Chinese Summer Immersion Program

Chinese Online Dictionaries:
www.archchinese.com
www.yellowbridge.com
www.nciku.com

More Summer Tips:
1. At bedtime, have your child review what he did that day in Chinese. Keep a notebook by the bed so that you can help him keep track of words he didn't know to look up later.

2. Have your child describe in detail her favorite book or movie. Encourage her to use a lot of description, maybe even time her. Do it a few times and see if she can add more every time she does it. Again, write down and look up words she doesn't know and practice those words on a regular basis.

3. Play the ABC game while you're on a long drive. This is especially fun if you have more than one child who speaks Chinese. They can go back and forth thinking of words that start with each letter of the alphabet in PinYin. Note: if they can't think of a word, that could be because there isn't a Chinese word that starts with that letter:) But that should be the exception.

Our summer program is off to a great start! We are working on vocabulary-building skills, and each student is coming up with a summer project to master. We gear our program to the individual while teaching skills that build language proficiency. It's not too late to sign up!

Weekly Tip #2- Help your child come up with a topic they want to be able to talk about in Chinese. Then spend a few minutes every day researching and looking up words they don't know about that topic and building their vocabulary. Have them keep working on this project until they master it and are able to hold a conversation about it. Here are some examples:
- fashion
- how to play their favorite sport in detail
- how to play a certain instrument in detail
- how to talk about their favorite movie or game
- interviewing someone about their life
- Your child can even get together with friends and come up with a skit or a puppet show and then perform it for the family. This makes it fun for everyone.
Have fun creating with language!
www.summerimmersion.com

If you live in the Utah County area and you are interested in helping your student keep up his/ her Chinese over the Summer, check out www.summerimmersion.com. A former Chinese Immersion teacher (Brittney Phelps- Cascade Elementary) is heading up a weekly and flexible summer program to help students improve their language skills, retain what they have already learned, and be so much more prepared for the coming year.

Utah County- Summer Immersion Program Don't let your kids forget all they have learned over the summer break! Plus help them get a head start for the coming year!

Over the summer, we will be posting tips to help you help your children progress in their language abilities!

For information on our Chinese Summer Immersion Program, go to www.summerimmersion.com

Chinese Helpful Tip #1

Learning a foreign language takes consistent effort, but it can be fun too! One of the main ingredients to building a solid language foundation is having a large bank of vocabulary. Help your students have fun building their vocabulary over the summer by:

• Finding a small notebook that they can decorate and make their “Chinese _______ Book.” Let your child fill in the blank. It’s more fun that way and will create some pride and ownership for it.
• Find a special home for their new book so your child will always know where to find it. If you decide to take it out of the house, give it a special traveling place in the car or in a bigger bag.

Here are a couple of ways you can use this book:

1. Set aside 5 minutes a day to add to the book (make it the same every day so it will become a habit for you and your child not easily forgotten). You can have your child go to a place in your house and write down words of things they see that they don’t know how to say in Chinese. Then they can go to a computer and look up the words and write down the pinyin next to the English word. If they are interested in learning to write the character, they can write that as well.
• Other places they can go for new vocabulary: Grocery store, a ride in the car, outside your home, watching a movie or playing a game, etc.

2. Set aside a few minutes a day to have your student practice speaking Chinese either to him/herself, to you, or to a friend. Pick a topic that they can talk about and have them write down any words that they didn’t know how to say while they are talking. Then have them look up the words in an online dictionary and write down the pinyin in their notebook.
• Possible Topic Choices: Favorite ________ (movie, food, game, music), Vacations, What did I do yesterday?, What do I want to do tomorrow?, When I am ______, I want to…

It’s really important not only to find and learn new vocabulary, but to RETAIN that knowledge. Set aside time before bed to review and practice using the words (putting them in sentences, etc.), or help your child make a memory game with the words in their notebook. There are endless options for fun ways to learn new vocabulary. Note: Kids love white boards, and they are especially useful for learning Chinese characters. You can get cheap ones at the dollar store.