我們祝你聖誕快樂 wǒ men zhù nǐ shèng dàn kuài lè

我們祝你聖誕快樂 wǒ men zhù nǐ shèng dàn kuài lè
We wish you Christmas happy! :-)

We would like to wish you and family a very happy Christmas and a fantastic year 2014!
I hope children enjoyed the paper cutting craft we prepared for them this year and they will remember all the words we learn from their paper cutting pictures.

聖誕節快來了!

We are so excited about Christmas (聖誕) as always!
Every year we try different arts and craft project, song and play.
We are learning "we wish you a merry Christmas" in Chinese.
We are working on a funny short play called "Xmas'eve wish".
We are also making Christmas cards (聖誕卡) and origami Christmas tree (聖誕樹) this year.
Don't forget we also have Xmas exam next week and Xmas party the week after!!!
Zhu ni men sheng dan jie kuai le.

書中自有黃金屋 shū zhōng zì yǒu huángjīn wū (The book holds a golden house)

書中自有黃金屋 shū zhōng zì yǒu huángjīn wū (The book holds a golden house)

This Chinese wisdom means if you study hard and read a lot of books, you will be successful and able to afford a golden house. :-)

I like to read the stories behind the Chinese wisdom/proverbs to my own children as they're really interesting.
To encourage the reading.....our school have set up a tiny library and stocked up over 200 books (as well as CDs/DVDs) for children to take home and read/listen each week. Thanks to the free App Codex that I can set up the library system easily!!!

Halloween paper cutting craft

Paper cutting is one of the traditional craft and we use the last few minutes of our very last class before midterm to cut out some decoration. We did pumpkin, spider web and ghost. This is created by one of the students. Cute, very cute!!

National day 2013

We had a brand new talk about National day this year and learning about our flags and meanings behind those shapes and colours. Of course we were reviewing our words for shapes and colours again.
After the talk, we had a flag design competition which was a great success!!

Dublin School of Mandarin Chinese enrolment 2013/2014

Nihao!
We hope you had a brilliant summer either away or at home! Only if I can wish that we have this kind of fabulous summer every year!

Here’re the classes:
Monday 1530-1730: 1st year’s children (Living Mandarin 1)
Tuesday 1530-1730: 2nd year’s children (Living Mandarin 2)
Wednesday 1530-1730: 3rd+ years’ children (Living Mandarin 3)
Thursday 1600-1730: Older children (Speak Mandarin in 1000 words)

Online registration by Mon 9th Sept

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/11uA0L870cQKLN1dN1HTMGv2XqeC-ZgvYM-PVegH6FM4/viewform

Text book:
Living Mandarin
http://www.skymandarin.org/living-mandarin.htm
Speak Mandarin in 1000 words
http://media.huayuworld.org/lang/medium/ch_1000/index.htm

Ah let the fun begin.....

Photos from our first week of summer camp.
More available from our Facebook page and please like our Facebook page too while you are there!
Summer camp photos (1st week)
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151855142377437.1073741828.191107337436&type=1
Summer camp photos (2nd week)
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151875090327437.1073741829.191107337436&type=1

Summer Camp 2013 programmes 夏令營的節目表

We are working on the exciting speech and drama project so watch this space!!

Prizes!! 獎品 jiang3 pin3

Look at the prizes we prepared for Tuesday's class at singing competition this week!!

More pictures to follow for other classes.

The older children loved oriental stuff and I have stock up my supply soon!!

Dublin School of Mandarin Chinese proudly sponsor the first Taiwanese Film Festival in Dublin, 2013

21-22 June, Friday and Saturday, 2013 Taiwanese Film Festival, NC Ireland (Dublin) and NUI Maynooth

The inaugural Taiwanese Film Festival runs for two days, Friday June 21 and Saturday June 22, and includes airing of documentary films, The Other Side (2012) (pictured) on Friday, and Formosa Homicide Chronicle I (2000) and Formosa Homicide Chronicle III (2009) on Saturday. On both days, these films are followed by discussions with internationally known film director Tsung-lung Tsai. Cape 7, a feature film directed by Te-Sheng Wei is shown on both days. All films have English subtitles.

Although the film festival is free, spaces are limited, so please click this link to register.

The Taiwanese Film Festival is organised by Weihsuan Lin, a PhD candidate and Space&Place Member, Dept. of Geograpny, NUI Maynooth. A special thanks to NCI and NUIM for their generous use of theatre rooms to show films and to the official Film Festival Sponsor, the Dublin School of Mandarin Chinese.



Small donations following films and at receptions are welcome! This inaugural Taiwanese Film Festival is organised by several passionate Taiwanese with their own financial means. We are still looking for sponsorship and volunteers. If you are interested in contributing to the first Taiwan Film Festival in Ireland, please write to: taiwan.filmfestival.ie@gmail.com.



