饱。wǒ yào chī dào bǎo

I’m hungry 我饿了wǒ è le
I want to eat something 想吃东西 xiǎng chī dōng xī
So hungry.

See you Wednesday!

谁的屁股?Whose bottom?

We love stories and songs about bottoms 🙂 So we will read 谁的屁股? (shéi de pìgu) ‘Whose Bottom?’ this week, Wednesday 10am in our Mandarin Song and Story Time. For more posts on bottoms check out our wiping bottoms page, who did the poo page, tones and poo page, and poos and water page!

Lucas has also been busy this week playing with iMotion, and has made a little video to go to our 开门关门 song.  We have been singing this song for years in our story time, I wrote it when my kids were little and used to enjoy ‘Open Shut Them’ at regular library story time, and I wanted to try and write a similar action song in Mandarin to the same tune.  So here it is to enjoy at home 🙂 Well done Lucas 🙂 The words to the song are underneath the video.

Kāimén guānmén Kāimén guānmén,  Pāi Pāi Pāi Pāi shǒu

Kāimén guānmén Kāimén guānmén, mōmō jiǎozhǐtou

Zhànqǐlái zuòxià Zhànqǐlái zuòxià, Pāi Pāi Pāi Pāi shǒu

Zhànqǐlái zuòxià Zhànqǐlái zuòxià, mōmō nǐde tóu

开门关门开门关门, 拍拍拍拍手

开门关门开门关门, 摸摸脚指头

站起来坐下站起来坐下, 拍拍拍拍手

站起来坐下站起来坐下, 摸摸你的头

English translation is : Open the door, shut the door, open the door, shut the door, give a little clap, Open the door, shut the door, open the door, shut the door, touch your toes, stand up, sit down, stand up, sit down, give a little clap, stand up, sit down, stand up, sit down, touch your head.  Children put hands in prayer position and open and shut them to imitate a door opening and shutting for the first verse.  Children respond immediately as they know the tune so well.

We often, as with other songs, choose to sing this one 快 kuài /fast or  慢  màn /slow.  Kids love doing movement songs in speed and skow motion, and the slow version allows them to listen to and sing the song with very clear drawn out syllables.

See you Wednesday 🙂

谁的房子?Whose House?

We will guess which animal lives in which house at our Mandarin Motion Song and Story Time this week, reading Jeannette Rowe’s book…谁的房子? (Shéi de fáng zi?) is how we say ‘Whose House?’   Also, here is the ‘Direction’ song we have been jumping around to the last couple of weeks (上下左右歌)….the kids have found iMotion, a stop motion animation app, and created a lego version video of the song…well done Aurora and Lucas 🙂 The words are simply 上下左右前前后后中  shàng xià zuǒ yòu qián qián hòu hòu zhōng (Up Down Left Right Front Front Back Back Middle). Here is the original song on another You Tube link:  

拟声词 Onomatopoeia

We will read this book this week: 听, 是谁在唱歌? (tīng, shì shéi zài chàng gē ?)  ‘Listen, who is singing?’

It is full of Onomatopoeia, or words that make a sound like the sound they are trying to describe.  They are called  拟声词 (nǐ shēng cí) in Chinese, or literally ‘imitating sound word’.  These are great for young learners of Chinese, because just like in first language acquisition, these words can allow children to explore the ‘sounds’ of a language.  You will notice that most of the characters in the table below for these ‘sound’ words, have the 口 radical on the left side of the character, which is the ‘mouth’ radical…often giving a clue it is an onomatopoeia word!

The children will have to try and guess which animal is making the singing noise!

The following table has a list of the animals, and the animal sounds that the children will enjoy while reading this book.

Cow niú Moo 哞哞 mōu mōu
Duck 鸭子 yā zi Quack 嘎嘎 gā gā
Dog gǒu Wuff 汪汪 wāng wāng
Cat māo Meow 喵喵 miāo miāo
Lion 狮子 shī zi Roar 嗷呜 áo wū
Sheep yáng Baa miē
Rooster 公鸡 gong jī Crow 喔喔 wōwo
Horse Neigh 嘶嘶 sī sī
Pig zhū Oink 哼哼 hēng hēng
Frog 青蛙 qīng wā Croak 呱呱 guā guā

Here is a familiar song to help us make those animal sounds!  The first sound in the song is a chicken, which is not in our book (we have a rooster in our book crowing ‘wōwō!’. The chicken says 叽叽 ‘jījī’, more like the ‘cheep cheep’ sound of a baby chicken.  Lyrics to the song are under the video. Old MacDonald in Chinese is 老王先生 lǎo wáng xiānsheng, the ‘lǎo’ is a polite address of a senior, the ‘wáng’ is his surname, and ‘xiānsheng’ is the word for ‘Mr.’ In Chinese we say ‘Wang Mr’, not ‘Mr Wang’ 🙂  Enjoy!

wáng lǎo xiān shēng yǒu kuài dì yī yā yī yā yōu

地,

tā zài tián lǐ yǎng xiǎo yī yā yī yā yōu

zhè lǐ jī jī jī nà lǐ jī jī jī

叽叽叽 叽叽叽

zhè lǐ nà lǐ dào chù dōu zài jī jī

叽叽

wáng lǎo xiān shēng yǒu kuài dì yī yā yīyā yōu

地,

Literal English Translation:

Farmer Wang had a plot of land, yiya yiya yo

On his land he raised little chicks yiya yiya yo

With a cheep cheep here, and a cheep cheep there,

Here a cheep, there a cheep, everywhere a cheep cheep

Farmer Wang had a plot of land, yiya yiya yo