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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)?...
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: 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 featuring the...
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...
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...
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
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 people complain about....
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...
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
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 the Instagram Live...
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 learning languages,...
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 tossing...
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 relationship with Chinese is...
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 give you a sneak...
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 and your kids might...
Earth Day in Chinese: 45 Essential Terms
April 22nd, 2022 - Earth Day in Chinese is 地球日. Protecting the earth has, until this point, always been something that many of us are all a bit too casual about—we try to do something when we remember and don’t feel...
7 Family-Friendly Chinese Movies for International Women’s Day 2022
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 entertained and educated! I grew up surrounded by strong women in...
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 day, she had been...
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...
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,...
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
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 first, but when I...
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
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 Kids". This post recaps...
Why Does Cosplaying at Halloween Have Such Meaning for Our Family?
Cosplay as Family Bonding Activity? 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 expatriates and...
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
My daughter is now 12, and recently, several of her friends’ parents are reporting a new pattern of behavior that’s stressing them out. They’re finding that their children seem to be ruder, their emotions fiercer, and...
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!
It's the Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节 | 中秋節 (zhōngqiū jié), one of the most beloved Chinese celebrations—where we eat mooncakes (now available in a bewildering variety of flavours), sip tea, recite poetry and admire the...
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 different frame rates; what lights to use,...
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...
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
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 their children's art: “How do we keep our children...
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”?
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 becoming a “bookworm”. And...
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...
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 delays the onset of...
Moving Experience: 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 theme—usually a mashup of food and something—and...
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...
Doodle Date 20210417: Can you name various animals in Mandarin?
How do you say “Swiss Roll Mouse” or “Bittergourd Godzilla”? Or other silly combinations of food and animals? Check out our video of yet another crazy Dim Sum Warriors Bilingual Doodle Date—where our artist Colin draws...
Doodle Date 20210501: Can You Name Various Jobs in Chinese?
Can You Name Some Jobs in Chinese? Here's 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...
Doodle Date 20210515: Food + Things You Want to Do But Can’t, Because of Covid
Things You Want to Do But Can't, Because of Covid ?? Here's 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...
DOODLE DATE 20210403: Food and Holiday Activities
How do you say "Sushi in a hot bath" or "Pie sleeping"? Or other silly combinations of food and holiday activities? Check out our video of yet another crazy Dim Sum Warriors Bilingual Doodle Date—where our artist Colin...
DOODLE DATE: Chinese New Year Food with Feelings
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 2021027: Food and Adjectives
How do you say "Funny Fish?" or "Confused Bak Kut Teh?" or... other silly combinations of food and adjectives? Check out our video of yet another crazy Dim Sum Warriors Bilingual Doodle Date—where our artist Colin...
DOODLE DATE 20210306: Food and Sports
How do you say "Hamburger playing basketball" or "Ramen skiing"? Or other silly combinations of food and sports? Check out our video of yet another crazy Dim Sum Warriors Bilingual Doodle Date—where our artist Colin...
Happy 牛?Year! We had a blast at our Reunion Doodle Date
Thanks for Joining Our Chinese New Year Reunion Doodle Date 新春【画】团圆！ THANK YOU for all your creative ideas! We had a blast creating these cartoons with all of you on Saturday 6th February, 2021! Thank you and a very...
正月調 The 15 Commandments of Chinese New Year
THE 15 COMMANDMENTS OF CHINESE NEW YEAR! Heard the song ‘The 12 Days of Christmas’? Well, we just learned that there’s a Chinese equivalent! Though true to stereotype, it’s not about your true love giving you lords...
Merry Eggs-mas…uh, Christmas!
Merry Christmas to all our friends and fans! It's always tickled us that in Chinese 圣诞 (shèngdàn: Christmas) sounds almost like 生蛋 (shēng dàn: laying eggs)—which tells you about the kind of goofballs we are! Hope all...
Dim Sum Warriors New Year eCards!
Happy New Year to all our friends and fans! Wish your family and friends—in fact, anybody!—a very happy new year with these adorable eCards!
Honouring Food Workers on World Food Day 2020
16 OCTOBER IS WORLD FOOD DAY, which is run by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. This year’s theme is one after our own hearts—FOOD HEROES! We’d like to express our deep gratitude to food...
5 Useful Chinese Phrases for Mother’s Day
5 Useful Mother's Day Phrases in Chinese Hey, kids, don’t just wish Mom “Happy Mother’s Day (母亲节快乐 | 母親節快樂 Mǔqīn jié kuàilè)”—try these 5 Chinese phrases and put an extra smile on her face! 1. Mom, today, let me take...
Learn English with the Dim Sum Warriors App
疫口同聲，英文學起來！ 新冠肺炎種種限制讓您很鬱卒嗎？防疫期間讓我們：疫口同聲，英文學起來！ 除了保持社交距離、落實個人衛生防護外，這陣子因為疫情升溫，大家都必須乖乖待在家裡，避免所有不必要的外出行程。對於因疫情而不得不面對各種限制的台灣粉絲和朋友，我們有一份非常特別的禮物要給你們： 請放一百顆心❤－我們的APP是由教育學者和屢獲殊榮的藝術家共同設計，並通過世界頂級教育技術及影響力驗證機構之一的芬蘭教育聯盟 Education...