Director: Tsung-lung Tsai 蔡崇隆: His major works include ‘Formosa Homicide Chronicle I – The Case of Su Chien-ho’ which won Best Documentary at the 2001 Golden Harvest Awards, ‘Licensed Prostitutes Apocalypse’ which was recommended by the Judges at the Asian Television Awards in 2002, ‘Behind the Miracle’ which won Excellent Journalism Award and ‘My Imported Wife’ was invited to the International Public Television Screening Conferences and was archived in the Museum of Television and Radio in New York. The issues of human rights, culture diversities, and environment have long been his concerns. Tsai’s films are composed of rational analysis with a humane approach to the subjects.

Schedule

Friday, 21 June; Venue: National College of Ireland, Theatre 1, Dublin

6.00-6.30pm:   Opening Reception

6.30-7.45pm:   Film screening, The Other Side (2012, 70 min., documentary, Director: Tsung-lung Tsai)

7.45-8.30pm:   Discussion with Director Tsai

8.30-8.40pm:   Break

8.40-11pm:      Film screening, Cape No. 7 (2008, 129 min., feature film, Director: Te-Sheng Wei)

Saturday, 22 June, National University of Ireland, Maynooth. John Hume Theatre 3

1.30-2pm:       Opening Reception

2-4pm:            Double Bill: Formosa Homicide Chronicle I: The Case of Su Chien-ho (2000, 60 min. documentary) and Formosa Homicide Chronicle III: The Sweet Taste of Freedom (2009, 57 min., documentary). Both directed by: Tsung-lung Tsai.

4-4.15pm:       Coffee break

4.15-5pm:       Discussion with Director Tsai

5-5.15pm:       Break

5.15-7.30pm:  Film screening, Cape No. 7 (2008, 129 min., feature film, Director: Te-Sheng Wei)

Film Overviews

The Other Side 對岸異鄉人 (2012, 70 min., documentary)

Director: Tsung-lung Tsai

Ke, a Taiwanese citizen working in China, experienced ten years of hustling, dissatisfaction and uncertainty. He hesitated to go back to Taiwan due to his lack of financial resources and confidence. Li-li, a Chinese woman, immigrated to Taiwan by marrying a Taiwanese farmer. She wanted to open up her own business to help her ageing parents, but her loneliness made her long for China. The realities and dreams of these individuals, like the distance between Taiwan and China, seem so close, yet so far.

Formosa Homicide Chronicle I – The Case of Su Chien-ho 島國殺人紀事一： 蘇建和案 (2000, documentary, 60 min.) Winner: Best Documentary Film, 2001 Golden Harvest Awards

Formosa Homicide Chronicle III - The Sweet Taste of Freedom 島國殺人紀事三：自由的滋味 (2009, documentary, 57 min.)
Director: Tsung-lung Tsai

The two films focus on a criminal case in which three young men were accused of robbery, murder and rape in 1990. In 2003, the Taiwanese High Court acquitted the trio. Later they were sentenced to death in 2007. In 2010, the High Court again found them to be not guilty.

For eighteen years, the three men and the son of the victim tried to unearth the truth and find justice. But the truth of 'what happened' remained elusive due to the passage of time and Taiwan’s flawed judicial system. These four young souls were held captive by their distinctive attempts to find justice, spending much of their lives yearning for a freedom that no one else could truly appreciate.



Cape No. 7 海角七號 (2008, 129 min., feature film, Director: Te-Sheng Wei)

Aga, a band singer, returned frustrated to Hengchun. Tomoko, a Japanese model, was assigned to organise a local warm-up band for the Japanese superstar's beach concert. Together with five other ordinary Hengchun residents who never expected to be anybody in life, they formed an incredible band.

 

 

Father's day card

Is daddy deserves a medal?
Of course!!

Make a special father's day card with a beautiful origami medal.
We wrote the lovely message inside.

Dad, I love you!

 

爸爸， 我愛你!

bà bà    wǒ ài nǐ
爸爸， 我爱你!

 

糖果粽 sweets zongzi.

We couldn't have enough time to decorate and to make these beautiful symbolic zongzi to celebrate the dragon boat festival.

You all know about the tradition which is dragon boat racing and the savory sticky rice wrapp in bamboo leaves.  The real story behind the festival was quite sad.  It's about a famous poet QuYuan.

Others celebrate this festival on a different mythical story regarding a snake fairy who came to earth.

Our school celebrate this festival with traditional food and children's games.

Please come to the party on Sunday!

稱謂 chēng wèi （Family names)

It is quite complicated when it comes to 稱謂  chēng wèi （Family names) in Chinese.

I found this website very helpful that it explained well and has pretty much all.

