Chinese idioms with the word "horse"

Dear Students,

Winter vacation is here!  Besides video games and parties, I have some assignments for you during the 3 weeks of no school. Let's get ready for the performance on our annual New Year party.
1. Study the set on Quizlet. We will have a quiz when you come back from the winter vacation.
You are not required to write the characters for this quiz.

2. Draw the picture you are assigned. Remember to use colored markers or water colors. