Little Thoughts Classroom-For Mandarin Learners

Happy Chinese New Year!

2012-01-23T13:19:00.000-08:00

5 years Visa to Chinese Nationals

2011-12-16T11:33:00.000-08:00

Britain: Littering on the Rise

2010-09-01T16:09:00.000-07:00

Issue on Priority Seats

2010-07-21T15:02:00.000-07:00

Look for 6 differences

2010-07-15T15:18:00.000-07:00

2 Year old Indonesian toddler smoking??!

2010-06-08T16:39:00.000-07:00

This shouldn't be happening.....

A sad ''Mother's day" for Mdm Liu in Xi An, China

2010-05-17T14:07:00.000-07:00

Do you like to have a robot that looks exactly like you?

2010-04-19T13:44:00.000-07:00

More Homeless in Hong Kong

2010-04-05T13:39:00.000-07:00

Chinese Zodiac: Which year were you born in?

2010-01-29T00:07:00.000-08:00

Haiti Earthquake

2010-01-25T17:04:00.001-08:00

Measure Word for People 位条

2010-01-10T21:09:00.000-08:00

Learn Mandarin and cooking at the same time

2010-01-05T11:59:00.000-08:00

One day, my friend was showing me this new recipe. I was planning to teach "er hua yun" that week and after viewing this video, I decided to show it to my students. My students were able to catch some of the "er hua yun" (retroflex final) in the video and they love this video.

The meaning of true love

2009-12-24T10:56:00.000-08:00

老人顶风雪寻老伴感动网友 An elderly man in search of his wife on the street in Luoyang, Henan, China

Sitting by the roadside is an elderly man named Pan Feng Cheng, 74 years old. He has been searching for his missing wife since September 21, 2008. He has been to 15 cities, more than 300 towns and 2000 villages in search of his wife Han Li Xiu who is believed to be suffering from the Alzheimer's disease. Despite himself falling sick due to the cold weather, he continues to sit by the roadside with his bicycle waiting for any news of his wife. Mr Pan said, "As long as I am alive, I will continue to look for her." A reward of 10, 000 Renminbi will be given to anyone who is able to find his wife. "Not a cent less", said Mr Pan. Many people always ponder the meaning of true love or doubt there is "true love". However, Mr Pan has demonstrated to us what is the meaning of true love, a love with great perseverance.

Chinese Festival: Winter Solstice Festival

2009-12-22T15:51:00.000-08:00

Chapter 8: Tao Te Ching by Lao Zi (lived in the 600 BC)

2009-11-29T12:46:00.000-08:00

A Tale of Lotus Lover by Zhou Dunyi (1017 - 1073)

2009-11-20T19:54:00.000-08:00

This is a Classical Chinese Literature piece that I will like to share with anyone who enjoys literature. The author "emphasizes how lotus could still look beautiful and smell alluring despite the fact that it must push its way through the silt and mud"~used to refer to the noble characteristic of certain people, able to uphold their morals and values despite being in an environment of bad influence .

A Tale of Lotus Lover by Zhou Dunyi (1017 - 1073)

There are too many lovely flowers in the world.

Tao Yuan Ming in Jin Dynasty loved only chrysanthemum.

People usually were interested in peony since Tang Dynasty.

However, I do like lotus which is clean even being in the muddy pond.

It is so pure, delicate and bright.

The lotus is consistent, continue and coherent deep inside.

It appears to be straight, proper and honest.

It gives a fantastically good smell and people could even sense its excellent smell far away.

It has no unnecessary branches.

It can be only appreciated distantly but not touched blasphemously.

I am convinced that the chrysanthemum is a recluse while the peony is a rich and the lotus is undoubtedly the sovereign.

We seldom find someone loves chrysanthemum like Tao.

Who show the enthusiasm in the lotus in the same way as I do?

Then who likes peony? Almost everybody!

Translation taken from http://www.kakasite.com/xpan/2002_07/13.htm

Describing the Weather

2009-11-14T18:17:00.000-08:00

I have been working on creating a Picture Dictionary of essential nouns that will help students in everyday life. I have special dictionary lesson every Thursday for this month on eduFire. The picture above is one of the slides in my Picture Dictionary. How is the weather at your location right now? Are you able to describe it?

Text: I do my homework

2009-11-09T15:02:00.000-08:00

Self-studying instruction:
1. Read the text once
2. Check the meaning of the words in red.
3. Read the text again.
4. Form sentences using the phrase underlined in blue.

