Stunt Toddler Diaries - Preschool Mandarin

auntie68

March 31, 2008 at 01:51 AM posted in General Discussion

Hello. My little nephew, the Stunt Toddler (b. June 2005), began receiving exposure to Mandarin for the first time in January of this year (2008), when he began attending a bilingual pre-school here in Singapore. After three months, he's suddenly become a Mandarinomaniac! Btw, I have the luxury of spending between 2 - 8 hours with him and his nanny every single school day. So it's like I have courtside seats for watching him grow up. Will be posting random thoughts on ST's Mandarin here from time to time. If you can spare the time, please -- DO please -- share with me anything you have discovered about trying to raise a bilingual Stunt Toddler! Thanks!

hitokiri6993

April 11, 2008 at 04:33 PM

Looks like Cpod has deleted the nasty comments.:) I'm glad that's done.:)

bazza

April 11, 2008 at 04:28 PM

I thought auntie68's account had been hacked or spoofed or something at first.

hitokiri6993

April 11, 2008 at 04:23 PM

auntie68: I've already reported him to the cpod guys. Pls. don't get mad at the cpod crew. I tried to tell him to stop posting here. He just told me to write in Simp. Chinese and he called me a 鳥人. I hope they block him. Don't worry, he'll be gone sooner or later. Pls. cool down now.:)

kriskringle

April 11, 2008 at 04:13 PM

Oh my. Let's see who blocks this site faster, China or Germany.

This is another reason why we would need some kind of ignore list, maybe with a different forum software.

PS: auntie68: sorry my comment is off topic

henning

April 11, 2008 at 03:21 PM

They definately will and I think that user will also be blocked very soon. Unfortunately he chose to vandalize two of the most interesting threads here (the "Thinking in Chinese" and this one). My guess: A teenager, confused and frustrated because of his English grades.

bazza

April 11, 2008 at 03:08 PM

auntie, just ignore him. The admins will clean up when they get a chance I'm sure.

zhangyanlin

April 11, 2008 at 02:20 PM

你个鸟人，凭什么啊？凭你是华人？真是尥蹶子逼我急

hitokiri6993

April 11, 2008 at 02:18 PM

我不要麻煩了。我也不要跟吵嘴。。我只是要說請停評論。OK?

zhangyanlin

April 11, 2008 at 02:16 PM

你是什么地方的啊？Singpore or Hong Kong?繁体字？过时了，真是的，应该早改了，是不是你的键盘打不出来啊？

hitokiri6993

April 11, 2008 at 02:07 PM

其實很多華人依然用繁體字。也許你二百五啦。我有一個歡心。。。請。。請別評論在這個網站。。我們在Chinesepod不要人們像你.如果你停評論。。我也停啦？好不好？

zhangyanlin

April 11, 2008 at 01:53 PM

汝个汉语门外汗，请别用汝式汉语说我，正宗汉字已经简化了，知否？二百五一个

hitokiri6993

April 11, 2008 at 01:44 PM

zhangyanlin :別説話了！如果你繼續我將報告這個網站。

auntie68

April 11, 2008 at 01:39 PM

Actually, if these posts don't raise any kind of "red flag" , I don't think CPOD is where I should be!

zhangyanlin

April 11, 2008 at 01:39 PM

The tiger ask all the other kinds of animals for animals themselves to eat, and he got one fox. The fox said:"You are not dare to eat me! The god order me to be the king of the animals, if you eat me today, it is an offence to the god. Of course you will not trust me. Let me prove it. I will walk in front of you ,and you follow me,you can see that the animals are not dare to stay after they see me."The tiger trusted the fox and do this with the fox. And all the animals who saw them would run away quickly. The tiger didn't know that it is he himself who the animals were afraid of but he thought that they were afraid of the fox.

When Dr.Sun was a child, he saw a snake with two heads, and he killed that snake and burried it. However, when he was back, he cried. His mother asked the reason, and he answered that:"I've heard that anyone who saw a snake with two heads will be dead, and I saw it just now, I was afraid of leaving you alone and being dead." His mother said: "And where is the snake now?" He said:"I was afraid that it would be seen by others, so I killed and burried it!" His mother said:"I 've been told that a good person will have a good luck, so you will not die~!" When Dr. Sun grew up, he was a improtant officer of the country of Shu, and before he could do anything, he was warshipped by the people of being good.

Dr.Zeng wore bad quality clothes and farmed, the King of Lu sent people there to invite him to come. When they got at the city Yan, the people who was sent said:"Please wear these clothese." But Dr. Zeng didn't do as he was told. And the people sent by the king went to him again and again, but Dr.Zeng said no repeatedly. The person said:"Mr, these are not things you asked, but are people give you, why you don't want them?" Dr.Zeng said:"I've heard that,if one person gets the things from the others, he will be afraid of the others. If one person gives the things to the others, he is showing proud of himself to the others. So although the things are sent by the others to me, the king can't be too proud of himself, so I was afraid of him." Finally, he didn't take the clothes. Dr. Kong heard that, and said:"What Dr.Zeng has said can protect his faith."

zhangyanlin

April 11, 2008 at 01:38 PM

虎求百兽而食之，得狐。狐曰：“子无敢食我也！天帝使我长百兽，今子食我，是逆天帝命也。子以我为不信，吾为子先行，子随我后，观百兽之见我而敢不走乎。”虎以为然故遂与之行。兽见之皆走。虎不知兽畏己而走也，以为畏狐也。

孙叔敖为婴儿之时出游，见两头蛇，杀而埋之，归而泣。其母问其故，叔敖对曰：‘闻见两头之蛇者死。向者吾见之，恐去母而去也。’母曰：‘蛇今安在？’曰：‘恐他人又见，杀而埋之矣！’其母曰：‘吾闻有阴德者天报以福，汝不死也。’及长。为楚令尹，未治而国人信其仁也。”

曾子衣弊衣以耕，鲁君使人往，致邑焉，曰：‘请以此修衣。’曾子不受，反复往，又不受。使者曰：‘先生非求于人，人则献之，奚为不受？’曾子曰：‘臣闻之，受人者畏人，予人者骄人。纵子有赐，不我骄也，我能勿畏乎？’终不受。孔子闻之，曰：“参之言，足以全其节也。”

auntie68

April 11, 2008 at 01:38 PM

Okay CPOD, you've finally had as much free speech from me, as from zhangyanlin. I dare you to treat us the same... when do difficult words or racist comments become unacceptable on CPOD?

zhangyanlin

April 11, 2008 at 01:36 PM

不打算再和动物说话了，我要用我们的人类语言说

auntie68

April 11, 2008 at 01:34 PM

Good night. I"m not a racist, but here is some more freedom of speech to test your love of that concept:

heil hitler heil hitler heil hitler heil hitler heil hitler

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falungong falungong falungong falungong falungong

free tibet free tibet free tibet free tibet free tibet free tibet

taiwan taiwan taiwan taiwan taiwan taiwan taiwan taiwan

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zhangyanlin

April 11, 2008 at 01:33 PM

I almost understand what you say ,even my English is not good,but you cannot understand what i say,how funny!When a person speak to an animal by animal words,the animal can not realise what the people say by hunam's words though the person hnow a bit animal words多么不对称？

auntie68

April 11, 2008 at 01:29 PM

More freedom of speech:

falungong falungong falungong falungong falungong

free tibet free tibet free tibet free tibet free tibet free tibet

taiwan taiwan taiwan taiwan taiwan taiwan taiwan taiwan

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taiwan taiwan taiwan taiwan taiwan taiwan taiwan

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auntie68

April 11, 2008 at 01:28 PM

Freedom of speech:

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free tibet free tibet free tibet free tibet free tibet free tibet

taiwan taiwan taiwan taiwan taiwan taiwan taiwan taiwan

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taiwan taiwan taiwan taiwan taiwan taiwan taiwan

auntie68

April 11, 2008 at 01:27 PM

Hmm... maybe SIngaporean (or Chinese) internet firewalls are not all that they are made out to be!

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free tibet free tibet free tibet free tibet free tibet free tibet

taiwan taiwan taiwan taiwan taiwan taiwan taiwan taiwan

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taiwan taiwan taiwan taiwan taiwan taiwan taiwan

zhangyanlin

April 11, 2008 at 01:25 PM

You pologize to me ,Thinking simply auntie68?

auntie68

April 11, 2008 at 01:22 PM

Shame on you, CPOD, for doing nothing at all about this. I bet it's really funny for you, a real gas.

auntie68

April 11, 2008 at 01:20 PM

sorry, friend, I missed your message. I'm feeling sorry to you, it is heartfelt. Hopw you can forgive me. I would rather erase every single word that I have written about the Stunt Toddler, than let this disgraceful thread continue. Sorry, I am truly sorry.

zhangyanlin

April 11, 2008 at 01:19 PM

我无语，弱知？It seem it's real that you foreigner are thinking simply,and have a sick from she/he born

auntie68

April 11, 2008 at 01:12 PM

Sorry, CPOD friends (those who are not racist), I cannot rest until I can't access this site any more. So:

falungong falungong falungong falungong falungong

free tibet free tibet free tibet free tibet free tibet free tibet

taiwan taiwan taiwan taiwan taiwan taiwan taiwan taiwan

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hitokiri6993

April 11, 2008 at 01:09 PM

auntie68: pls. stop. I'll send an IM to Ken,Jenny, Amber, Connie,etc. to help you erase this thread.

zhangyanlin

April 11, 2008 at 01:05 PM

基地组织看来没炸够你们， It look like t he kongbuzuzhi have not killed you enough

auntie68

April 11, 2008 at 01:04 PM

Please, CPOD, won't you react and delete this disgusting thread in its entirety?

auntie68

April 11, 2008 at 01:03 PM

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auntie68

April 11, 2008 at 01:03 PM

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auntie68

April 11, 2008 at 01:03 PM

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auntie68

April 11, 2008 at 01:02 PM

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auntie68

April 11, 2008 at 01:01 PM

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zhangyanlin

April 11, 2008 at 01:01 PM

汝等觉汝之孩提屁言可笑？令吾内心触动？鄙视汝等！Just by say dalai lama and falungong?

auntie68

April 11, 2008 at 01:00 PM

CPOD, won't you just delete this thread? For me, it's become something ugly. Please.

falungong falungong falungong falungong falungong

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Since nothing else has worked, I hope this will do the job., So sorry!

zhangyanlin

April 11, 2008 at 12:58 PM

我甚惭愧，看来我似乎好象理解错了，可我没有道歉的习惯，真是误入狼窝

auntie68

April 11, 2008 at 12:53 PM

dalai lama

hitokiri6993

April 11, 2008 at 12:53 PM

zhangyanlin: Could you just stop posting on this thread? Me and auntie68 were talking about her nephew and you came butting in with some racist comments... 對不起, I'm gonna have to report you.

auntie68

April 11, 2008 at 12:52 PM

hot gay sex

auntie68

April 11, 2008 at 12:51 PM

I'll ignore zhanyanlin's post because I didn't understand it. Sorry!

But if CPOD is not going to delete this thread on its own voliition, I am going to add some words that stand a better chance of getting it it yanked (thank God!) in my own country. Do you want to know what they are? falungong falungong falungong falungong falungong falungong falungong falungong falungong falungong falungong falungong tibet tibet tibet tibet tibet tibet tibet tibet qaeda osama qaeda osama qaeda osama yids kikes yids kikes yids kikes yids kikes yikds kids.

zhangyanlin

April 11, 2008 at 12:46 PM

汝欲post in your Country ?我感说人们一定会说“auntie68愚蠢之极，曾不知此仅乃一戏言？“

auntie68

April 11, 2008 at 12:41 PM

Dear CPOD, please delete this entire thread. I am deeply offended by the bigotted -- and irrelevant -- posts which have crept in, and demand that you delete this thread forthwith. Please. Thank you.

auntie68

April 11, 2008 at 12:38 PM

Ken, Amber, John PASDEN, Clay, Hank, LJJ, anybody who is out there, I would rather you scrubbed this entire thread (so be it!), than let it carry on with this kind of comment. If you choose not to react, I shall report this to my country's Infocomm and Media authority, which deals with posts that incite racial hatred. No loss for you, but I feel strongly enough about it to not want this kind of bigotted filth to be posted in my country...

zhangyanlin

April 11, 2008 at 12:33 PM

Englishi is the dirtiest 语言in the world,just look,how simple in chinese,i really cannot understand why English is so popular,and i think it's hard to learn,but a lot of people say it's easy and say Chinese is hard ,so I just now get an answer,the Chinese are more clever than the people who say Englishi

auntie68

April 11, 2008 at 12:14 PM

Thank you so much! If that's what the lyrics mean, it's so beautiful! Again, thank you. Many of those beloved staple foods are tradiitional foods here in Singapore too -- Eg. "talong" is known here by the Malay name of "Terong". "Bawang" is a local Singaporean word!!! I wish there were a way to post images of the Stunt Toddler enjoying all the plants we grow in the family home... eg. we have a little pineapple grove!

hitokiri6993

April 11, 2008 at 12:06 PM

Thanks auntie68! I know..:) our Chinese is terrible. We have only learned a quarter level of 1st grade Mandarin and we can figure out some words in spoken Cantonese. BTW, Alice姐姐 is my step-sister. How do you say step-sister 在漢語?

Here are the lyrics of Bahay Kubo:

Bahay kubo(Nipa hut)

Kahit munti(even if it's small)

Ang halaman doon(the plants there...)

Ay sari-sari(are plentiful)

Singkamas at talong( turnips and eggplants )

Sigarilyas at mani (winged seguidillas beans and peanuts )

Sitaw, bataw, patani(string beans, hyacinth beans, kidney beans)

Kundol, patola (winter melons, sponge guords)

Upo't kalabasa (fuzzy gourd and squash)

At saka meron pa (And there's more...)

Labanos, mustasa (...radish, mustard)

Sibuyas, kamatis (onions, tomatoes)

Bawang at luya ( garlic and ginger)

Sa paligid-ligid

Ay puno ng linga.......(there are full of sesame seeds in the surroundings).

auntie68

April 11, 2008 at 11:56 AM

Does it take so many Chinese characters to say, "Deal ka' na ba". Goodness, zhangyanlin...

zhangyanlin

April 11, 2008 at 11:52 AM

日出东南隅，照我秦氏楼。秦氏有好女，自名为罗敷。

罗敷善蚕桑，采桑城南隅。青丝为笼系，桂枝为笼钩。

头上倭堕髻，耳中明月珠。缃绮为下裙，紫绮为上襦。

行者见罗敷，下担捋髭须。少年见罗敷，脱帽著帩头。

耕者忘其犁，锄者忘其锄。来归相怨怒，但坐观罗敷。

使君从南来，五马立踟蹰。使君遣吏往，问是谁家姝？

“秦氏有好女，自名为罗敷。”“罗敷年几何？”“二十尚不足，

十五颇有余”。使君谢罗敷：“宁可共载不？”

罗敷前致词：“使君一何愚！使君自有妇，罗敷自有夫。”

“东方千余骑，夫婿居上头。何用识夫婿？

白马从骊驹；青丝系马尾，黄金络马头；腰中鹿卢剑，可值千万余。

十五府小史，二十朝大夫，三十侍中郎，四十专城居。

为人洁白晰，鬑鬑颇有须。盈盈公府步，冉冉府中趋。

坐中数千人，皆言夫婿殊。”

zhangyanlin

April 11, 2008 at 11:51 AM

西京乱无象，

豺虎方遘患。

复弃中国去，

委身适荆蛮。

亲戚对我悲，

朋友相追攀。

出门无所见，

白骨蔽平原。

路有饥妇人，

抱子弃草间。

顾闻号泣声，

挥涕独不还。

未知身死处，

何能两相完？

驱马弃之去，

不忍听此言。

南登霸陵岸，

回首望长安。

悟彼下泉人，

喟然伤心肝。

auntie68

April 11, 2008 at 11:43 AM

P/s: hitokiri6993, your Chinese -- and the incredible Chinese of your sister, Alice Chen (?) -- puts us Singaporeans to shame. Here's to many years of learning many useful things from you and other Pinoys/Tsinoys who love Chinese and Filipino enough to cheer our beloved Stunt Toddler on. Thank you! Happy weekend!

auntie68

April 11, 2008 at 11:25 AM

hitokiri6993, I'll nourish the Stunt Toddler with Mandarin as far as I can keep up with him!

Today his father took leave from his busy job, and dropped by at lunch-time to pick up the ST himself (I had picked him up from school and driven him to the family home). His Dad watched him do the "Mandarin thing" for the first time, in a state of amazement.

