童年 tóng nián Childhood

I just love this song since donkey years ago!  The older children on Thursdays' class started to learn this song last week and hopefully we'll be ready to perform this song to parents at the end of this term.
The homework was that they need to find as many as youtube videos about this song. Wish them luck!
Here's one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOib_26bFRo

池塘邊的榕樹上On the Banyan tree beside the pond

chí táng biān de róng shù shàng

知了在聲聲叫著夏天Cicadas were calling for Summer

zhī le zài shēng shēng jiào zhe xià tiān
操場邊的鞦韆上On the swing beside the yard

cāo chǎng biān de qiū qiān shàng

只有蝴蝶停在上面Only butterflies stop on top

zhī yǒu hú dié tíng zài shàng miàn
黑板上老師的粉筆On the black board, teacher's chalk

hēi bǎn shàng lǎo shī de fěn bǐ

還在拼命嘰嘰喳喳寫個不停was still chirping and writing endlessly

hái zài pīn mìng jī jī zhā zhā xiě gè bú tíng
等待著下課Awaiting the class’ dismissal

děng dài zhe xià kè

等待著放學Awaiting the end of the school day

děng dài zhe fàng xué

等待遊戲的童年Awaiting the playful childhood
děng dài yóu xì de tóng nián
福利社裏面什麼都有In the canteen all things can be found

fú lì shè lǐ miàn shí me dōu yǒu

就是口袋裏沒有半毛錢But there is no money in my pocket

jiù shì kǒu dài lǐ méi yǒu bàn máo qián
諸葛四郎和魔鬼黨Zhuge 's Four and the Devil's Gang

zhū gě sì láng hé mó guǐ dǎng

到底誰搶到那支寶劍Who got that sword at the end

dào dǐ shuí qiǎng dào nà zhī bǎo jiàn
隔壁班的那個女孩that girl next class

gé bì bān de nà gè nǚ hái

怎麼還沒經過我的窗前Why hasn't passed by my window

zěn me hái méi jīng guò wǒ de chuāng qián

嘴裏的零食snacks in my mouth

zuǐ lǐ de líng shí

手裏的漫畫comics  in my hand

shǒu lǐ de màn huà

心裏初戀的童年the first love of my childhood in my heart

xīn lǐ chū liàn de tóng nián
沒有人知道為什麼No one knows why

méi yǒu rén zhī dào wéi shí m

太陽總下到山的那一邊The Sunset was always to that side of the mountain

tài yáng zǒng xià dào shān de nà yī biān
沒有人能夠告訴我No one can tell me

méi yǒu rén néng gòu gào sù wǒ

山裏面有沒有住著神仙Has god live in the mountains or not

shān lǐ miàn yǒu méi yǒu zhù zhe shén xiān
多少的日子裏how many days

duō shǎo de rì zǐ lǐ

總是一個人面對著天空發呆Always dazing the sky along

zǒng shì yī gè rén miàn duì zhe tiān kōng fā dāi
就這麼好奇just so curious

jiù zhè me hǎo qí

就這麼幻想just so imaginative

jiù zhè me huàn xiǎng

這麼孤單的童年This lonely childhood
zhè me gū dān de tóng nián
總是要等到睡覺前always wait until bedtime

zǒng shì yào děng dào shuì jiào qián

才知道功課只作了一點點Then realize the homework only done a little bit

cái zhī dào gōng kè zhī zuò le yī diǎn diǎn
總是要等到考試以後always wait until after exams

zǒng shì yào děng dào kǎo shì yǐ hòu

才知道該唸的書都沒有唸Then realize haven’t study those should’ve read

cái zhī dào gāi diàn de shū dōu méi yǒu diàn
一寸光陰一寸金An inch of time is an inch of gold

yī cùn guāng yīn yī cùn jīn

老師說過寸金難買寸光陰Teacher has said, that an inch of gold is impossible to buy an inch of time

lǎo shī shuō guò cùn jīn nán mǎi cùn guāng yīn
一天又一天Day after day,

yī tiān yòu yī tiān

一年又一年year after year

yī nián yòu yī nián

迷迷糊糊的童年The blurry childhood

mí mí hú hú de tóng nián
一天又一天Day after day,

yī tiān yòu yī tiān

一年又一年year after year

yī nián yòu yī nián

盼望長大的童年the childhood that look forward to grow up

pàn wàng zhǎng dà de tóng nián

彩 虹 cǎi hóng (rainbow)

We learnt the colours before but hopefully this song will helps the children to remember them better.

紅         橙     黃     綠

hóng chéng huáng lǜ

藍        靛    紫

lán   diàn    zǐ

我 是      彩   虹

wǒ shì   cǎi hóng

大象 dà xiàn Elephant

This is a classic nursery rhyme and I have added a little extra for the children to learn their body parts.

Youtube video can be found here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pT3cjsSuAGM

大象  大象

dà xiàn    dà xiàng

你的鼻子             /你的耳朵             /你的腳         /你的眼睛

nǐ   de  bí  zǐ       nǐ   de  ěr duō    nǐ  de jiǎo     nǐ  de yǎn jīng

為 什 麼

wéi sh én me

那麼 長       /那麼大

nà me cháng     nà me dà

媽媽 說

mā mā shuō

鼻子長                /耳朵大          /腳大         /眼睛大

bí   zǐ  cháng     ěr duō dà    jiǎo dà     yǎn jīng dà

才是 漂亮

cái shì piào liàng

左手右手歌 zuǒ shǒu yòu shǒu ge (left hand right hand song)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtZz1gRmc7M