News: Space Hotel

2009-11-03T00:50:00.001-08:00

News Weekly Class in November

2009-10-28T19:36:00.000-07:00

I had a great time conducting the October News Weekly Class. Below are some of the news that I covered every week during October.

Coming up in November will be another News Weekly Class. I will pick a piece of news every week (latest and up-to-date) and we will discuss the topic in class as well as learn new phrases and use them to make sentences.

My new class: Live Mandarin Pod!

2009-10-27T15:43:00.000-07:00

News: $2 for a Picasso?

2009-10-25T13:54:00.001-07:00

Measure Word for People "个"

2009-10-23T18:26:00.000-07:00

An Overview of my Courses

2009-10-20T15:43:00.000-07:00

Useful Tools to Expand Your Vocabulary

2009-10-19T16:37:00.000-07:00

While surfing the net for Chinese tools that would be interesting and at the same time useful to my students, I chanced upon this site CozyChinese. Every word was shown in simplified Chinese (used in China, Singapore) as well as traditional Chinese (used in Taiwan, Hong Kong).

I find it particularly useful for students who want to learn how to read some words on their own as they can listen to the audio file while learning new words. Very suitable for learners who have just started learning Mandarin.:)

News: Brazil Gunbattle

2009-10-17T23:20:00.001-07:00

For English version, please click here.

Radicals: Water, Word

2009-10-16T16:32:00.000-07:00

Radicals: Heart/emotions, Hand in action

2009-10-15T21:53:00.000-07:00

Radicals: knife, man/person

2009-10-12T23:28:00.000-07:00

News: Woman throw mug at 'Mona Lisa'

2009-10-10T14:38:00.000-07:00

Although this piece of news was in August, I still find it very interesting. Why would people want to destroy this painting? Click here for English version.

News: Philippine storm leaves 73 dead, 330,000 homeless

2009-10-05T08:12:00.000-07:00

"MANILA: At least 73 people were killed and more than 330,000 others displaced after the heaviest rain in more than four decades plunged the Philippine capital into chaos, officials said on Sunday......" To read more about this, please click here.

How to type Chinese using Mac?

2009-10-02T21:14:00.000-07:00

If you are using a Macbook and want to type Chinese Characters, please go to System Preferences and click on International and check the box indicating Simplified Chinese.

FAQ on Installation of Asian Language (Chinese Characters) for Windows, please click here.

Learning Chinese Phonetics J to P

2009-10-01T14:44:00.001-07:00

News: Deveronvale Perfection Textel tup lamb beats all records: £231,000

2009-09-17T13:39:00.000-07:00

What is the classifier for sheep?
There are 2 underlined phrases. Do you know what they mean?
For English version of this news, please click here.

Chinese Word Cards Level 1.5

2009-09-16T17:16:00.000-07:00

Chinese Word Cards Level 1.4

2009-09-14T16:41:00.000-07:00

I am a "Rockstar"

2009-09-10T12:50:00.000-07:00

Chinese Word Cards Level 1.3

2009-09-09T12:33:00.000-07:00

Playing with sounds of hanzi

2009-09-03T16:35:00.000-07:00

This picture was taken by my friend on the street of Taipei. I was amused by the words on the board. A smart way to advertise on the street.

人人有责（ren ren you ze）means everyone has a responsibility. The person who wrote the advertisement played with the sound 'ze' and change the Chinese character to "折"(zhe) which means discount. So the meaning of the phrase changes to 'everyone has a discount'.

Note: Text on the board is in Traditional Chinese.

News: Who Works the Least?

2009-08-25T14:23:00.000-07:00

Are you living in France? Is it true that the French have the shortest working hours? You could read more about it here. But wait, stare at my Chinese news for at least 5 seconds.:)

Chinese Word Cards Level 1.2

2009-08-25T10:50:00.000-07:00

Chinese Word Cards Level 1.1

2009-08-19T17:33:00.000-07:00

I am creating simple word cards for you to practice recognizing the Han Zi.

News: About Sleep

2009-08-17T16:05:00.000-07:00

I read this piece of news with great interest. It reminds me of how parents always ask us to sleep early and telling us lack of sleep can be bad for us etc. Well, I don't mind sleeping as I love sleeping. But some of my friends simply do not need to sleep that much. A mere 5 hours will be good enough for them. If you are interested to read the English version, please click here.