We'll do our best, I promise. His mother taught the Stunt Toddler a beautiful Filipino song, I think the title is "Bahay kubo", and the little boy LOVES to sing it! He sings it with so much emotion and pride that even I can feel the beauty of the song. Thank you so much for your kind wishes, I mean it.

zhangyanlin

April 11, 2008 at 11:21 AM

hitohiri6993,can you spell chinese model?What you write had been throwed for a easy spell at least 30years

hitokiri6993

April 11, 2008 at 11:14 AM

I wished my parents made me addicted to 漢語 when I was young just like S.T. Nourish S.T. and don't make him be like me... a 華菲 who can't even fluently speak one of his native tongues...哈哈. :)

auntie68

April 11, 2008 at 01:06 AM

Thanks RJBerki. Re-reading my last posts from yesterday, I had to cringe because I sounded so... overexcited. But you're right, it is such a treat for me, to be able to spend such an unusual amount of "quality" time with him on a regular basis. It's easy for me to enjoy his "precociousness" because he has a very loving and considerate personality.

P/s: I know I typed "Julian" when I should have written "Gregorian".

RJ

April 10, 2008 at 09:44 PM

auntie68- he sounds like a very bright little boy. A very precocious boy. What a treat for you. How lucky for him he has someone to share mandarin with.

auntie68

April 10, 2008 at 11:56 AM

For what it's worth, ST toddler's interests are not all brainy, Mandarinomaniac ones. His latest favourite game -- after he saw his grandmother reverse her car into a concrete pillar in a multi-storey carpark, is "Dteet! Dteet! Dteet! Dteet! BPOMMMM!!!!" (the "dteet" is the reverse gear alert). And to that he has added, "G-force!" which is: pretending to be thrown around, "screaming", in her car by imaginary G-forces whenever she takes a corner, no matter how slowly. And whenever she drives over a road hump (the striped kind that is supposed to reduce speed), he pretends to be severely jolted (eg. "ah-dey-dey-dey-dey-DEY!!!!"). Poor grandmother...

auntie68

April 10, 2008 at 11:42 AM

Thanks henning. That was perfect.

I have just let myself back in to my Tiny Flat, after spending nearly 8 hours with the Stunt Toddler.

Today, he discovered the Chinese calendar hanging on the wall in the "family" (ie informal) dining table. The Chinese kind, with little horses to mark race days (Chinese are great punters), and the lunar calendar charted in Chinese characters next to the "Julian" dates.

Wow. ST went straight for the "days" (ie, Mon, Tue, etc), and -- very ostentatiously -- read off the Chinese characters for the days of the week. Eg. "星期一，星期二。。。星期日“ etc. He had a little trouble with the 六 (liu4) for "Saturday", but he had my mother and sitting there slack-jawed. Then we just became really excited and embarrassing...

This was a big deal for me because it was the first time I had ever observed the ST *reading* *Chinese* *characters!!!!!!!! I was so excited that I telephoned my Cantonese housekeeper at her home to tell her about it; she is like a great-grandmother to the little boy.

Today I was definitely like a carjacking victim, carried along for a long ride by ST's enthusiasm for Mandarin, but it made me very happy. He discovered the "character chart" that goes with his Chinese flash cards, and spent a clear hour matching the cards to it. I discovered that he knows "小狗“ (xiao3gou3; little dog) and 牛奶 (niu2nai3; milk), plus all the numbers to.

The most "discombobulating" moment for me was when he discovered the audio CD that went with the flashcards, which I hadn't bothered to play for him because I thought the delivery was too slow and deliberate.

He loved that! He listened to most of it with his head right next to his little CD player, repeating words that he heard and looking "delighted" (drama queen!) when he caught words that he knew.

Halfway through the CD, there were a few recordings of songs, and he went absolutely, utterly, happily, bonkers when "三子老虎" (san1zi4lao2hu; sung to the tune of "three blind mice") came on. Because he knew it from school. There was something "Pavlovian" about the way he did the actions for the song. My mother had to play that one track maybe 50 times for him before he lost interest and went away with her to type e-mails; he was "into" it long enough for me to take an exteneded "Guinness Break" and STILL take over the "rewind" duty.

English-wise, ST is still learning very quickly. He loves to type e-mails with his grandmother (my mother), which is a lot easier for him -- at 34 months -- than writing by hand. Today he discovered a new word -- "Bomb!" and also the use of the "question mark" -- ie "Bomb?". This probably sounds quite loony to anybody who doesn't spend a lot of time with a toddler every day, but that's what seems to do it for him.

I'm so (physically) tired...

henning

April 10, 2008 at 04:24 AM

bryan,

no English yet - for various reasons. He needs to get comfortable in German and Mandarin first.

Auntie68:

wy wife says: "擦擦鼻子!" (cācā bízi)

(which is frequently replied by a "明天擦擦鼻子" where 明天 stands for an indefinite future date....).

流鼻涕 (liúbítì) denotes a running nose.

auntie68

April 09, 2008 at 11:50 PM

Bryan, I know the feeling. It's thrilling. With the Stunt Toddler, I am actually starting to feel a bit anxious because he's so "into" Mandarin that at times I feel a bit like a helpless carjacking victim who is still in the car...

As an overseas Chinese brought up in a strongly English-speaking environment, there are still many gaps -- usually, where I least expect it -- in my Mandarin vocabulary.

Eg. When ST began spouting "colours" in Mandarin, I didn't know: "brown" (棕 zong1 or 褐 he4), "purple" (紫 zi3), or "orange" (橙 cheng2 - duh!).

And I still don't know how to say things like "Let's wipe your nose", or "Blow [your nose]!" in Mandarin. I only know how to say it in Cantonese, because I had a Cantonese nanny: maat bei tai, sunn bei.

