Blog
5 Ways NOT to Kill Creativity in Your Kids
Ministries of Education all over the world are racing to equip children with competencies that are needed for the 21st century: critical thinking, communicating, collaborating, and inventive or...
The Story of Our Children’s Art
“How do we keep our kids inspired and motivated to draw?” This video follows the story of our daughter’s art-making over 10 years from Age 1 to 11 and provides a delightful example of the documentation of children’s art.
Increase Reading and Language Learning Motivation: One Simple Trick
Reading aloud to children is a simple but highly effective strategy to help kids fall in love with reading and motivate them to learn languages—but there’s an art to it.
How Your Child Can Learn Chinese Creatively
We know how your child Can learn Chinese creatively, because of our unique approach and experience.Complaining About CreativityThe lack of creativity and imagination is a subject we keep hearing...
Translanguaging Pedagogy Takeaways & Video Recap
6 Takeaways (& a video recap!) from our recent Translanguaging Pedagogy webinarThank you to everyone who signed up for our Translanguaging webinar on 1 September 2022! We attracted participants...
Mid-Autumn Festival 101: A Mammoth Guide to Mooncakes, Myths and Moon Mysteries!
Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! 中秋节快乐！ (Zhōngqiū jié kuàilè) The Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节 (Zhōngqiū jié) is one of the most important festivals in Chinese culture. It's called "Mid-Autumn" because it is...
Being Bilingual is a Super Power!
Bilingualism is a super-power! Neuroscientific studies show that bilingual kids can parse and handle more complex situations because they're used to interpreting multiple linguistic and social cues....
Competitive Parenting, Inclusion, Homeschooling and Struggling with Chinese: A Mom’s Testimony
Guest blogger: Lim Swee Pei is a mother of 4 and she is homeschooling her kids in Singapore. She shares her experience with competitive parenting, homeschooling and struggling with Chinese. (Her...
Singapore Mandarin Quiz! 新式华语小测验
To celebrate Singapore's National Day, we've come up with a quiz on Singapore's distinct strain of Mandarin Chinese, which we call 新加坡华语 (Xīnjiāpō Huáyǔ). It's pretty similar to mainland China's...
There are already so many Chinese Learning Resources out there – is the Dim Sum Warriors Club worth it?
There are so many Chinese learning resources out there - how do we choose? It's important to know what you're getting because it's such an investment of time and money. The worst situation is to pay...
5 Tips For Building an Easy At-Home Routine To Boost Chinese Language Learning for Bilingual Children
Guest contributor: Jocelyn Sara Lim-Tan is a seasoned teacher and education researcher and the mom of Jude and Joshua. In this piece, she shares her tips for building a daily routine to boost...
Raising Bilingual Children (Without Resentment): 8 Questions for 4 Moms
8 questions that were put to the 4 mommy-blogger panelists during our recent Instagram Live session on the topic "Raising Bilingual Children (Without Resentment)".The footage above was edited from...
Does Learning Languages Make You Globally Competent?
Does Learning Languages Automatically Make You Globally Competent? Key Differences Parents Who Want to Raise Bilingual Kids Should KnowDim Sum Warriors co-creator Dr Woo Yen Yen shows that for kids...
端午节: 8 Essential Things to Know About the Dragon Boat Festival
端午节: Dragon Boats, Drowning, Dumplings, Demons and Disease 8 Essential Things to Know About the Dragon Boat Festival! Think you know all about the Dragon Boat Festival? Dumplings, dragon-shaped...
How I found a new way to Learn Chinese Online — Natural, Creative, Bilingual
Jacqueline is the mom of 7-year-old Isaac. I spoke to her and this is her genuine feedback about the difference Dim Sum Warriors has made to Isaac's attitude towards learning Mandarin.Our...
MAGIC MAMA 魔法妈妈: A special bilingual story for Mother’s Day!
A Special Bilingual Story for Mother's Day! We came up with this special bilingual story for Mother's Day, featuring the Bao family! It'll be up in the Dim Sum Warriors app soon, but we thought we'd...