News: Typhoon Morakot

2009-08-10T14:31:00.000-07:00

News featured today. Typhoon Morakot slams China, Taiwan. English version could be found here.

This piece of news has been simplified.:D Try to read first before you click the English version.

My new class

2009-08-06T18:59:00.000-07:00

Monday Oct 12 at 11:00 AM PST
Monday Oct 19 at 11:00 AM PST

This is a 2-sessions Lesson
Lesson Content for the 2 sessions:

1. Learn vocabs related to the Topic
2. Words and structures
3. Simple sentence pattern 2: Subject +Adjective
4. Revision on numbers order

We will have practice on words and structures, exercises include:
1. Replacing components in sentences
2. Fill in the blank
3. Simple Translation fun

Click Here to join this class.

News

2009-08-03T00:31:00.000-07:00

How do you know whether your Chinese is getting better? Well, you could start by reading the occasional news that I am going to post on my blog.

English version could be found here.

Video on Topic: Invitation

2009-07-22T00:08:00.000-07:00

You could learn Mandarin on your own by listening and repeating what you hear in this video. This form of learning is more suitable for learners who know some basic Mandarin. Use this as a read aloud lesson to prevent yourself from falling asleep.:)

Fireworks at San Francisco

2009-07-11T00:13:00.001-07:00

I went to San Francisco to catch the fireworks on 4th of July. This is one of the pictures taken on that day. Spectacular sight!

Poem : Night Time

2009-07-01T12:46:00.000-07:00

Basic Mandarin in 1 Month

2009-06-17T14:00:00.000-07:00

Learn Basic Mandarin in ONE Month! (October Class)

Objective: To help adult learners build up their competency in Conversational Mandarin with foundation in Hanyu Pinyin so that they will be able to hold simple conversations in basic Mandarin.

Course Description:
This is a 9-sessions Mandarin Course. We will cover topics such as:

1. Greeting and Meeting People
2. How to ask questions in different ways
3. Telling people your needs
4. Numbers and how to use them
5. Measure words on objects
6. Time and Date
7. Feelings (Expressing your emotion)
8. Basic Chinese Grammar Structure
9. Miscellaneous such as terms used for family members and other useful verbs, adjectives and nouns.

At the end of the course, you will be given more than 100 slides in total in pdf format. They could effectively be your Easy Mandarin Textbook!
To take the course online via Edufire, please click here for October Class.

Radicals: foot, female

2009-06-10T00:03:00.000-07:00

Character components are commonly known as radicals. They could be viewed as a simplified version of the original characters once they become components for another character. We could usually guess the meaning of a character by looking at its radical/s.

Writing: Return Home

2009-06-06T02:10:00.000-07:00

When you are learning how to write Chinese Characters (Han zi), do not take shortcut. Follow the numbering or the sequence of strokes of each character. These 2 characters could be found in Easy Text Reading 1. Happy writing.

Easy Text Reading 2

2009-06-01T00:22:00.000-07:00

This is Text 2 for beginners. The words highlighted in blue are new words that you should be learning when you are reading this text. Those in black are words you should have already been taught or have known them somewhere. :)

(Read Text 1 before you read text 2)

Easy Text Reading 1

2009-05-26T16:09:00.000-07:00

I love to write easy texts for light reading. If you have just started learning mandarin. You could try to read my easy texts. They are texts not more than 30 words. It would help you to make sense of the characters you have been learning on your own. Happy reading.

Recommended Chinese-English Dictionary

2009-05-23T22:10:00.000-07:00

I went to Barnes & Noble today and as usual I would go to the language corner to check out some of the language books. It has been a long time since I been impressed by a book or rather a dictionary- Tuttle Chinese-English Dictionary by Li Dong. It is not merely a dictionary. It could easily be a textbook for Chinese Language learners. The author has put in a lot of thoughts into the writing of this dictionary. Here is a review of the dictionary which I found to be very well-written.