There is a wonderful Chinese Nanny command in Cantonese -- "woon saam funn gaao!" --which can be translated literally into Mandarin characters as "换衣睡觉!" (huan4yi1 shui4jiao4). I wish I knew how to say, "[Dear, it's time to] get in jammies, go to bed!" in Mandarin...

bryan, I really appreciate and enjoy it when you share your experiences with your lovely daughter, because we seem to be in the same boat. Thank you!

bryan

April 09, 2008 at 10:52 PM

Auntie, it's so nice to hear your perspective. I definitely agree about the action songs. She just loves trying to imitate the girls in the MeiMei video with the dance moves and everything. I stayed home with my daughter today since our nanny is sick, so we did a bit of Chinese today. This is a pretty new thing for us and I didn't want to overdo it. I was starting to feel like "What on earth am I doing... Just who do I think I am to be teaching her" and then a few hours later, while drinking her milk, from across the room and without prompting, she said very loudly: "Daddy, 牛奶（niu2nai3）“. That was an amazing feeling. I was so afraid she was going to be anti-Chinese (I guess that will come when she's with English-speaking peers), but she seems to really like it. She sang the Zhao ya song twice through straight before going off to sleep in her crib for her nap today and also part of the ba luo bo (Pull the carrot) song which we both just learned for the first time today. Exciting times!

bryan

April 09, 2008 at 10:35 PM

Interesting stuff, Henning. If you don't mind me asking, are you guys teaching him any English or is the plan to just wait until that's introduced in school?

henning

April 09, 2008 at 06:01 AM

Whenever my son sees me he instantaneously and automatically switches to German. Obviously that is totally subconcious because he did it even in Beijing when he actually wanted to communicate with Chinese kids.

The interesting thing is that he even modifies Chinese words that we use in both languages, for example 奶奶 (which we use for my wife's mother who technically is the 姥姥. We use 奶奶 for reasons of simplicity. The "real" 奶奶 is "Oma").

When he talks Chinese the 奶 is perfectly 3rd tone. But when in "German mode" he uses a 4th tone which is a long-term pronounciation mistake of mine. So the 4th-tone-wrong-奶 became his "German translation" of 奶...

auntie68

April 09, 2008 at 01:43 AM

Hello bryan. It's a relief to know that you're out there, in pretty much the same situation as we are (the "Good Intentions" league).

And thank you, it was such a treat reading about your daughter's very positive first reactions to Chinese! Daddy -- and what Daddy likes, eg., Mandarin -- is such a powerful influence on little girls. Don't I know it!

There is something about those Chinese "action" nursery songs that the kids just love. Maybe it's a Chinese cultural thing? Over the weekend, I showed the S.T. some Mandarin flashcards (published by Tuttle; 64 words) which my mother had bought for her grandson. I didn't read them to him at first; just wanted to see his reaction.

He didn't seem very interested at first -- "m-hm, that's a "Bunny...", until I pointed at the Chinese characters and said, "兔子“ (tu4zi; bunny). At the sound of the Chinese, his face lit up, he made "bunny ears" by sticking his index fingers up on either side of his head, and started hopping around the room singing some kind of "tuzi" song.

That was fun to watch, but also more than a bit scary, in a way! It's like he's so well-conditioned... Oh well, time will tell if it's a good thing or not. In any case, Chinese teaching methods seem to go down well with this ST. His nanny tells me that he adores the Chinese-language teacher, but isn't exactly crazy about the English-speaking teacher, who has a harder time engaging his attention.

You know, sometimes I do feel a lot of pressure because the Stunt Toddler is exceptionally close to me. Since he was about 8 months old, I've been spending two full days a week with him at the family home. So I think I get more "lookit! lookit!"'s than the rest of the family combined!

And since ST began school, I have been seeing him daily because I pick him up from school every day, and am also his after-school programme on most days. It's a fantastic deal for me because I enjoy the services of an entourage of "support staff" at a level which is rare even for Singapore.

With his new Mandarin craze, S.T. wants me to be doing Mandarin with him all the time too. He knows that I am the only person in the family who can share this craze with him, and believe me, he's quite an expert on "working" people, using a combination of persistence and patience! And he has a LO-OONNG attention span...

bryan

April 08, 2008 at 11:42 PM

Auntie, it is so much fun reading about your adventures with ST. I just came across this thread and thoroughly enjoyed reading your posts. My daughter just turned 23 months yesterday and I have just recently begun to try introducing her to the beauty of Mandarin. So far she has seen a few minutes of Bao Bei (宝贝) the Panda, about 10 minutes of the new show "Ni Hao, Kai Lan" and a we have watched the first Mei Mei DVD for about 10 minutes a couple times. Even though the Kai Lan story line seems a bit old for her, she LOVES it. She went to bed doing the Dragon Dance a couple nights ago. A few days before that I heard her chanting the Zhao ya, zhao ya, zhao ya, zhao... song as she went to sleep. I have started to teach her some words on my own (right now via English, since her English is so good). My wife (who doesn't speak any Chinese) and I have become good friends with the owners/workers at a local restaurant, so my daughter she hears me practicing with them too. My daughter and I also met a native Chinese woman and her daughter at a local bookstore and have since had a mini play date at the library twice. I am hoping to eventually develop a more organized Mandarin-speaking playgroup so she can learn in an immersed, fun environment. With my limited abilities (I've only been learning for a little over a year and a half), I too worry myself and can totally relate to what you said about being "overwhelmed whenever I stop to think that we are naively trying to create a "Mandarin-friendly" environment ... out of nothing but good intentions." Although I am always learning more, I am fully aware that with my current abilities, I am a long, long, long way from being able to provide enough input for her to truly become bilingual. I guess I just have to believe that since I am so passionate about it and committed to studying myself, that I will be able to continue to help provide a framework for her while supplementing with Chinese pre-K school which is offered near here when she is 3 or so. Auntie, I will be sure to tune in frequently to hear about your adventures with ST. I can't wait for the next installment!

auntie68

April 07, 2008 at 01:48 PM

For what it's worth, Stunt Toddler has been reading in English since he was about 2.

