Learning Mandarin

We always call Little Bee the ang moh  in our family - despite the daily conversations with my mother in complete Mandarin, she would invariably reply my mother in English, and would never speak in Mandarin, unless we guide her word by word. And if she ever utters these Mandarin words, they are imbued with a thick accent. 

Which was why it came as a surprise to me when I sat with her one evening and flipped through her school's Mandarin phrase book, she was able to recognise some of the Mandarin words and read them aloud. It could be through the association of the scribbled picture with the word, of course, but learning to read Mandarin words is about character recognition and association anyway, so I think she is on the right track of learning in school. 

She was able to recognise 飞机 amongst other simple words, and I think the teacher's method of getting the children to draw an airplane in the same page helped with the recognition and association. 

It came as a bigger surprise when I casually did some Mandarin work with her, and she started scribbling words like 小, 大 and 工. I guess the interest in reading and writing is there - so I need to start honing the interest in speaking, which is even more fundamental. 

She diligently scribbled 小 and 工 by herself on this page when she saw the corresponding words on the sentence above. 

After many tries, I use MOE's latest Mandarin trend of bilingual teaching on her - and it works in cultivating an interest in her towards Mandarin books! So when I read Mandarin books with her these days, I casually switched between English and Mandarin when discussing the scenarios in the books, and I found that she would be more engaged. I guess she can understand the books more if I used English occasionally. She would sometimes respond in very simple Mandarin during our discussions as well. 

Her method of learning is totally in contrast with Big Bee, who prefers the total immersion way of learning Mandarin. Different children truly respond to totally polarised ways of learning. No child is difficult to teach - it is finding the right method of engaging and appealing to them that matters! And truly, patience from us parents is a true virtue indeed. I find that hard to cultivate sometimes, especially after a stressful workday! However, when I witness the results for myself, I start forcing myself to embrace patience when I am teaching the Bees - as best as I could, of course. It is always easier said than done. 

My Favourite Animal

The new MOE syllabus of teaching lesser and learning more, coupled with fewer examinations for primary one and two, is put into practice in most schools this year. Instead of focusing on 2 main examinations to determine the academic placement of our children, the new syllabus will use bite-sized and year-round assessments focusing on the understanding and reflection of the students. 

Hence, instead of the usual mid-year exams this year, Big Bee has to go through about 2-3 evaluations per subject this term which would be counted towards the final grade at the end of the year. The assessments are rather interesting, comprising of the usual academic topical tests and non-academic components like a journal reflection on "My Friends" for English, and show-and-tell activities for English and Chinese. 

I welcome the show-and-tell activities a lot, as it reinforces an emphasis on speech and drama, spotlighting on fostering strong communication skills, as well as nurturing articulate and confident students. Students are assessed on clarity of speech, strong eye contact and posture, volume of presentation and grammar/sentence structure, with bonus points for compelling interest factors in their topics. 

The topic given to Big Bee's school for show-and-tell is a nice and easy "My Favourite Animal". Parents were advised by the teacher last week to help the children craft out a script for the show-and-tell. Hubby and I gave Big Bee some guidelines on what to say, and let her create her own script using research done by herself, so that she truly feels for what she will be presenting. 

Here's her script penned by herself, and I thought she articulated it beautifully when we rehearsed tonight: 

"Hello everyone! My favourite animal is the horse. I like horses because they can gallop very fast. I also like to stroke their fur a lot. I love horses so much that I learned horseriding for 2 years. My favourite part of horseriding is to canter and feel the wind on my face. My favourite breed of horse is a Palomino. It is a very friendly and lovable breed. Let me tell you more about horses. A female horse is called a mare and a male horse is called a gender. The young of a horse is called a foal. Horses give birth during spring. Do you know that the longest horse tail is 22 feet long, which is the height of 6 Ms S (her form teacher's name!)?"

I thought her research done on the little idiosyncratic bits of trivia really shows off her personality - pointing us to facts that interest her. It is amazing how children unearth the most amazing facts when left to their own devices! 

Wish her luck. Her show-and-tell assessment is tomorrow :) 

Sisters

The Bees fight incessantly. Day in, day out. Their sibling rivalry, territorial and competitive personalities never fail to bring forth the tiny little monsters in them, and sometimes it is draining to tear them apart and break up their fights. 

Mostly, I feel very distressed that they seemed not to love each other as siblings. And I really want them to rely on each other for a lifetime. 