"I've just received a copy of this wonderful dictionary - the Tuttle Chinese English Dictionary by Li Dong, and I can hardly recommend a better dictionary than this one to learn both Chinese and English. What I noticed right away were the ample example sentences in Chinese (with pinyin) and English - really practical sentences with smooth and accurate translations. It is a really a gift to be able to find such good sentences and translate them so perfectly. The short introduction to Chinese and the appendices are alone worth the money, but the organization of the material using blue ink for the Chinese headwords, bold type for the Chinese pinyin and italics for the English translations make this dictionary a great study resource easy on the eyes. I heartily recommend this dictionary to anyone desiring to learn either language. " (Eugene Benoit, May 11, 2009 )

Family Tree

2009-05-15T14:58:00.000-07:00

Here is a simple family tree to show you how you could address your family members in Mandarin. Are you able to write the Chinese Characters for each of them?

wo de jia:

ba ba:

ma ma:

ge ge:

di di:

jie jie:

mei mei:

A conversation between penguin daddy and son

2009-05-10T00:54:00.000-07:00

This is so funny.

Common Expression: Sorry, Its alright

2009-05-06T11:04:00.000-07:00

Common Expressions

2009-04-28T13:46:00.000-07:00

After much travelling in April, I am back again. Here is something that I thought would be easy to learn. It is always fun to learn some common expressions and use them when you meet people. 1."Nin hao" is used when you want to show respect to someone (usually someone who is older or of a higher position than you) . 2. "lao shi" means teacher. When students greet me "lao shi hao", it always brings a smile to my face. :)

Learning Chinese Phonetics A to H

2009-04-01T19:35:00.000-07:00

Chinese Phonetics functions as a tool to guide you in pronouncing the Chinese Characters (Han zi). In other words, they are in actual fact, purely sounds for the Chinese Characters. Each Chinese Character will usually have 1 sound unless it has another meaning to it. A sound can be used for many different Chinese Characters. The tough part about learning Chinese Phonetics is you might be confused with how it is being pronounced if it is an English word. How do you pronounce "he"?

However, one positive aspect is that the number of combinations in Chinese Phonetics is fixed. You can only form a sound from 1 letter (a vowel) or to a maximum of 6 letters (consonants and vowels). In this video clip, you will learn how to pronounce Chinese Characters using not more than 2 letters. The advantage of learning Chinese phonetics is you can read anything and understand its context even if you do not recognize the Chinese Characters at all.

Thank you and Welcome

2009-03-26T20:24:00.000-07:00

To thank someone, we say "xie xie" (si-at, sounds like seattle but without the tle). It is a common practice for Chinese to repeat a word twice to show utmost courtesy, therefore 'xie' is repeated twice to mean thank you.

"Ke qi" (curt chi) means being very polite and when we say 'bu ke qi' (bu means 'no'), we want to tell our friends that it is our pleasure to help them and let us do away with formality such as being extremely polite to each other. On the other hand by saying "bu ke qi" to them, we are actually being very polite and humble ourselves. Oh well, thats an irony in a way. Remember when you say 'bu ke qi' to someone, he or she will have a different opinion of you. They will think of you as a very nice person as well as someone who is good in mandarin. Give it a try next time.

Do you know how to do this?

2009-03-13T16:46:00.000-07:00

How do you tell people whether you know or do not know how to do certain things? By saying "hui"(hway), it means you know and by adding "bu"(boo) to it, it mean you do not know. So, do you know what I am trying to tell you now?

Chinese Character Writing

2009-02-24T15:58:00.000-08:00

Chinese Characters or "han zi" originated from the drawings of the actual objects themselves. As the language system got more complex, people began to standardize the drawings and minimise the number of strokes on a Chinese Character. "Horse, ma" is an example of a standardized and simplified Chinese Character. You can actually write it faster in Chinese than in English. Give it a try.

Number+Classifier or 'Measure Word'+Noun

2009-02-05T12:35:00.000-08:00

In English, we could say "I have 3 puppies." However in Mandarin, we need to put a classifier before the noun. This classifier will give us a general idea of what the object looks like. Use the all-purpose classifier if you are not sure which classifier to use.

How much? How many?

2009-01-30T01:09:00.000-08:00

When you are travelling to a Mandarin speaking country, you may want to consider learning these 2 phrases, especially when you are going to do some shopping.

Learning a Chinese Character

2009-01-16T02:04:00.000-08:00

You can greet people with the word "zao" which means "morning". Just like any other languages, a single Chinese Character can have several meanings. You need to know how to differentiate its meaning when used in different contexts. For example, English words such as "present" and "pretty" can be used very differently but we won't be confused when we use them.