I think he learned it from watching TV. I'm not joking. TV programmes like "Pocoyo", "Sesame Street", and "Richard Scarry" are pretty incredible, ST's father and I learned to read through watching Sesame Street.

We can't claim any credit for that. It's like the ST just woke up one day and started reading off every word he saw. In fact, his grandmother (my mother) thought he was "slow" because he never spoke. His father and I started reading spontaneously too, but we were four years old. That was a huge help for my mother when she had to fly to London with me when I was six years old -- 18 hours in various planes, at the time -- and she was able to pack a little bag of comic books to keep me amused on the long, long flight..

auntie68

April 07, 2008 at 01:31 PM

Okay, my mother just reported that when the Stunt Toddler joined her, his grandmother, and some aunts for a smart "high tea" at a good hotel on Sunday (I did not attend this one), he was all sweetness and light.

Well, until the 1.5-hour point, when he picked up a copy of the menu -- in English, of course --, and pretended to read it aloud: "It says, Go-back-to-Grandma's-house-NOW! To play! Now! No more tea, please!"

He kept such a straight face that the grown-ups cracked up. Oh well, this teaches me to be more discerning about this boy's "linguistic achievements" in Mandarin... My grasp of Mandarin is so weak that I probably can't even tell if the Stunt Toddler is taking the piss!

obitoddkenobi

April 06, 2008 at 01:31 AM

Auntie, I always love your Stunt Toddler stories even if I'm late to find them. I'm glad you started this post, I'll come back often. It is a curative to hear the loving way in which you describe his antics. Now we have Henning and Hannahim to hear tales from too...a regular ChinesePod multilingual corner. Can't wait for the next episodes in the amazing adventures of the Next Generation in a Multilinguistic World... Next star to the right and straight on 'till morning.

auntie68

April 03, 2008 at 01:20 PM

Henning, sorry! No worries on that account, I know you are a great Dad. I was only teasing you; that's why I tried to make that (lame) joke about never putting anything white wine in the baby's bottle. ;-)

henning

April 03, 2008 at 12:07 PM

he did not get what *he* ordered....

And he will (hopefully) also not get any other alcohol at least until an age of 16 (which is also the legal age to buy and consume alcohol and beer here in Germany).

henning

April 03, 2008 at 11:58 AM

Auntie,

maybe did not express myself clearly - of course he did *not* get what I ordered. But he was happy with apple juice.

auntie68

April 03, 2008 at 11:49 AM

henning -- “我也想喝一杯啤酒” is so very polite, for any age. And he's only three! Congratulations to your Stunt Toddler. Btw, my family's long-standing German friends/ associates are from a state where it is unheard of for infants and toddlers to drink beer.

According to them -- they are from Esslingen -- every German knows that below the age of five, nothing but white wine (白葡萄酒) should ever be put into the baby's bottle.

RJBerki -- I think you're right about the catching up. My student, aged 12, was born and raised in Singapore. She spoke almost no English during the first four years of her life; her stay-at-home mother spoke only Japanese to her. But once she started school, the "dominant community language" -- ie English -- quickly crowded out the Japanese and the Italian, and that's how it's been since then. I guess that's why bi-cultural families try as far as possible to immerse their children in the non-dominant language before the kids reach school age. Once they start kindy, it's not easy to maintain that language despite everybody's best efforts!

RJ

April 03, 2008 at 09:39 AM

sounds like a chip off the ole block as they say (or bock in this case). I remember I always loved the sips of beer my father would allow at that age. A harbinger of things to come. This is great for him I think to speak mandarin so early but he will also need German for school, correct?

Kids have a way of catching up quickly though.

henning

April 03, 2008 at 05:56 AM

These contributions are really interesting for me, as I contrast them with my own 3year old son (so about the same age) who is raised bilingual. Still most of his input is Chinese, so his German really lacks behind. Especially those grammatical genders are tough for him.

His Mandarin however is solid.

In a Beijing restaurant he was asked by the waiter:

你想点什么?

which he - after lots of serious pondering - answered with a polite:

我也想喝一杯啤酒！

Well, you not always get what you want in life, but we surely see the German genes are well functioning.

;)

hitokiri6993

April 03, 2008 at 01:43 AM

hehe...that's funny:) 葡萄!好笑.:)

auntie68

April 03, 2008 at 01:39 AM

P/s: And when he reached the page with the illustration of "葡萄", he switched back to English and pretended not to know what it was.... "Hm? What's this? I don't know! Next page..."

auntie68

April 03, 2008 at 01:36 AM

I think the Stunt Toddler just made his first "jokes" in Mandarin. As reported diligently by me, his Auntie:

1. I do sometimes wonder how much of S.T.'s Mandarin is the mere parrotting of phrases he's heard in school, and how much of it is actually “language“.

Well, one piece of schoolwork which he is particularly proud of showing to me is: "白色的猫“ (bai2se4de mao1; white cat). His Chinese teacher helped him to glue fluffy white synthetic fur onto a line drawing of a cat. He loves to stroke the fur and say, "MK, look at my 白色的猫！ “

Now what has happened is that we were reading his book on "Colours" together, when he stopped at the section on the colour black, did an exaggerated "double take" at an image of a black cat, turned to me and said, "Ha? MK, 黑色的？ MK, 黑色的猫 ? 黑色的猫！Ha ha ha!" like it was the silliest idea he had ever come across. We enjoyed this "inside joke" so much that our laughter brought his nanny in to see what we were up to.