" Chinese people place a great deal of importance on family and familial relations. To that end, they have a special name for just about everyone you are related to. Different names for uncles depending on which side of the family they’re on and how old they are. Different names for your sisters-in-law depending on if they are older or younger than your wife. It really is quite complicated.
In Taiwan, this is made doubly so, because you not only have to learn the Mandarin words and pronunciation for each of these members, but you also learn the Taiwanese pronunciation. This more or less doubles the already incredibly large database of family names you must learn. To that end, I’ve tried to make a list for you. Many thanks go to Miss Expatriate and her mom, who somehow manages to keep all of these straight and inform us ahead of time who we’ll be meeting and what we should call them. "

http://www.expatintaiwan.net/family-names/

Mandarin Chinese Summer Camp 2013

We are delighted to announce that our 2nd summer camp will be running for two weeks in Aug. 2013.

We are designing a brand new program for this year but we would be keeping the old tradition as children love them - activities like calligraphy, Chinese painting, Chinese cooking, Chinese craft and outdoor games etc.

We are running two age groups: 4-7 and 8-12.

 We will be very much focus on the conversational skills this year and it would be 90% immersion including songs, games and play throughout the two weeks camp.  Please send us an email at liufurlong@gmail.com for applicaiton form.  Thank you very much.

 Monday Aug. 12^th to Friday 23^rd, 2013

10:00-14:00

Cost: €100 per week

10% sibling discount available

Cabinteely Community College

復活節快樂 fù huó jié kuài lè (Happy Easter)

What a Easter treat we have prepared today.  Younger children were giving the choices of making either a green alien, a green Mr. men or just a pretty decorated Egg.  The most popular choice was a pretty decorated egg!  What's wrong with my cute green alien??!!

We did an easy version of treasure hunt to test children's knowledge of Mandarin and delighted most children found their three clues very quickly.

There will be more photos to follow for the crafts we prepared for older children later on in the week.

The end of Chinese New Year - Lanterns Festival

The end of Chinese New Year - Lanterns Festival (元宵節 yuán xiāo jié).

Children had so many questions about the story of the Lanterns Festival and we had fun solving the lantern riddles at the end as a traditional thing to do during this day.

The story involved a concubine named 元宵yuán xiāo. Emperor漢武帝hàn wǔ dì has a favourite adviser called 東方朔dōng fāng shuò.

dōng fāng shuò went to the garden one day and heard this girl called 元宵yuán xiāo crying and ready to jump into the well to commit suicide. He stopped her and realized that she was very sad as she never had a chance to see her family since she’s been living in the palace.

dōng fāng shuò promised to find out a solution to allow yuán xiāo to reunite with her family.

dōng fāng shuò went to the biggest town called長安cháng ān and set up a fortune telling stall. Everyone got the same prediction that on the 15th Jan lunar calendar, they will burn by fire.

Everyone was very scared and worried about their future and asked for help.

dōng fāng shuò told them the god of fire would send a fairy in red riding a silver donkey to burn down the town. They should plead the fairy for help. The red fairy left a message for the emperor. The emperor asked dōng fāng shuò’s advice. dōng fāng shuò said that the god of fire loved to eat tāng yuán (rice balls in sweet soup) and emperor should order every house in the city to make the same to worship the god of fire. Also, every house should make & hang red lanterns. Lastly, everyone should carry their lanterns to the street and watch lanterns, decoration, fireworks to fool the god of fire to think the city was burned.

The emperor followed the plan and it worked.

yuán xiāo’s family went and reunited with her. The town was saved so the emperor ordered that they should do the same every year. The festival was name after yuán xiāo.

Older children had a quick art time to make this lantern festival decoration. We learnt how to write Happy Lanterns Festival.









Here's the animated story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBhH9ILDKts

Chinese New Year - Snake 2013

 恭喜發財！ gōng xǐ fā cái ！Congratulations and prosperous wealth!

This is another phrase we learnt to say during the Chinese New Year. 
Children enjoyed the stories - the story of Nian and the 12 zodiac animals. 



We have been busy this week！See what we are up to!!
壓歲錢 yā suì qián (suppress age money) is normally given to children during the Chinese New Year.

Money in red envelops 紅包 hóng bāo are also commonly used for family occasions too like for the new born baby and at the wedding. We call it lucky money and hope this symbolic gesture will bring our children much needed luck and good work in the journey of learning Mandarin Chinese!!

發糕 fā gāo （prosperity cake) is streamed Chinese cupcakes that made of rice flour, self raising flour, brown sugar and water. It's one of the traditional food we eat during the Chinese New Year to encourage prosperity! Fa means prosperity or raise. :-)Most children enjoyed it and one would have a very prosperity year ahead as he had 3 fa gao in the class today!

We made this for children to bring home today.

油飯 yóu fàn (Oily rice) is streamed rice dish that is made of Glutinous rice (sticky rice/sweet rice).

It is a popular dish to have for celebration, especially when new baby is born.  As we have vegetarian in the class so I made this with dried mushrooms, shallots, smoked tofu & soya source with seasoning too.

