Sophie has always been reluctant to learn or utter anything in Chinese. It is a worrying attitude considering how important Chinese is later on in her education. After our failed attempt to give her a home tutor, I thought I could also teach her Chinese based on how the trial lesson was done. Frankly I was not too impressed by the tutor from China. She wanted to charge me $45 per hour but her materials were neither original nor interesting. And of course she had to give me poor work attitude (MIA after the trial lesson).
Thus, I started teaching her basic vocabulary each day (late June), coupled with lots of Chinese storytime and reading. I was hoping that that would help her adapt a little better and faster in class (mid July), especially during her Chinese lessons. We started with her name and moved on to facial features, body parts and action words related to hands and feet. When she began schooling, I followed the theme "sea creatures" and tried to introduce some simple terms.
On 9 July (Friday), a miracle happened on our way home from school. She gave me an intense look before saying, "海豚", "海星" and "鲨鱼". When probed, she told me she learnt the terms in class. I was elated and so proud, I almost cried. Then before she slept, she said,"小丑鱼" and "魔鬼鱼＂in a slang. It took me a while to decipher what she actually said, but we were both super happy when we did. Tonight, she surprised me again with "水母", "海马", "鲸鱼" and "龙虾". I am so glad she started school.
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