6 Great Chinese Idioms for Mother’s Day
Happy Mother's Day! In Chinese, that's 母亲节快乐 (mǔqīn jié kuàilè)！ For this special day, we’ve made a list of 成语 (chéngyǔ) Chinese Idioms for Mother’s Day along with interesting short clips that you...
Earth Day in Chinese: 45 Essential Terms
For teachers and parents in bilingual Chinese-English schools, this is a list of 45 terms for Earth Day in Chinese so you can discuss the challenges we face, and plan clear actions to protect our planet!
7 Family-Friendly Chinese Movies for International Women’s Day 2022
For International Women’s Day 2022, I consolidated a list of Chinese films with strong women characters for your enjoyment.
5 Fun Lunar or Chinese New Year Activities For Your Families – If COVID is Keeping You at Home!
Are you a parent trying to figure out what you can do with your kids during the Chinese (Lunar) New Year? Fear not, we've got you covered with these five fun-filled activities!#1 Cook a Yummy Meal...
3 Ingredients for Raising a Creative Child
The Creative Child When YB (short for 'Yakuza Baby', my daughter’s nickname) was in first grade, she came home crying one day, because all through her school...
Fun Story at Lunar or Chinese New Year for Kids: Celebrating is Hard Work!
Lunar or Chinese New Year for Kids: Celebrating is Hard Work!When we were living in New York City and feeling very homesick around Chinese New Year, I found myself looking for a funny picture book...
5 Best Chinese Animation Movies for Kids
Chinese animation movies are great for helping kids who are learning Chinese get immersed in the language while having fun! We chose these five movies because many kids in the Chinese-speaking world...
Cosplay Meaning For A Family
Coming from Singapore, I didn’t really care about Halloween. But it’s become one of our family’s favorite days of the year—when we bond not just as a family, but as part of a story universe!
What I Never Knew About the Chinese New Year Red Envelope While Growing Up
IntroductionGrowing up, the most exciting part of Chinese New Year for me was always the Chinese New Year Red Envelope or Red Packet—the 红包 hóngbāo! On the eve of Chinese New Year, it is a common...
3 Reasons Why the Dim Sum Warriors Books are NOT Designed to follow a Reading Levels Chart
Many classrooms employ reading levels charts for their students, but up-to-date research is showing that this way of regulating students' reading doesn't have strong scientific evidence to support...
Teachers of Chinese ELLs or Emergent Bilinguals, You Are Invited!
Dear Teachers of Chinese ELLs or Emergent Bilinguals: I have bilingual stories that will be great for your students and I want to get these stories to your kids——FREE! Please get in touch with me as...
Happy Dongzhi Festival
Happy Dongzhi Festival! 冬至快乐！冬至快樂！ It's the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, and people in China or of ethnic Chinese heritage everywhere are celebrating Dongzhi Festival or 冬至 Dōngzhì,...
正月調 15 Commandments of Chinese New Year 2022
There’s a Chinese equivalent of ‘The 12 Days of Christmas’–but it’s not about your true love giving you anything. Rather, it lists all the stuff you have to do over the 15 Days of Chinese New Year!!!
LUNAR NEW YEAR 2022: Popular Livestream Cartooning Program Just Opened For Schools to Book!
Get Your Students to Draw Cartoons and Learn Chinese This Lunar New Year 2022! For Lunar New Year 2022, Dim Sum Warriors has a creative and fun Chinese New Year Livestream Activity that you can now...
Learn Chinese for Kids Part 3: The Importance of INTEREST
Dr. Woo Yen Yen, an English honors grad and former professor in New York went from being *that* student who ripped up her Chinese textbook to writing Chinese comics and a giant musical that toured 25 cities in China. She shares her journey and tips for getting her American-born daughter with zero Chinese to thrive in a Taiwanese public school where the instruction is completely in Chinese.
This is Part 3 of a lecture she gave in Mandarin as part of the 2020 Mother Tongue Language Symposium organized by Singapore’s Ministry of Education.