Numbers and Time

2009-01-14T21:47:00.000-08:00

Elementary Chinese Course for your Little Ones

2009-01-13T16:18:00.000-08:00

Elementary Chinese Course (6-9 years old)

Mode of Lesson: Face-to-face tutoring
Location: Las Vegas, Summerlin
Tutor: Claire Lim

Contact Claire

课程简介 Course Description:
1. Who am I? 认识自己
2. Happy School 快乐的校园
3. My Home 我的家
4. My Neighbourhood 我家附近
5. Clothes 衣服
6. Water 水
7. Animals 动物
8. Nature 大自然
9. Food 美味的食物
10. Colors and Shapes 颜色和形状

Private Mandarin Lessons Prices*:

2-Hour Private Lesson

1 student: $60
2 students: 40 usd per student x 2 pax.= $80
3 students: 30 usd per student x 3 pax.= $90

*Prices : -

Include: Provision of notes for lessons

Conversational Mandarin Lesson 5

2009-01-09T11:57:00.000-08:00

Homework for Feb 3

http://www.edufire.com/games/flashcards/635-english-mandarin-flashcards-greetings/play

Completed Conversational Mandarin Lesson 2
A link to the presentation slides will be sent to you via eduFire.

Completed Conversational Mandarin Lesson 1
A link to the presentation slides will be sent to you via eduFire.

To kick off the first lesson on Conversational Mandarin, we need to know how to use some basic terms to interact with people. I have chosen some words which will help you to strike a simple conversation with people. Practise using these words regularly and once you are very familiar, you can start on your second lesson. You will be able to access this link via your edufire account. Thank you.

Learning of Chinese Phonetics

2009-01-08T16:50:00.000-08:00

Chinese Input Using HanyuPinyin

2007-08-06T05:33:00.000-07:00

If you would like to type in Chinese, you could download this "Chinese Input" software. It is very user friendly and in no time you could type in hanyupinyin (Chinese Phonetic symbols) with ease.
同学们，有好消息带给你们！如果你们想在家里用中文输入法打字，只需点按以下网址，并按照步骤下载，一旦成功，不要忘了和其他人分享好消息哦！

http://tools.google.com/pinyin/

故事二则：掩耳盗铃　（小组活动）

2007-05-21T05:31:00.000-07:00

同学们，请把以上的图片按照顺序排列，然后将图片转贴在简报（PowerPoint）上。请为图片加上对话或内容注解。

大家好！现在你们可以在家里复习口试了！

2007-04-02T06:17:00.000-07:00

口试日期：12/4/2007 、19/4/2007

View Claire's Testimonials

2007-02-21T21:39:00.000-08:00

Click to enlarge.

My Teaching Schedule

2007-01-30T19:37:00.000-08:00

Note: Lesson has to be booked one day in advance.

About Me

2007-01-30T17:08:00.001-08:00

I am a Chinese Language Educator based in Las Vegas. My work here includes teaching Chinese in the University as well as teaching Mandarin online and private tutoring.

I have been an online Mandarin Tutor with eduFire for a year and have taught many students in the US (Boston, New York, Oregon, Texas, Michigan, San Diego) as well as from many other countries such as Brazil, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Sweden, UK, United Arab Emirates. It has also been an honour for me to be selected as an 'Ambassador' of eduFire as well as to appear on the homepage as a Rockstar Teacher in Sep 09.

Besides teaching Mandarin and developing teaching materials everyday, I have a wide variety of other interests such as cooking (I like to experiment with new dishes), playing the piano, hiking, playing golf (still a beginner), hitting the gym, watching American Football (on Saturday), learning Spanish and exploring new places and new stuff.

Thanks for dropping by and reading my profile. :) Feel free to contact me if you will like to take up Mandarin Lessons or if you have any other questions about Mandarin Chinese.

To view my testimonials, please click here.

To view my profile on eduFire, please click here.

Credentials:

Nanyang Technological University, NTU (Jan 2006 – Dec 2007) • Master of Education (Chinese Language)
Nanyang Technological University, NTU (1999 – 2003) • Graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Ed) with Honours Major in Chinese Literature
Chinese Language National Institute of Education (1999 – 2001) • Diploma in Education with Credit

南洋理工大学 (2006年 - 2007年) 教育硕士（中文）
南洋理工大学 (1999年 - 2003年) 中文系荣誉学位
国立教育学院 (1999年 - 2001年) 教育专业文凭

Contact Me

2007-01-30T17:04:00.000-08:00

If you have any question about learning Mandarin, please leave a message at the chat box.