玉鈴老師的班

Daniel was absent today. All other kids brought their costume for Halloween parade. I mentioned that Halloween could be American sense of humor. Kids won't be afraid of cute ghosts. Dressing up for trick-or-treat is so much fun! Every child had their unique costume today. Naia even had a "lion head"! Oh, it must come from Taiwan!

Today we started Lesson 4: 雪人。 I taught the kids to read the text with their feelings at a slower speed （朗讀）。Ezra and Justin learned quickly but very exaggerated with their tone. We all laughed about the way they did. I think they might be good actors with proper training!

The vocabularies we learned were: 雪、地、裡、片、漂、亮、變、房、坐、對。We also played riddle game. Our kids liked it.

Homework is:

• 習作A本 p. 11-13
• 全新版華語習寫字：Write words for lesson 4
• Make flashcards of 2-4

We'll have quiz next week on words: 雪、地、片、漂、亮。Please have your child be familiar with writing them.

Thank you and see you next week!

Today we had Aaron, Alana, Annika, Hannahlise, Maxine, Yen-ui, Vicky, and Teacher Ru-ru (Aaron's mom) for helping out.

This was the last week of virtue "Humor". I mentioned that Halloween could be American sense of humor. Kids won't be afraid of cute ghosts, and dressing up for trick-or-treat is so much fun!

We started lesson 6: hQfphvixsay好鼻師 (The best nose!)。In the beginning of the class, some kids sang lesson 7 which made me thought I prepared the wrong lesson??? Oh, I can never overlook the power of CD! Our kids know words very well about body parts and animals. But today I taught them insects which they were not familiar with. We had kawhia狗蟻 (ant)、ciaqmih食物 (food)、phafng蜂 (bee)、hosiin胡蠅 (fly)、bafng’ar蚊子 (mosquito)、bQefiaqar尾蝶仔 (butterfly).

Sound recording:  

When we talked about fly. I said they looked ugly. Yen-ui said they were dirty, too. So I said we always wave fly away when we saw one...shoo, shoo....Then, Annika started singing "Shoo, Fly". Very cute!

We played 老師說 (Simon says). I just couldn't fool some kids. They were very alert and focused.

Before the end of the class we grouped Team A and Team B to compete on flashcards with today's new vocabularies. They just loved this game, so I increased my word bank with old flashcards and played again several times.

Homework is

We'll have Halloween parade next week. Please dress up or bring your costume for trick-or-treating at school! 

This week we had mid-term test. I gave a quick review on flashcards and writing of some words. When I talked about 「課」, I introduced 「果」which is a pictographic word （象形字）with fruit above trees. Then Jonah asked an interesting question: What's the relationship between fruit and lessons in class? 我說「言」就代表語言，你們來上課就像一棵小樹，我用語言來灌溉你們，等有一天你們學了很多，也長大成熟了，就像水果一樣，可以收成了。Jonah 說：我不喜歡當水果被吃掉。我說：不是要你被吃掉，而是要你像水果一樣有內涵，你看，大部分的水果都有種子，把種子種下去就又可以長出一棵大樹，再結更多果子，就像阿公阿嬤生爸爸媽媽，爸爸媽媽生你們，將來你們還會再生你們的小孩一樣，生生不息。不知道這樣的解釋會不會太牽強？現在越來越多形聲字，以後還會有轉注、假借，孩子三不五時問我一些有趣的問題，真像在考我的腦筋急轉彎似的！

Anyway, the test results follow:

• 90-99: 7
• 80-89: 2
• 70-79: 1
• 60-69: 1

Generally speaking, kids did pretty good in listening and reading; however, writing depends on the individual effort. This test is just a reference for me and the parents to know how our kids learned. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Thanks and see you next week.

We'll have Halloween parade next week. Please dress up or bring your costume for trick-or-treating at school! 

This week we had mid-term test. I gave a quick review on flashcards and singing of all the lessons. Most of the kids sang beautifully 老師好、媽媽你是我的最愛、猴猻仔。I think we won't have any problem in performing on "Taiwan Night"!

The test results follow:

• 100: 5
• 90-99: 5
• 80-89: 1

This test is just a reference for me and the parents to know how our kids learned. From these outstanding scores I see so much effort by the kids and parents. Most of all, I see kids' self-confidence! The more we praise, the higher they can achieve! Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Thank you and see you next week.

Today we missed Samuel who was in a family event over the weekend.

Last week we talked about humor was a key to happiness. Today I reminded them that we shouldn't make fun of others just to let more people laugh （幽默不是譁眾取寵）.

Teacher Amy checked homework. Kids were very proud to show their flashcards. Two of them told me the key ring for flashcards was too small. Don't worry, I'll give you a new one after next week for more flashcards.

We finished lesson 5. Kids learned to sing 「猴猻仔」with body movements. When we sang 「尾仔長長會伸縮」, I told them that my finger 「會伸縮」, too. I showed them the trick. A couple of students already knew it, some observed very carefully and found I used two thumbs to do the trick, but there were still some shocked and puzzled how I did it.

Ok, since some of you knew my thumb trick, I decided to show you the "real magic". I put a rubber band on one finger and could change it to another finger "immediately". Ha, no one knew the trick this time. Please teach your child at home if you know how to do it!

We played 「老師說」(Simon says) to review the body parts. Some kids were so smart and focused that I couldn't trick them and finally I gave up. Five of them got to pick the prize first.

