Better Chinese

Hannah has been learning Mandarin Chinese at school in her billingual class.

To begin with she didn't like the immersion method because she didn't understand what the teachers were saying.   But she liked learning Chinese songs.

When we asked for takehome reading the teacher surprised us by giving Hannah Chinese books for us to read together.   This was quite a challenge as we don't speak Chinese and pronunciation is important.  But I had a lot of fun trying to decipher the books and reading them with Hannah in a 'chinese' accent!

It turns out that the books were from an American course for 3-4 year olds called 'Better Chinese'.  I looked it up on the web and found that they produce CDs and online materials we could order.   In fact, they also have a Hong Kong Office on Leighton Road near Hannah's ballet class which also offers classes.

The course immediately appealed to me because the first sentence of the first book is "I love my Dad"!  Anyway we ordered the books and online course and now try to do the units a few times each week.  

Note that the granny ('nai nai') in the video is doing tai chi.  Cool granny!

Hannah now often asks if she can 'do better chinese' togethr.   She enjoys reading the books online and watching the animations, and of course we can hear and copy the correct pronunciation this way.   I also loaded the audio of the books to my Iphone so we can play this when we read the books together in bed.    So it is much more effective than just tying to read the books.

Another thing I'm trying to do to encourage Hannah to be interested in Chinese is to play games with flashcards with Chinese Characters,  and also write characters using real brushes and ink.    I think this effort has helped Hannah to enjoy learning Chinese.    And in any case I've learnt a lot.  

And of course we are also trying to read to Hannah in English and Japanese.

Parklife 2

More notes about  our temporary life at Parkview.

 Poolside

The poolside area feels like a resort, with guests lounging by the pool, children splashing about and a steady stream of waiters bringing drinks.

To be honest we don't go there very often, but I feel we should.




















Having a glass of wine,.

On Saturdays they have an all-you-can-eat BBQ at the poolside, weather permitting.   The centerpiece is either BBQ whole piglet or lamb, and lots of other dishes.






The Roman Baths

The gym has an indoor pool complex which they call the Roman Baths.   This is one of Hannah's favorite weekend activities.   She usually meets up with kids she knows and they play in the pool.   Swimming lessons are also available.

Children are only allowed into the baths for 2 sessions each day.  The rest of the time is 'adults only'.     I've not been to the adults only session at the roman baths so I don't know what goes on - perhaps orgies or crucifixions or something.





Romantic Sampo 

In the evenings Hannah likes me to take her for a romantic 'sampo' ('walk') in the gardens.  The idea is that she rides in the sling and goes to sleep.

So we go out to the podium past the pool, past the art,  and the around the garden-path, trying not to step on frogs or snails.




We eventually wander up to the edge of the podium at Tower 17 where we can enjoy a cooling breeze and a view over Hong Kong to the Nth West, Mt Nicholson to the West and Deepwater Bay
and Aberdeen to the SW.

Shopping

Hannah shopping at the Fusion supermarket.  I wonder, what is she looking for?

'YangMing Shan Zhuang'

The chinese name for Parkview is 'YangMingShanZhuang'.  The first 3 characters are  the name of a Taiwanese national park just north of Taipei.  

Yang = the sun, south of a hill or north of a river, positive, masculine (i.e. yin/yang), male genitals
Ming = bright, clear
Shan = mountain
Zhuang = farmstead, manor

So Parkview is literally the 'farmstead of bright dick mountain'.

When we get a taxi we say the chinese name (as "YonMinSanShon").  Taxi drivers always seem to recognize this even with out poor pronunciation, whereas about one-in-four drivers doesn't recognize 'Parkview'.

Maid Cafe

This is the Parkview 'maid cafe' where the helpers can hang out and surf the net.  Possibly the families these helpers work for wanted a bit of privacy.

Fresh local produce?

When Hannah and I go for 'romantic sampos'  in the evening, we hear and often see frogs in the stream or path.  And although we try very hard not to, we have crushed a fair number of snails walking up the path.   Which got me thinking...

And sure enough, on the menu of the Teahouse restaurant!

The Teahouse is decorated with Salvatore Dali sculptures.   And in one corner there is a cabinet with collectibles from the Harry Potter movies including a wand prop.  

But my favorite is this one.