Blog
Join Our Mid-Autumn Festival Doodle Date!
Join Our Mid-Autumn Festival Doodle Date! Throw your ideas for loony lunar cartoons at our cartoonist, then draw them along with him as you learn useful Mandarin terms and fascinating facts about the Mid-Autumn...
Why Mooncakes? Because it’s the Moon Festival!
Why do we eat mooncakes during 中秋节 the Mid-Autumn Festival? Eating mooncakes 月饼 (yuèbǐng) and pomelos 柚子 (yòuzi) while sipping tea as you admire the full moon 赏月 (shǎng yuè) are the most traditional things you...
Chang’e and other Mid-Autumn Festival Story Characters
1. Chang’e 嫦娥 the Moon Goddess Probably the most famous of all the Chinese moon legends, 嫦娥 Cháng’é (pronounced “Chang Er“) is worshipped by some during the Mid-Autumn Festival as the Goddess of the Moon. In fact, the...
How long is the mid-Autumn Festival?
How long is the mid-Autumn Festival? What is it? Imagine a festival that brings together the magic of a full moon and the joy of celebrating the harvest – that's the Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as 中秋节 (Zhōngqiū...
3 Ingredients for Raising a Creative Child
The Creative ChildWhen YB (short for 'Yakuza Baby', my daughter’s nickname) was in first grade, she came home crying one day, because all through her school day, she had been dreaming up an experiment to turn the dried...
Let’s Be Chinese Ghosts Experts!
Are You A Chinese Ghost Expert? How Many Do You Know? Have you heard of the Chinese Zombie, also known as 僵尸 (jiāng shī)?Are you aware of the Chinese Mer-people, referred to as 氐人 (Dī rén)?Do you know about the...
Celebrate Singapore’s National Day In Multiple Languages!
Celebrate Singapore's National Day In Multiple Languages! What do children think are uniquely Singaporean activities? Can you imagine Singaporean food characters "choping" a seat at the kopi tiam? See what...
FREE Multilingual Activity Sheet: Make Friends with Food!
We all know that the best way to bridge differences and make friends is with food! We were very tickled to have been invited by the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus (Toa Payoh) Primary School to commemorate Racial...
This National Day: Join Our Multilingual Doodle Date!
This National Day: Join Our Multilingual Doodle Date! Let's get creative with all things Singaporean in this special Doodle Date. Throw crazy Singapore-themed prompts at our artist and we'll learn what to call...
Creativity: It Takes a Village
It really takes a village (at the very least) to nurture the right conditions for creativity! And we at Yumcha Studios are very honoured and privileged to have played our part by organising the 2023 Singapore Dreaming...
How to choose the right extracurricular activities for kids?
Extracurricular activities for kids - when are they too much, and when are they just perfect for growth and learning? How do we choose? Extra- or co-curricular activities in and of themselves might not be good. If you...
9 Different Types of Zongzi To Make You Hungry this 粽子 Festival
Rice Dumplings—ZOMG! Zongzi! 粽子！ 粽子Zòngzi—often called 'rice dumplings' in the West or some variation of "bak chang (肉粽)" in Southeast Asia—are a quintessential part of Duanwu, even though Chinese people eat these...
Why I Can’t Wish People “Happy Duanwu Festival”
Do you know it's not correct to wish people "Happy Duanwu Festival" or “端午节快乐”？Instead, wish people 端午节安康 (Duānwǔ jié ānkāng) "May you have a peaceful and healthy Duanwu Festival”This is because since ancient times,...
The Ultimate Dragon Boat Festival Activity Video for Children and Families (Bilingual)
Get your pens and paper ready for this ultimate video for 端午节 (Duānwǔ jié) the Dragon Boat Festival! You will get to: ♦ Visit a family in Taiwan as they make 粽子 Rice Dumplings for 端午节 Dragon Boat Festival ♦ Learn the...
Do you know the 10 different names of the Dragon Boat Festival?
It's not actually the "Dragon Boat Festival" The proper name for the ‘Dragon Boat Festival’ is the Duanwu Festival 端午节 (Duānwǔ jié), which is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar. The...
Where Will Uncle Colin Pop Up Next?
Besides running around speaking at various schools, our cartoonist Uncle Colin will be making in-person appearances at: The Asian Festival of Children’s Content Venue: The National Library Board, 100 Victoria...
MAGIC MAMA 魔法妈妈: A special bilingual story for Mother’s Day!
A Special Bilingual Story for Mother's Day!Moms must have magical powers to be able to do all that you do for the family! Here's a special bilingual story for Mother's Day for each mother in the world!Watch/Read it...