At the end of the class we played "flashcards competition", and it was a tie! I told them Team A is 第一名, Team B is 冠軍, and asked them who won. They replied: The same!

Next week we'll have mid-term test. We have listening, speaking, and flashcards recognition. Please help your child do the homework and I believe they'll do very well on the test.

Homework is:

• 學習單 5 猴猻仔 (Please help the elephant find his body parts and say them in Taiwanese)
• Read/sing 3 times of the text of lessons 1-5
• Recognize flashcards of lessons 1-5
• Practice introducing yourself and your family in Taiwanese to people

Thank you and see you next week!

Today we missed Daniel who is in a family event over the weekend.

The kids turned in homework and took back the one I graded. Some boys forgot to give me their homework last week. I'm trying to make turning in homework daily routine so the kids will be more aware of their responsibility. Some kids finished 生字簿. Thanks to Katherine's mom helped me grade them and return to the kids right away.

Last week we talked about humor was a key to happiness. Today I reminded them that we couldn't make fun of others just to make more people laugh （幽默不是譁眾取寵）. Then we practiced reading and conversation. We also had quiz on 「出書也拍球」 after finished lesson 3. Only two kids didn't get all the words correct after several hints.

At last I let the kids highlighted the words I read on the textbook to see how many words they recognized. To my surprise everyone did a great job!

Next week we'll have mid-term test. We have words and phonics writing, multiple choices, phrase making and flashcard recognition. Please help your child do the homework and I believe they'll do very well on the test.

Homework is:

• 習作A本 p. 8-10
• Complete writing words for lesson 3
• Read 3 times of text of lessons 1-3
• Recognize flashcards of lessons 1-3

Thank you and see you next week!

It's October! Our virtue for this month is: Sense of humor. It's a bit hard to let the kids understand what humor means. Just then Annika was looking for her textbook everywhere. Teacher Amy told her with sweet voice: It was right on your desk. Then Annika smiled. I told them because teacher Amy had sense of humor so Annika didn't feel embarrassed. If teacher Amy didn't have sense of humor and told Annika seriously, then Annika probably wouldn't smile. So humor is a key to happiness.  

Today we have all the students except for Aaron.

We reviewed lesson 4 and completed some activities in the textbook for previous lessons.

Then we taught lesson 5: Kausafn`ar猴猻仔(Monkey). The words we learned were: kausafn`ar猴猻仔(monkey)、thaau頭(head)、khazhngf喀川(hip)、hengkharm胸坎(chest)、khaf腳(leg)、chiuo手(hand)、bQefar尾仔(tail)、kQefcie果子(fruit).

Sound recording (please double click the triangle): 

The kids couldn't wait to make the "hungry crocodile"「貪吃的鱷魚」。Their tiny hands were so busy in tearing all the parts from the textbook. I had to say it was hard and needed lots of patience. Many of them were so independent to do the craft by themselves; nevertheless teacher Amy and I were still like busy bees! We ended overtime and some parents rushed in to help their child, because some girls didn't want to change dresses for ballet unless they finished their crocodile! I was so happy to see the kids' proud face when they introduced their crocodile to their parents. I was also very touched by parents' appreciation to the art of their child.

It's October! Our virtue for this month is: Sense of humor. It's a bit hard to let the kids understand what humor means, so I told them a story. If I wore a green sock and a red sock to school because I was hurrying out and didn't notice the different color of the socks. Now a student found out this and told me my socks were in different colors. What should I do? All the kids were silent. Of course they didn't know what to do because they were so lucky that they didn't have this embarrassing experience. I said if I didn't have sense of humor, I would feel embarrassed and wouldn't be happy for the rest of the day. If I have sense of humor, I would say I didn't know I wore different colors of socks. After I watched my feet I found I liked the socks and would ask them: "Do you think this is more stylish than both green or both red?" I hope they all get it. Humor is a key to happiness. Just then Anica told us she had different colors of socks: light pink and dark pink. Everyone looked at her feet and agreed they looked special! I think they all get it now.

We had a "real" quiz today! (Some kids don't think they need to study hard on quiz, because they know I'll write the words on the blackboard for them to copy. Well, not always.....ha....ha....!) After reviewing the words I wiped them out. Daniel got all five words correct first, so he got to pick the prize first at the end of the class.

We started lesson 3: 「上課和下課」。I let the kids circle the words they recognized on the text and read it once. Then we went through the stroke practice for the following words: 課、拿、出、書、也、拍、球、你、滑、告、訴、快。當我們在寫「拿」的時候，我告訴他們拿是「手」部，Jonah馬上就問怎麼不是提手旁呢？他還記得上堂課我教「拉」的時候說：手當部首的時候，為了要讓別人有位子，所以都會變成提手旁，不錯喔，上課都有在聽。現在我又必須解釋「手」放在字的下方時要用「原形」。接著我又舉今天教的心部的「快」和「想」作例子，他們就懂了。Daniel 也說弟弟的名字就有一個心。

Homework is:

• 習作A p. 8-10 
• Make flash cards for "2-3"
• 全新版華語習寫字：Write the words 3 times and make a two-word phrase.

We'll have a "real" quiz next time on words: 出、書、也、拍、球。Please have your child be familiar with writing them.

Thank you and see you next week!