2. After ST surprised me by calling out "葡萄" (pu2tao2; grapes) when he came across a picture of grapes in the same book, this silly Auntie tried to make him repeat the stunt for her friend who had came to visit. "Come on, show this nice lady what 葡萄 are..."

Stunt Toddler picked up his "Colours" book, opened it up theatrically, and pretended to read it out loud. But every page was: 葡萄！Each page read with a different expression: 葡萄？葡萄！葡萄。。。葡萄葡萄葡萄...

At one point he turned the book outwards, just like when his teacher reads to the class, pointed at a page and went "葡萄" as if he were the teacher. He was giggling so hard as he did all of this that I know he was tweaking us. The joke was on us! In Mandarin, too!

Please make of this what you will, I am biased because I am his aunt after all! He does this in English as well, guess I was happily surprised to see him play in the same way in Mandarin.

hitokiri6993

April 03, 2008 at 12:52 AM

Hi auntie68. I finally visited one of your posts.:) I really enjoyed it! I hope that ST could be trilingual. His mom's from Ateneo? That's where my lolo graduated! That's cool.:) 加油!

auntie68

April 02, 2008 at 02:10 PM

Hello casie! 壁虎 -- "wall tiger" -- is such a perfect way to describe those little harmless creatures which hug the walls and still manage (somehow) to terrorize females despite their tiny size. Thank you...

cassielin

April 02, 2008 at 02:01 PM

Wow, dear auntie68,

Thank you for sharing you and Stunt Toddler's story! It is very good!

And "gecko" means 壁虎bihu in chinese!

You are a very good aunty for Stunt Toddler, you are so patient. I am glad to know that Stunt Toddler's father is strict with him! My father is always strict with me and cares about my education.

Auntie68, i can tell you and your family know how important education for the next generation is. Go auntie68! Hope you can keep on sharing those interesting stories about u and your little Stunt Toddler.

甜芳

Cassie

auntie68

April 02, 2008 at 01:34 PM

Hannahlm -- thank you so much for your kind words. I am really grateful to have this outlet for my feelings. It is easy to feel overwhelmed whenever I stop to think that we are naively trying to create a "Mandarin-friendly" environment for the Stunt Toddler out of... well ... nothing but good intentions. The dominant language in this family is definitely English.

When he was an infant, I didn't even try to say anything to him in Mandarin because I had no idea how to do "baby talk" in Chinese, apart from a few Cantonese things. Even the valuable expressions I learned from CPOD didn't sound natural at all.

So we simply let the Mandarin "be", and his parents enrolled him in a bilingual pre-school a couple of years earlier than they had planned.

It's a huge relief that the school is doing such a great job igniting the Stunt Toddler's interest in Chinese, but at the same time, it's quite a burden and a challenge for us, because the little boy is so enthusiastic and "Mandarin-hungry"! I wish you, and that adorable child in your avatar, a smooth voyage in what changye called "the wonderful linguistic world".

changye -- Uncle, thank you. Stunt Toddler's father will love what you wrote. He (the father) is a devoted Trek fan. In fact, before he got married, before he started working in his "respectable" job, before he became a stern father to the S.T., he used to attend Star Trek conventions... in costume. Heh heh, I am a bad sister!

changye

April 02, 2008 at 11:11 AM

S.T. TNG

Stunt Toddler, The Next Generation (of auntie68)

A voyager in the wonderful linguistic world.

Coming soon!

HannahIm

April 02, 2008 at 08:02 AM

Auntie68, I love all your entries! Keep them coming. :)

chillosk

April 02, 2008 at 05:26 AM

zhang1lang2, got it! thanks auntie!! chichak sounds cool. hehe

auntie68

April 02, 2008 at 05:15 AM

Hello again. Okay -- my dictionary says that "roach; cockroach" is 蟑螂 (zhang1lang2).

Wish I knew the Chinese word for "common house gecko". In my family we use the Malay word -- "chichak" -- whether we're speaking English or Cantonese.

chillosk

April 02, 2008 at 04:50 AM

Auntie, haha, yeah, hopefully ST will enter the Ateneo someday!

I wonder how you say "Better sleep quickly, else the butiki will come and kiss you." in Chinese!!

And what's cockroach in Chinese? I heard Amber mention it before but I had a hard time catching it! Would you know? Or would anyone know?

auntie68

April 02, 2008 at 12:58 AM

Hello chillosk. The Ateneo is one of the great universities of the world. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the "baby of the world" (ie ST) could get a degree from Ateneo one day, like his mother and her sister... but then I am running ahead of myself!

The "butiki" (harmless house gecko) tactic is an example of sheer Filipino brilliance. S.T.'s nanny -- she is from Iloilo -- puts the little boy down for his afternoon nap by saying, "Better sleep quickly, because the butiki is coming and if you are still awake he will want to play with you and kiss you!". We haven't had to use the "ipis" tactic even once.

chillosk

April 01, 2008 at 11:35 PM

Auntie,

That is so cool! I can't believe ST's mother graduated from the Ateneo! That's where I graduated from as well! Go Blue Eagles!

So cool that ST's becoming a "baby of the world", with all the cultures fusing into him. It would be great if ST turns out tri-lingual!

Love the bit with the pancit! Haha, hopefully the butiki or the ipis (cockroach) didn't get it!

auntie68

March 31, 2008 at 10:52 AM

Thanks to the Stunt Toddler, and also to his routine of spending whole days at the "ancestral home" in Singapore (until his parents can leave the office), I get to enjoy the pure joy of a true-blue Pinoy "mano po'"!

auntie68

March 31, 2008 at 10:47 AM

chillosk, I just caught your post. I can't say for sure if Stunt Toddler speaks Filipino, but his mother is a true Pinay; she graduated from the Ateneo de Manila.