However, there are exceptional moments where I detect glimmers of love and sisterly affection between the 2 of them. Then I realise (and hope!) that petty squabbles are part of growing up (look at me and my brother!) as well as learning to cope with a variety of social situations. 

One day last month, I saw both of them giggling in a corner, doodling on a paper. I inched up to them and saw that they each drew a self portrait alongside each other. And I guess that would be their worldview forever - that wherever they are or whatever they do, they will always have each other, walking alongside each other and dwelling in the quiet confidence that they have a special sibling to rely on. Despite the fights, despite their quirks. 

I certainly hope they will be the best of friends when they grow up. 

Little Bee in purple at the top, drawn by herself, and Big Bee drew herself at the bottom. Don't they look like their self-drawn portraits?

Soccer Babes

Hubby is a huge soccer fan. So during his last trip to China, he bought 2 sets of Manchester United's Number 10 shirts for the Bees. And insisted that they had to wear these soccer jerseys for our regular weekend breakfast at Botanic Gardens. The Bees were both thrilled to be decked out in "adult" soccer wear!

Exhilarated Bees horsing around in their soccer gear and monkeying around with a tiny ball! 

The Bees attracted a lot of amused and interested gazes, mainly from other fathers! The Bees, being the typical super-active and energetic girls that they are, launched into their soccer personas like fishes in water. They ran endlessly at top speed around the lush greenery of the expansive meadow at the Shaw Foundation stage. They jostled with each other for the miniscule ball that Hubby brought for fun. They performed stunning football kicks, especially Big Bee, thanks to Hubby who was such a great coach to them. 

Little Bee's energy levels flagged first, ambling languidly to me and sat on my lap shortly. However, Big Bee had amazing endurance and outstanding sportswomanship - she continued kicking the ball with Hubby for a protracted period of time! 

Check out all the Bees' soccer kicks and flairs, especially Big Bee's professional-looking kicks! Click on the photo for a bigger version of this. 

I had such fun laughing and watching them play, and participating once in a while. Bringing the kids outdoors, basking them in the sun and indulging them in vigorous sports play is fundamental to instill a love for nature in our children, and to inculcate in them an innate passion for efficacious and active lifestyles in future. 

I am expecting more soccer play very soon!

Breakfast Of Love

On the rare mornings that I can wake up 15 minutes earlier than my usual time of 6.30am, I will try to make some special breakfast bentos for Big Bee. However, these occasions are highly infrequent! I really should try to make more of these personalised breakfast bentos for Big Bee, especially after seeing the ceaseless grin of delighted felicity on her face after I hurriedly created the breakfast set below. It is nothing fanciful, as I am not good with food in general, but I think she really appreciated that I put in some effort to make it special for her. 

Simple blackcurrant jam bread with a stick of green grapes, a box of mini Oreos and a tiny cup of yellow marshmellows - personalised with her name!

She proudly swayed the "My Melody" lunchbox all the way to school and told me after school that her breakfast bento attracted a lot of attention from her friends and form teacher! 

I guess that's the simple joy of motherhood - making a breakfast with affection and care, infusing everything we do for our children with tenderness and love. 

虎虎升威

The Year of The Tiger entered our lives with joyous cacophony, rambunctious merry-making and relentless feasting. Each year during Chinese New Year, familiar scenes since the genesis of my memories were re-enacted over and over again: entering a house full of beaming relatives, everyone dressed to their best, some of whom we only see once a year, shaking hands exuberantly and chanting blithe wishes for an auspicious year ahead. Dutifully dishing out angpows to all the children elatedly, while the Bees expressed wishes like "Happy New Year" or "恭喜发财" jubilantly, so that they could receive lots of angpows. They are beginning to appreciate the full pleasure of receiving angpows, especially Big Bee, who wants to keep her angpows for herself this year!

Then sitting down for a hearty homecooked meal of scrumptious food or settling down in the living room, listening to relatives catching up with each other cheerfully or engaging in small talk ourselves whilst nibbling on sweet sinful Chinese New Year delights. The scenes are always redolent with dense euphoria and mirthful cheeriness. 

Incessant visiting and feasting with all our close relatives :) 

This year, we visited 7 families in the first 2 days, and hosted 2 sets of paternal uncles and aunts for a boisterous lohei session as well as both of our parents and my brother with my sister-law for dinner on the 3rd day. 

With my paternal uncles and aunties as well as our immediate families. Hubby decided to serve his teppanyaki delights in pairs so that our parents can get romantic while feeding each other! Check out the karaoke kings and queens as well. 