Great Chinese Idioms for Mother’s Day
Chinese Idioms for Mother's Day Let's start with a Chengyu about the great Chinese philosopher Mencius’s Mom. 1. 孟母三迁 mèng mǔ sān qiān Literal Meaning: Mencius' mother moved 3 times Definition: The great efforts...
Earth Day in Chinese: 45 Essential Terms
April 22nd - Earth Day in Chinese is 地球日. Protecting the earth is something many of us are all still a bit too casual about—we try to do something when we remember and don’t feel too bad when we don’t. This year, our...
5 Amazing Women in Chinese Legend and Literature for International Women’s Day 2023
5 Amazing Women in Chinese Legend and Literature for International Women’s Day 2023 Some like to characterize Chinese culture as being supremely patriarchal and 重男轻女 (zhòng nán qīng nǚ, meaning to favour sons...
Chinese Idioms for Valentine’s Day 情人节成语
What Chinese idioms can I use for Valentine's Day? February 14th is Saint Valentine's Day, which in Chinese is the much more transparent 情人节 (Qíngrén jié), as it translates to "Lover's Festival". It should be called...
Chinese New Year Greetings for The Year of the Rabbit
Are you looking for Chinese New Year greetings for the Year of the Rabbit that are a little funkier than traditional ones like 恭喜发财 (gōngxǐ fācái: Wishing you prosperity) or 新年快乐 (xīnnián kuàilè: Happy new year)?...
The 12 Days of Christmas in Chinese!
We translated the traditional song "The 12 Days of Christmas" into Chinese, so you can finally know how to say "partridge in a pear tree" in 中文! You're welcome!THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS IN CHINESE! On the 12th Day of...
Bilingual Books: A Powerful Tool for Second Language Learning
In this article, we explore the mystery of why many kids dislike reading books in their 2nd language, and how research shows how bilingual books and stories are a great way to change that behaviour. Reading for...
“Forcing” my kids to learn Chinese backfired … so I tried another method
Guest contributor: Denise Yong wears different hats: she's an Early Childhood Educator/Educarer, a writer, and a Mum of three.My struggle: how to teach the kids Chinese when I struggle with it myself? My children are...
How Your Child Can Learn Chinese Creatively
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...
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 from more territories...
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 celebrated on the...
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. Here's a useful...
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 kids are members of the...
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 普通话(Pǔtōnghuà) and...
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 for something...
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 Chinese language learning...
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 creative thinking. ...
Raising Bilingual Children (Without Resentment): 8 Questions for 4 Moms
Raising Bilingual Children Without Resentment: 8 Questions for 4 MomsThe footage above was edited from the Instagram Live session.IntroductionWe know that being bilingual or multilingual confers great advantages in our...
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 boats and poets...
How I found a new way to Learn Chinese Online — Natural, Creative, Bilingual
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...
7 Family-Friendly Chinese Movies for International Women’s Day
7 Family-Friendly Chinese Movies for International Women’s Day Here are 7 family-friendly Chinese movies for International Women's Day to help kids who are learning Chinese get immersed in the language while being...
5 Fun Lunar or Chinese New Year Activities For Families
Are you a parent trying to figure out what you can do with your kids during the Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year—if you're far away from relatives or if you're just trying to avoid crowds? Fear not, we've got you...
Funny Lunar or Chinese New Year Story for Kids: Celebrating is Hard Work!
Lunar or Chinese New Year for Kids 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 featuring the activities and traditions of...
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 have watched these...
Cosplay Meaning For A Family
Cosplay: Meaning For Our Immigrant Family Coming from Singapore, I didn't really care about Halloween – to me it was just a highly commercialized holiday involving too much candy that was celebrated mainly by...
Amazing Facts About the Hongbao (Chinese New Year Red Envelope)
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 practice for families...
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 it. This is why we...
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 soon as possible at...
Happy Dongzhi Festival 冬至快乐
Happy Dongzhi Festival!冬至快乐！ We've updated this post to bring you more interesting (and useful!) stuff about Dongzhi 冬至—the Chinese Winter Solstice Festival. During the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere,...
正月調 15 Commandments of Chinese New Year 2023
THE 15 COMMANDMENTS OF CHINESE NEW YEAR 2023!Here's a super fun chant for you for Chinese New Year 2023! The first day will be Sunday, January 22nd this year! Heard the song ‘The 12 Days of Christmas’? Well, here’s a...
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 book for your...