How I got my American born daughter to learn Chinese – Part 2
How am I going to get my daughter to learn Chinese in New York? In a previous post, I had talked about how hard it was for me to find suitable Chinese teaching and learning solutions for so my...
How I got my American born daughter to learn Chinese – Part 1
Desperate Search for Solutions to Help My Kid Learn Chinese When we were living in New York, I found myself looking for learn Chinese materials for my daughter (nicknamed 'YB', short for 'Yakuza...
How to Raise Kids With Empathy
As I was stressing in front of my computer over an app update that went wrong the other day, my 12-year-old quietly brought me a cup of tea with some honey and flower petals. I didn’t notice it at...
Holiday Doodle Dates 2021
Learning to say Merry Christmas in Chinese? How about "Asparagus Elf" or "Reindeer Hotdog"? And other silly English to Chinese translations of food and Christmas combos! You don't just learn to say...
This creative power couple says openness to other cultures and languages is key to thriving in the world
“Power couple?” More like BAOwer couple! Thanks, Singapore Global Network, for the nice feature on Yen Yen and Colin and the work that we do! Read the article at:...
Workplace Diversity: The Dim Sum Warriors Experience
Benefits of Workplace Diversity At lunch today, I learned that in Taiwan, someone who is stingy, fusses over little things and is cheap can be described as “小氣吧啦 (Xiǎoqì ba la)". I also learned that...
5 Positive Tips to Improve Communication with Children
How parents and kids can communicate better On 9 October 2021—to celebrate Children's Day in Singapore—we held a special webinar with BigV SG titled "Better Communication for Parents and...
Why Does Cosplaying at Halloween Have Such Meaning for Our Family?
Coming from Singapore, I didn’t really care about Halloween. But it’s become one of our family’s favorite days of the year—when we bond not just as a family, but as part of a story universe!
De-Stress Doodle Date 20211002
We held a special Doodle Date to help kids and parents undergoing the exams and home-based learning vent their frustrations in cartoon form!
Parent-Child Communication Tips from Education and Psychology Professors: FREE Webinar
In partnership with BigV SG, we’re holding a FREE WEBINAR on 9 Oct 2021! Yen Yen will be sharing tips on Better Communication for Parents and Kids, together with eminent developmental psychologist Prof. Chao-Hsiang Hung from Taipei. There’ll also be a puppet performance and workshop for the kids, run by the award-winning Paper Monkey Theatre!
FREE WEBINAR: Better Communication for Parents and Kids
In partnership with BigV SG, we’re holding a FREE WEBINAR on 9 Oct 2021! Yen Yen will be sharing tips on Better Communication for Parents and Kids, together with developmental psychologist Prof. Hong Zhaoxiang from Taipei. There’ll also be a puppet performance and workshop for the kids, run by the award-winning Paper Monkey Theatre!
Mid-Autumn Mooncake Madness!
Here are some fun videos and drawings we did for this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival!
5 Lessons I Learned From Being Last in Class
Being ‘last in class’ can provide great opportunities. Seriously!
Thinking About Afghanistan
I went to Afghanistan twice in 2004, not long after the US invasion, on a UNICEF-backed consulting project to help rebuild the Afghan education system. I’ve been trying my best not to think of what’s happening now in Afghanistan because I feel completely helpless. But I can’t help it.
Our 1st Ever Multilingual Doodle Date!
Wow! First time-ever in the world—a MULTILINGUAL DOODLE DATE! Specially for Singapore’s National Day! Bring some cheer to this tough year by drawing funny cartoons and learning new words in Mandarin, English and now, Malay and Tamil too!
Why is Drawing Important for Children’s Development?
Kids Drawing Is Making Something Out of Nothing My daughter loves to draw. (Her nickname is Yakuza Baby—or YB for short-- because she was born while my husband and I were watching a Japanese...
How do I teach my kid Chinese at home? – Part 1
When we were living in New York, I found myself looking for Chinese-learning materials for my daughter (nicknamed 'YB', short for 'Yakuza Baby', because she was born while we were watching a...