Her sister is working in Singapore as a news producer for a Singaporean-based pan-Asian TV network. AND his Lola and his Lolo (for now, "wah-wah" and "wow-wow") both -- generously -- take turns flying out to Singapore to give him quality time for weeks at a time.

So I guess the Stunt Toddler has good amount of exposure to the language! It means a lot to me, even though I am his Singaporean "Tita"; the two Liana Romulo books were gifts from me to him. The other day I caught myself telling him, "Better finish that last mouthful of delicious pancit before your friend the butiki smells it and wants to share it with you!"

Btw: Siopau is one of the Stunt Toddler's favourite foods, because he can enjoy it anywhere in Singapore and also on his trips to Cavite twice a year. Isn't multiculturism beautiful? At the tender age of 2+, he is the first member of his Pinoy side to enjoy Southern Indian "pappadams"...

auntie68

March 31, 2008 at 10:30 AM

Dear RJBerki, thank you once again for being so supportive and positive. The next few years represent a precious window of learning for my nephew, and don't we know it!

When the Stunt Toddler hits "school"-school, at age 6, he has to follow the "national curriculum", which means that "bilingual education" will not be an option from that point. From "primary one" (= "first grade"??), all subjects will be taught in English. Except for "Chinese as a Second Language", of course.

Mandarinistically speaking, that doesn't bode well for a Stunt Toddler from a family which is so "Mandarinistically-challenged"... but then there is always CPOD! Hooray!

Stunt Toddler is already "correcting me" (albeit diplomatically, and politely). When I saw the work he had done on the various Chinese character strokes, I got stuck at 竖 (shu4; that's the vertical line going straight down), and he had to "rescue" me (discreetly, for a toddler).

I really want to do everything I can to make it easy and natural for the Stunt Toddler to learn Mandarin. To put things into perspective, most of my father's cousins, including an uncle who is only in his 30s, studied in English boarding schools from the age of 11. I know it sounds very strange, but Winchester and Charterhouse are the "traditional" schools (--> read, "no brainer") schools for everybody in my family except for poor cousins like us.

I am absolutely determined to do everything I can to nourish the Stunt Toddler's interest in Mandarin.

RJBerki, you are right about my housekeeper, she is incredibly fit and sharp for a nonagenarian. Her calming and positive influence on people like me and the Stunt Toddler is a true blessing, for which I am grateful.

chillosk

March 31, 2008 at 10:19 AM

he speaks Filipino?? is it his mom or his dad that's Filipino? How cute! Siopao is comes from the Chinese word xiao bao, if i'm not mistaken it refers to a mantou with meat inside.

I agree with RJBerki, it's a great opportunity to learn Mandarin from such a young age. I read somewhere that kids who are as young as 5-10 months and exposed to native Mandarin are highly likely to retain it until they grow up.

RJ

March 31, 2008 at 09:25 AM

What a wonderful opportunity for him to learn so young. Im sure this will happen very spontaneously at his age. I wouldnt worry too much about him getting it right. I dont think you can contaminate his Mandarin as long as he has exposure to the teachers as well every day. He will figure it out and will probably correct you. And another mystery solved, I have always wondered who was the gal in your avatar. I figured she was too old to be you (knowing you are now 40 - I mean 39) but was afraid to ask.:-) Still she looks well for 90+ and conveys a sense of calm and wisdom that is characteristically you.

auntie68

March 31, 2008 at 02:23 AM

S.T.'s "dominant home languages" are English and Filipino. Neither parent speaks any Mandarin, not even his father (my brother), who is Singaporean. Unfortunately, he does not receive any exposure to Mandarin whatsoever (not even via TV) outside pre-school. He does hear me speaking some broken Cantonese to my 90something housekeeper, the lady in my avatar.

Stunt Toddler seems to have no problems tuning in to Filipino, although I've never heard him speak it. One of his favourite books is Liane Romulo's "My first book of Tagalog words" and "Filipino Friends"; both titles teach "heart" words like: Lola/Lolo, kumot, pancit, butiki, siopau (sp.?) etc. And when he meets Filipino people, he already has a "cute" routine -- he'll say "Pinoy ako!" and look cute.

Unlike many English-speaking Singaporean families, we didn't attempt to speak Mandarin to S.T. because (i) I am the only one who can speak any Mandarin, and (ii) I also didn't want to pass on to him my own weaknesses in Mandarin.

There are 12 students in his preschool class, and the school day is three hours long. He has two teachers in class at all times. One teacher teaches in English, and the other in Mandarin; both are effectively bilingual.

Well, something is working. After three months of school, S.T. stunned us by bringing home a little portfolio of his "work" from that first term, which included a (to me) impressive amount of Mandarin work. I think that going through the portfolio with him was the first inkling he had that I could speak Mandarin. Now when he draws and colours, he makes me say the colours in Mandarin!

A few days ago, we reached another milestone when I bought him a simple Mandarin book, on his favourite subject -- "Colours". He suddenly realized that I am easily impressed by Mandarin, and now he rushes to show off to me everything that he has learned each day.

It's happening so fast. A few days ago, he unleashed "葡萄" (pu2tao2; "grapes") on me, yesterday was his first near-complete sentence, "M.K., 汽车！开汽车！Okay?", which he used to persuade me to play with him at "driving" his little toy cars (开汽车；kai1chi4che1).

Of course he does come back from school saying Mandarin words which I can't make out, and I haven't figured out the lyrics to any of the cute action songs that he loves to do for me. But I'm happy that he seems to be brimming with confidence.