Mama, I Love You! 妈妈, 我爱你!

Since this coming Sunday is Mother’s Day, today I had young girls in my class do drawings to express their love for their mothers in Chinese.  One girl drew a flower bouquet with a smiling face in the center under the bright sun with a caption:  妈妈, 我爱你!  Another drew an airship flying across the sky under the rainbow with a sign:  妈妈, 我爱你!    As one girl was drawing her picture she said, “My mother will cry when she sees this.”  At the end of the class I asked a girl to say to her mom:  妈妈, 我爱你!  And the mother replied with a big smile: “我爱你!  Those are the first words I said to you when I first saw you.”  I was deeply moved---the mother had learned some Chinese before she went to China to receive her daughter.

Since I have started teaching Chinese, I have come to know several American mothers with daughters from China.  I have been amazed by the bond and love between them.  The mothers want their daughters to learn Chinese and cultivate their Chinese heritage, while the girls are eager to learn Chinese.  These girls know that their mothers love them very much and are very happy.

I feel so lucky that I have the privilege to help these mothers teach their daughters Chinese language and culture. To these mothers:  I wish you a Happy Mother’s Day!

 

Boys and Girls of China

One evening sitting by the piano, my seven-year-old son said “I am a boy of China.”  Then he started play a song in his piano book, called “Boy of China” and sang along.  It goes like this:  “Little boy of China/Oh so far away/You play games like other boys/But what do you say.”  The melody is simple and kind of sober.

I was struck by him saying that he was a boy of China.  I have heard him saying “I am American, not French,” when we lived in Paris. Yes, I am from China.  He is half Chinese by blood, but he is not really from China since he was born here in Salem, Massachusetts.  However, I felt the warmth from his claim because I know he is connected with his mother and connected with his Chinese grandparents, so he is connected to China.

I have two boys, smart and handsome, but no girls. I use to worry that something was missing from my life.

Now I teach Chinese to girls from China adopted by American families.  They are sweet and smart, confident and competitive.  Today I had a class with little girls ages 5 to 7.  Their cute, smiling faces stole my heart.  When they looked at me with their beautiful eyes and repeated after me in Chinese with their tender voices, I felt so happy.  In addition to these little girls in my Tuesday class, I have older girls from China in my Saturday class.  I just adore them and love teaching them.  I know I am very lucky to be able to teach these girls and help them connect to China.

With these girls of China, I have a fuller life.

“Beijing Meets Salem”

Among the Peabody Essex Museum’s current exhibitions is Mahjong: Contemporary Chinese Art from the Sigg Collection, which features many artworks from Beijing. It covers the periods from Mao’s Cultural Revolution to the latest Consumer Revolution. I have seen the show and attended two panel discussions on Chinese Contemporary Art. I feel personally connected to these events since I am originally from Beijing and now live in Salem. I grew up in Beijing during the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976. The exhibition reminds me somewhat of those fearful moments but makes me laugh at the same time. I enjoyed the painting "Chanel No 5”, which reminds me of my years as a Little Red Guard holding the Little Red Book. It also makes me think of the Chanel poster with Nicole Kidman that I saw at the bus stops in Paris when I was living there during 2007 and 2008. They look quite different, but I guess the fragrance is the same.

Mandarin -- The Language of the 21st Century

The Boston Globe reports that Chinatown’s Kwong Kow Chinese School has embraced the teaching of Mandarin to keep up with changing times. It quotes Peter Kiang, director of the Asian American Studies Program at UMass-Boston: "Everyone just realizes that Mandarin is the language of the 21st century."

Here in Panda Land, we have children from Chinese American families whose mother tongue is Cantonese.  They also recognize the trend and want to learn Mandarin.  Panda Land uses the same series of textbooks as seen above at the Kwong Kow School.

Read the full article “A new accent in Chinatown” from Boston Globe 02/26 at:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/02/26/a_new_accent_in_chinatown/?p1=Well_MostPop_Emailed5

 In Panda Land, we prepare your children for the 21 century!

 

A Good Start for Chinese Lessons in Panda Land

Since Panda Land greeted its neighbors in January, it has happily received many positive responses and welcomed ten enthusiastic students.  Now we have three classes every week.  On Saturdays we have one class for grammar school age boys and girls who are joyfully learning Chinese, another class for high school girls who are taking their learning very seriously and doing a superb job.  On Sundays we have an individual class for a nice lady who is an ideal language learner.  She speaks Spanish and French and now is adding Mandarin Chinese to her collection.  I enjoy teaching them so much and I am very proud of everyone’s progress. In March we are going to start another class for five little girls.  I can’t wait to teach them and start a wonderful learning experience together.

In Panda Land, we believe in learning with a smile.

Why Do You Want to Learn Chinese?

A week ago, a mother who is interested in having her daughter learn Chinese from me told me that learning a foreign language can prevent Alzheimer’s disease.  I had sometimes worried that my language skills would deteriorate in old age.  I thought I would lose my English and revert to my mother tongue which is Chinese.  Since my husband is an American who does not speak Chinese, I thought I’d better teach my children Chinese so they could talk to me when I am really old.  But this mother reassured me that I will be all set and won’t have memory problems since I speak three languages:  Chinese, English, and French.

I googled on “foreign language and Alzheimer’s” and found several articles on how learning a foreign language can help prevent memory loss:

http://www.helpguide.org/elder/alzheimers_prevention_slowing_down_treatment.htm

Preventing & Treating Alzheimer's

Ideas for Exercising Your Brain: …Learn something new: how to play a musical instrument, a foreign language, or start a new hobby.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/LivingLonger/story?id=1241571

Learning a Foreign Language Can Help You Live Longer

[Dr. Andrew] Weil believes that by learning a foreign language we can reduce the risks of getting some of the most common age-related symptoms and diseases such as memory loss and Alzheimer's.  “You don't have to master it,” he said. “Just the attempt to learn a language is like running different software through the brain. You're exercising more communication channels in the brain.”

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/01/language_brains.html

Language, Brains, and Alzheimers

“There are no pharmacological interventions that are this dramatic,” says Dr. [Morris] Freedman, who is Head of the Division of Neurology, and Director of the Memory Clinic at Baycrest [Research Centre for Aging and the Brain], referring to the four-year delay in onset of symptoms for bilingual patients.

Learning Mandarin Chinese Could Make You Happy

To be happy in a recession seems a hard thing.  However, an expert has suggested that studying Mandarin (Chinese) could make you happy:

5 Ways To Be Happy in a Recession
By Kimberly Palmer
Posted February 10, 2009 
  
…Spend more time and money on enjoyable activities, from traveling to cooking to studying Mandarin, suggests M.P. Dunleavey, author of Money Can Buy Happiness. Research shows that people are at their most satisfied when they feel engaged and challenged.

See the entire article at http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/your-money/2009/02/10/5-ways-to-be-happy-in-a-recession.html

I love teaching Chinese and I would like to work with you to engage in a fun and challenging experience which could make you happy in the current recession time.