How do I teach my kids Chinese at home? – Part 2
In a previous post, I had talked about how hard it was for me to find suitable Chinese teaching and learning solutions for my daughter when we were living in New York. Experience the Target Language...
Learn Chinese For Kids Part 1: ‘I Tore Up My Chinese Book’
Dr. Woo Yen Yen, an English honors grad and former professor in New York went from being *that* student who ripped up her Chinese textbook to writing Chinese comics and a giant musical that toured 25 cities in China. She shares her journey and tips for getting her American-born daughter with zero Chinese to thrive in an all-Chinese-instruction Taiwanese public school.
This is Part 1 of a lecture she gave in Mandarin as part of the 2020 Mother Tongues Language Symposium organized by Singapore’s Ministry of Education.
How I Got My Kid to Learn Chinese Part 2: “What Can We Learn From Being Last in Class?”
Dr. Woo Yen Yen, an English honors grad and former professor in New York went from being *that* student who ripped up her Chinese textbook to writing Chinese comics and a giant musical that toured 25 cities in China. She shares her journey and tips for getting her American-born daughter with zero Chinese to thrive in a Taiwanese public school where the instruction is completely in Chinese. This is Part 2 of a lecture she gave in Mandarin as part of the 2020 Mother Tongues Language Symposium organized by Singapore’s Ministry of Education.
How I Got My Kid to Learn Chinese Part 3: “How Do We Begin With Interest?”
Dr. Woo Yen Yen, an English honors grad and former professor in New York went from being *that* student who ripped up her Chinese textbook to writing Chinese comics and a giant musical that toured 25 cities in China. She shares her journey and tips for getting her American-born daughter with zero Chinese to thrive in a Taiwanese public school where the instruction is completely in Chinese.
This is Part 3 of a lecture she gave in Mandarin as part of the 2020 Mother Tongue Language Symposium organized by Singapore’s Ministry of Education.
How I Got My Kid to Learn Chinese Part 4: “How Do We Become At Home In Our Languages?”
Dr. Woo Yen Yen, an English honors grad and former professor in New York went from being *that* student who ripped up her Chinese textbook to writing Chinese comics and a giant musical that toured 25 cities in China. She shares her journey and tips for getting her American-born daughter with zero Chinese to thrive in a Taiwanese public school where the instruction is completely in Chinese.
This is Part 4 of a lecture she gave in Mandarin as part of the 2020 Mother Tongue Language Symposium organized by Singapore’s Ministry of Education.
When learning a Second or Foreign Language, should I only choose books at the “Appropriate Reading Level”?
In 1st grade, my daughter, Yakuza Baby (the nickname we gave her because she was born while Colin and I were watching a Japanese gangster movie), had fallen in love with reading and was fast...
How to Improve Kids’ Chinese?
How to Improve Kids' Chinese? by Woo Yen Yen It was a joy and delight chatting online with creative folks from different disciplines at the “Speak Mandarin, Spark Creativity” Symposium organized by...
CROSSING INVISIBLE LANGUAGE LINES
by Woo Yen Yen Why is it important to cross invisible language barriers? Why is it important to learn a “minority” language or a dialect? My daughter YB (short for 'Yakuza Baby', the nickname we...
Bilingualism is Good for the Brain
We have known this for a while now—bilingualism is great for the brain! The more we think across two or more languages, the more exercise our brains get! This CNN article says that bilingualism...
Moving Experience: Drawing Comics for Kids Learning the Chinese Language
During our most recent Doodle Date, we asked kids for suggestions on things they want to do but can’t because of the new Covid-19 restrictions… and the results were, well, very moving to us.
Great Movies to Help Kids Learn Chinese
Summer school holidays are just around the corner... so here's a helpful list of Chinese movies your kids might like—provided by Jia Yu 姐姐, a Masters student in Taiwan who sometimes helps out during...
Learning Chinese Language: Vocabulary About EARTH DAY
A field trip yields some useful vocabulary for Earth Day for those who are teaching Mandarin at home or in school or those who are simply learning Chinese.