右 手 右手，請拿出來

yòu shǒu yòu shǒu qǐng ná chū lái

左 手 左手，請拿出來

zuǒ shǒu zuǒ shǒu qǐng ná chū lái

說 “你好嗎？”

shuō nǐ hǎo ma

我很好！”

wǒ hěn hǎo

右 手 右手，請拿出來

yòu shǒu yòu shǒu qǐng ná chū lái

左 手 左手，請拿出來

zuǒ shǒu zuǒ shǒu qǐng ná chū lái

說 “對不起！”

shuō duì b ù qǐ

“沒關係！”

méi guān xì

右 手 右手，請拿出來

yòu shǒu yòu shǒu qǐng ná chū lái

左 手 左手，請拿出來

zuǒ shǒu zuǒ shǒu qǐng ná chū lái

說“謝謝你！”

shuō xiè xiè nǐ

“不客氣”

bú kè qì

右 手 右手，請拿出來

yòu shǒu yòu shǒu qǐng ná chū lái

左 手 左手，請拿出來

zuǒ shǒu zuǒ shǒu qǐng ná chū lái

拍拍拍拍，變 公雞。

pāi pāi pāi pāi ，biàn gōng jī

右 手 右手，請拿出來

yòu shǒu yòu shǒu qǐng ná chū lái

左 手 左手，請拿出來

zuǒ shǒu zuǒ shǒu qǐng ná chū lái

變 變 變變， 變 房子。

biàn biàn biàn biàn ， biàn fáng zǐ

右 手 右手，請拿出來

yòu shǒu yòu shǒu qǐng ná chū lái

左 手 左手，請拿出來

zuǒ shǒu zuǒ shǒu qǐng ná chū lái

變變變變，變 超人。

biàn biàn biàn biàn ，biàn chāo rén

Songs we learnt

當我們同在一起(when we are together)

當我們同在一起，

dāng wǒ men tóng zài y ì qǐ ，

在一起，在一起，
zài yì qǐ ， zài yì qǐ ，

當我們同在一起，

dāng wǒ men tóng zài yì qǐ ，

其快樂無比。
qí kuài lè wú bǐ 。

你對著我笑嘻嘻，nǐ duì zhe wǒ xiào xī xī

我對著你笑哈哈。
wǒ duì zhe nǐ xiào hā hā 。

當我們同在一起，

dāng wǒ men tóng zài yì qǐ ，

其快樂無比。
qí kuài lè wú bǐ 。

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YUBGT-YW5Y

復活節快樂 fù huó jié kuài lè Happy Easter

Children enjoyed the Easter fun activities like cardboard Easter egg hunting, treasure hunt for older children and Easter Egg crafts.
Some of them made funky aliens (外星人 wài xīng rén) and some made flowers (花 huā).
The school is closed for the next two weeks! Wish everyone a very happy Easter holiday and see you in two weeks!

復活節快樂 fù huó jié kuài lè Happy Easter

母 親 節 快 樂 mǔ qīn jié kuài lè (Happy Mother's day)

I would like to wish all the moms in the world to have a very lovely mother's day this Sunday.

It's the tradition in Taiwan that we give moms either handmade or fresh carnation flowers on mother's day although like in the USA, Taiwanese celebrate Mother's day on the 2nd Sunday of May.

Here're some cards children made for the moms.

The busy March!

The birthdays, mother's day, St. Patrick's day and the up coming early Easter holiday will lead us a very busy March!
We are very much looking forward to some spring activities like making mother's day card, St. Patrick's day arts, Easter egg hunt and learning the Chinese names of some spring flowers! What more? Perhaps we will involve the children with planting the vegetable garden!
Watch this space!

Song of the week - 方向歌 fāng xiàng gē (direction song)

方向歌

前前前前 前前前前，
qián qián qián qián qián qián qián qián

我們一起向前走。
wǒ men yì qǐ xiàng qián zǒu

後後後後 後後後後，
hòu hòu hòu hòu hòu hòu hòu hòu

我們往後退

wǒ men wǎng hòu tuì。

左左左左 右右右，

zuǒ zuǒ zuǒ zuǒ yòu yòu yòu前前前前 後後後，
qián qián qián qián hòu hòu hòu

前後左右 前後左右，

qián hòu zuǒ yòu qián hòu zuǒ yòu
我們手牽手。

wǒ men shǒu qiān shǒu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNhIwkEY92E

Songs of the week - 三輪車 sān lún chē Tricycle

三輪車跑的快

sān lún chē pǎo de kuài

上面坐個老太太

shàng miàn zuò gè lǎo tài tài

要五毛給一塊

yào wǔ máo gěi yí kuài

你說奇怪不奇怪

nǐ shuō qí guài bú qí guài

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7Gn0ItdJ7M&feature=related

Magical Beijing Tour of Pandas

A huge thank you to the Irish Institute for Chinese Studies and UCD Confucius Institute for Ireland to granted our school 10 tickets to see the fantastic Kung Fu Spectacular presented by the production team of Beijing Olympics 2008, organised by the Beijing tourism board. The fabulous show took place at the Convention Centre, Dublin on Thursday 16th February, 2012. A big thank you to a close friend who sourced out the tickets for myself and family too!

I have not seen something so fantastic that combined Chinese culture, Kung Fu fighting skills, wonderful music, colourful costumes and beauty of production all so well together.

The Magical Beijing Tour of Pandas featured two lovely pandas that learnt all kinds of Chinese Kung Fu skills such as Tai Chi, Chinese boxing, monkey boxing, drunken boxing, swords fighting, sticks fighting and many more. We also enjoyed the Peking opera, acrobatics, sleeves dance which was my daughter’s favourite part and the carnival at the end.

What an unforgettable night and best of luck with both Beijing and Dublin tourism development!