祥龍辭舊歲、靈蛇舞新春 xiáng lóng cí jiù suì 、líng shé wǔ xīn chūn

祥龍辭舊歲、靈蛇舞新春
xiáng lóng cí jiù suì 、líng shé wǔ xīn chūn
Lucky dragon ending the old year, wise snake flourish the new spring!

This is the spring couplets we are giving away this year - the year of snake 2013.
All thanks to the OCAC (Overseas Chinese Affairs Council) for their support!

成功了!A great success!

They are so pretty and it doesn't take long to do it!

Chinese painting and calligraphy workshop

We're approaching the Chinese New Year and learning through fun activity could not be easier!

Working with 毛筆 máo bǐ (hair writing brush) has been one of the most popular activities and I came up with the idea of combine that into a cute little gift box. It was happened to be one child's birthday today so we had a little treat in each of them inside.

On the box it said 大吉大利 dà jí dà lì （means super lucky & super profits).

Chinese like to play words that share the same pronunciations but might be different meanings. People would say nice wishes to each other during the Chinese New Year (especially for those who have businesses for this particular one).

吉 jí means luck and oranges hold a symbolic meaning.

利 lì means profits and pineapple represent that.

Many dishes we normally have on the Chinese New Year's day (some family will have it on CNY's eve) have very similar effects.

We have to have a whole fish as the word 魚 yú (fish) has the same pronunciation as the word 餘 (remain or surplus / having leftovers of money).

餃子 jiǎozi （dumplings) have the shape of 元寶 yuán bǎo （gold ingot), also the word jiǎozi shares the same pronunciation with 角子 jiǎozi that is a small coin used in old times.

年糕 nián'gāo (Sticky Rice cake), also called Chinese new year's cake. It is considered good luck to eat nian gao because it has the symbolism of increasing prosperity every year.

全雞 quán jī （whole chicken) - family fortune and togetherness of the family (chicken with its head, tail and feet symbolizes completeness).

There are many many more!!!

窗花剪紙 chuāng huā jiǎn zhǐ （Window flower paper cutting)

Paper cutting is one of traditional Chinese art and it's popular during this time of the year. Homes and schools will be decorated with lots of red paper cutting arts. I ran out of red papers so I am using green for the door panels of this Chinese New Year greeting card.  We enjoy this time of the year not for its weather but for the fun part.  The hanging decoration has 6 sides and we learn how to fold the paper and how many folds we need for varies designs before we cut it too.
The theme we have planned for children is to cut these: 火花 huǒ huā (fire works)，春 chūn (spring)，蝴蝶 hú dié (butterfly)，心 xīn (Heart)，燈籠 dēng lóng (lantern)，隨意 suí yì (free style) and guess what was the most popular one - free style of course. It's because of the surprise of what their artworks would turn out to be when they open it up!
I found some more red paper and "free style" this one. Turned out that children think it looks like the head of Chinese Lion Dance.
What a surprise!

What!!?? It's our term to the stage!! 什麼？？！！該我們上場了！sh me ？？！！shén me!!?? gāi wǒ men shàng chǎng le ！

What!!?? It's our term to the stage!! 

 什麼？？！！該我們上場了！shén me       gāi wǒ men shàng chǎng le ！

I wonder what are they planning to put on the show for our Chinese New Year celebration for the year of Snake (2013)!

Coming up is our Chinese New Year which is landing on Sun 10^th Feb this year where the year of snake will begin, there will be some fun stuff for children to do too!

There will be more update on this website I hope re the celebration in Dublin.

http://www.cny.ie/

Mandarin Chinese Learning Apps

From the activity of “story chain” we have this week, I learnt that many children got brilliant gadgets for Christmas so I thought to make the most of it (Maximise the screen time!!!), I should recommend a few FREE apps to you.

These series of audio books are called Kung-Fu Chinese, they are popular children stories (i.e. Noah’s ark etc). The pain I found is each app is one story only.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.qll.sb020&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5xbGwuc2IwMjAiXQ..

Children’s Chinese reader.  This app has 39 short lessons with phrases and games.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=air.com.A5qchannel.ch00

Mandarin Madness (learn lots of words and phrases via gaming)

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nativetongue.mandarin_madness.pro&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5uYXRpdmV0b25ndWUubWFuZGFyaW5fbWFkbmVzcy5wcm8iXQ..

Discovering Chinese - Mandarin for Beginners

By Better Chinese

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/discovering-chinese-ipad-edition/id522265479?ls=1&mt=8

Google translate

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.translate&hl=en

You can download Google pinyin IME or similar if you haven’t got the Chinese input methods on your gadget already.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.inputmethod.pinyin&hl=en

http://www.memrise.com/home/

There’re 4 courses you can take online and found it quite good myself. The apps are not available yet I am afraid.