The Bees gladly joined in the preparation by taking charge of the supermarket trolleys! Papa slaving away over the grill and teppanyaki station! 

Hubby set up an outdoor chef corner, rolling up his sleeves to prepare dinner for everyone, on top of the usual chicken curry and fried bee hoon to fill up our stomachs. In the balcony, he set up a teppanyaki station beside our outdoor grill, and set forth to cook up a storm - succulent and delicious satays which were all gobbled up before they could cool down, with verdant vegetables and juicy mushrooms stir-fried teppanyaki style! Followed by a second round of lohei! Hubby downloaded a list of lohei wishes from the internet and set forth to chant out the auspicious wishes during lohei.

Lohei after lohei! 

The Bees could not get enough of Chinese New Year - neither can I! 

The Night The Tiger Pounced In

The entire family woke up on the eve of Chinese New Year imbued with much anticipation for a marathon of family bonding, gatherings and feasting. This is one of our favourite festivals and we try to observe as many of the centuries-old traditions and joyous customs as possible. 

We launched the jocund festivities with a trip to Chinatown, one of the few family traditions we are trying to carve in stone for our girls in future. Passing on family traditions is fundamental in building a sense of self and community in our children, which is why we had been indulging in several similar rituals and customs year after year. A visit to Chinatown on Chinese New Year's Eve is one of them. 

We descended upon Chinatown amidst a blazing sun and escalating heat. We started the trip with a solemn visit to the majestic Buddha Tooth Relic Temple in the heart of Chinatown. The Bees were awed by the glittering surroundings and the devoted worshippers. Hubby and I were fascinated by the grandeur of the interiors and the architecture. 

Thereafter, our hearts were warmed by the jaunty hawkers exhibiting and marketing their wares. It was spellbinding to meander through the narrow labyrinth of stalls selling an opulent plethora of Chinese New Year memorabilia. 

Quaint traditional Chinese New Year mementos and delicacies in Chinatown! 

Red was the order of the day. We spotted rows and rows of crimson Chinese New Year decorations. Big Bee was beguiled by the myriad replicas and puppets of Chinese mythological lions and dragons - so much so that we bought a charming Chinese lion in the guise of a string puppet, to her immense delight. We stopped at dusty ancient shops selling traditional and well-loved Chinese delicacies and sank our teeth with glee into succulent egg tarts and scrumptious Hong Kong-style po lo bao. We were charmed by rows upon rows of nian gao, a delectable delicacy that we indulge in only once a year. What a wonderful way to spend a sweltering morning! 

The Bees, though fascinated, were a bit more perturbed by the oppressive heat, so we had to leave too soon, although Hubby and I would gladly lose ourselves in the maze of stalls and rambling twisting walkways. 

It was love at first sight for Big Bee when she set her eyes on the blue Chinese lion (bottom left). Back home, the Bees indulged in some serious lion dancing with Little Bee stomping on her Chinese drum and Big Bee manipulating the lion merrily! 

In the evening, we went for our reunion dinner in a Chinese restaurant. It was amazing to see how organised these Chinese restaurants were on the eve of Chinese New Year - 2 shifts of dinners, rapid serving of dishes and compliant customers chomping down the food way before the start of the second shift. 

Happy Bees, in anticipation of a few days of non-stop feasting and merrymaking! 

The food was delicious and highly palatable, and we truly enjoyed the dinner with 4 generations at one table - from the Bees to their paternal great-grandmother! 

One of the best CNY traditions in this part of the world - Lo Hei! 

As the Bees drifted off to dreamland, Hubby and I cosied up on our couch to watch the usual countdown programme on the Mandarin channel - a tradition that we carried on from our childhood days. At the stroke of midnight, we did something silly - throwing pellets of tiny noisemakers on our balcony floor that erupted in miniscule flares of sparks and ear-splitting crackles! We were giggling like teenagers, enjoying ourselves thoroughly, transported back to our youth again! 

A happy roaring year of the Golden Tiger! 

The Sweetness Before The Slumber

I promised my good friend V to post a similar photo as her boys during bedtime. Here it is. And this is the link to V's blog post. Don't the 2 photos look similar!? 

The Bees' photo was taken in September last year, but till now, this is how they sleep every night - together and full of warmth. One of us must always sleep with them every night, so they are not used to sleeping alone, not even Big Bee. Which is fine by me. Because by the time they become teens or even tweens, they may soon be over-zealous in getting me out of their beds, and maybe out of their rooms...and I am not looking forward to that at all! Hubby and I are too used to cuddling with them on bed, sleeping with them, inhaling their sweet baby smells to sleep. Brings such a sense of closeness to us :) 

This is our usual bedtime routine:

*Mummy, or Papa, or Popo massaging each of them...and it has to be a full body massage, mind you!*

Then my nightly words of affection for them before they drift off to sweet slumberland...