Learn Chinese for Kids Part 3: The Importance of INTEREST
Learn Chinese For Kids Tip #1: Focus on Interest by Woo Yen Yen An English teacher’s journey towards getting her daughter to learn Chinese. In this four-part series, former New York-based professor and “ang moh pai”...
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 daughter could learn...
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 Baby', because she was...
How to Raise Kids With Empathy
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...
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 Merry Christmas in...
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 this person would...
5 Positive Tips to Improve Communication with Children
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...
De-Stress Doodle Date 20211002
How do you say "Hamburger reading" or other silly combinations of food and relaxing activities?Check out our video of yet another crazy Dim Sum Warriors Bilingual Doodle Date—where our artist Colin draws the wacky...
Parent-Child Communication Tips from Education and Psychology Professors: FREE Webinar
Parent-Child Communication Tips from Education and Psychology Professors My daughter is now 12, and recently, several of her friends’ parents are reporting a new pattern of behavior that’s stressing them out....
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...
Mid-Autumn Mooncake Madness!
LET'S DRAW A MOONCAKE! There are, of course, many, many different designs, styles and flavours of mooncakes nowadays, but let's try drawing a traditional Cantonese-style mooncake.LET'S DRAW ANOTHER MOONCAKE! Had fun...
5 Lessons I Learned From Being Last in Class
5 Lessons I Learned From Being Last in Class I was getting increasingly nervous – they were talking about which camera to use to produce a newer or older effect; the different steps of post-production; conversion from...
Thinking About Afghanistan
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...
Our 1st Ever Multilingual Doodle Date!
It's a first for us—and maybe even the world—a MULTILINGUAL DOODLE DATE! We're doing this specially for Singapore’s National Day—to bring some cheer to this very, very tough year. What's a Doodle Date? It's our...
The Story of Our Children’s Art
The Story of Our Children’s Art Children's Art: How to keep them motivated? After I write the piece on “Why is Drawing Important for Children’s Development”, several parents contacted me to ask about...
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 gangster film. It's...
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 Japanese gangster movie)....
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 as Dynamic and...
Learn Chinese For Kids Part 1: ‘I Tore Up My Chinese Book’
How to get my kid to learn Chinese when my own Chinese is so bad? by Woo Yen Yen An English teacher’s journey towards getting her daughter to learn Chinese. In this four-part series, former New York-based professor and...
How I Got My Kid to Learn Chinese Part 2: “What Can We Learn From Being Last in Class?”
What if I'm the Worst Student in Class? by Woo Yen Yen An English teacher’s journey towards getting her daughter to learn Chinese. In this four-part series, former New York-based professor and “ang moh pai”...
How I Got My Kid to Learn Chinese Part 3: “How Do We Begin With Interest?”
How do we follow our children's interests? by Woo Yen Yen An English teacher’s journey towards getting her daughter to learn Chinese. In this four-part series, former New York-based professor and “ang moh pai”...
How I Got My Kid to Learn Chinese Part 4: “How Do We Become At Home In Our Languages?”
How do we become confident in a language? by Woo Yen Yen An English teacher’s journey towards getting her daughter to learn Chinese. In this four-part series, former New York-based professor and “ang moh pai”...
When learning a Second or Foreign Language, should I only choose books at the “Appropriate Reading Level”?
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...
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 Singapore’s Speak...
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 gave her because she...
Moving Experience: Drawing Comics for Kids Learning the Chinese Language
Drawing Comics for Kids Learning the Chinese Language Things We Wish We Could Do, But Can't—Because of Covid Several Saturdays a month, we run free Doodle Dates, where kids suggest things for me to draw based on a...
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 our Doodle...
Increase Reading and Language Learning Motivation: One Simple Trick
Increase Reading & 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...
Learning Chinese Language: Vocabulary About EARTH DAY
Learning Chinese Language: Vocabulary About Earth Day! Yesterday was Earth Day or 世界地球日 Shìjiè dìqiú rì, and last night, our daughter’s Chinese teacher in her former Taiwanese public elementary school, Teacher Lee 李老师,...
How do you say different kinds of clothing in Chinese?
Check out our video of yet another crazy Dim Sum Warriors Bilingual Doodle Date—where our artist Colin draws the wacky things kids suggest, while former professor Yen Yen and certified Taiwanese schoolteacher Teacher...
Doodle Date: How do you say different types of clothes in Chinese? Part 2
Check out our video of yet another crazy Dim Sum Warriors Bilingual Doodle Date—where our artist Colin draws the wacky things kids suggest, while former professor Yen Yen and certified Taiwanese schoolteacher Teacher...