Mummy: Goodnight darling!

Each of the Bees: Goodnight Mummy!

Mummy: I love you, darling!

Each of the Bees: I love you, Mummy!

Mummy: Sweet dreams darling!

Each of the Bees: Sweet dreams Mummy!

I started the ritual of these 3 lullaby phrases since Big Bee was a toddler, and Little Bee caught onto our tradition last year. Hubby declared that I hold the monopoly over the intellectual property of these words, so he invented some strange language that the Bees are now using every night with him. 

Papa: Hagga hagga girls! (Hagga is Papa's new invented language for "goodnight"!)

Bees: Hagga hagga Papa! 

No joke - they really say this ernestly every night to Papa! 

And on nights that my Mum sleeps over....

Popo: 晚安! 祝你一个美梦!

Big Bee: 祝你一个美梦, Popo! 

Little Bee: 美梦! 美梦! Popo! (in her ang moh Chinese accent...)

Ah! The sweetness of bedtime! 

Overnight With The Grandparents

Last weekend, with Hubby still overseas for work, my parents requested for us (or rather, their beloved granddaughters!) to stay the night at their place. Seeing how their eyes light up at the possibility of having the Bees with them for 24 hours, I packed our bags for an overnighter at my parents' place. 

They had great fun spending quality time with my parents, as well as roller blading and cycling in the glorious sunset. At night, they giggled excitedly as they settled down to bed in a new environment, with Big Bee declaring that this was like a holiday! My parents were beaming radiantly, their energy levels rekindled by the presence of their boisterous grandchildren in their home. 

The next morning, I met up with my cousins and the Bees' cousins for a lazy Sunday breakfast. It was rather hilarious to bring 3 preschool little kids toddling around, holding hands and forming a line wherever they walked! Irene exclaimed that it was like an excursion, so I assigned Big Bee to be the assistant teacher or the tour leader, holding hands with the little ones and looking out for them. 

The little cuzzies really enjoyed themselves, munching on MacDonald's, grinning at each other and observing what each other was doing, with Big Bee yakking incessantly. Soon, we should be expecting the entire gang to yak non-stop!

After the breakfast, I brought the Bees to the library and stock up for this month's homelearning theme - this time on fishes! The Bees had a really fun time browsing through the books in the library this time. 

What a fun but hectic weekend!  

My Baking Virtuoso

Intense concentration whilst decorating a cookie at her friend N Teo's birthday party

Last December holidays, it was baking frenzy for Big Bee. We discovered her passion for baking from the popular cookie-baking birthday parties that her best buddies were all organising. She would come back from these parties, glowing and ecstatic, brandishing a dainty box of prettily decorated cookies. What a direct juxtaposition from Mummy, who has never shown much interest in baking! 

Her first attempt at a cookie making class...

2nd attempt a few days later at her friend N Tan's birthday party...cookies on skewers!? Mummy was intrigued...

She also requested for a diverse selection of interesting baking classes over the holidays, instead of the usual enrichment holiday camps. At this age, I would usually accede to her rare requests. 

Learning to bake egg tarts. For the record, they tasted truly wonderful!

Learning to bake exquisite fruit tarts! The kids were given free play to decorate the fruit tarts and I could see her meticulously labouring over every small detail, like a French pastry chef! These tasted DIVINE! 

I could see her getting more adroit at the designs of the pastries after each session, and was very proud to see her handling the baking tools very dexterously, unlike clumsy Mummy! 

Sticking out her tongue in oblivious focus, filling up the tart with delicious fresh cream! 

Besides having the opportunities of chomping into yummy creations, baking is excellent for augmenting creativity in children, instilling in them a discipline to listen to instructions yet imbuing in them a freedom of creative expression. 

Her latest conquest: cookies with M&Ms at N Teo's party. She selected the cookie moulds and created the designs all by herself. She will then allocate which cookies to give us. Mummy was given the big heart at the top right corner *beams* The little cookie girl represented herself. 

Her next requests: an oven (yes, disinterested Mummy does not even possess an oven in the kitchen!) and for Mummy to indulge in some baking sessions with her. Looks like I need to enroll myself in some of these classes first!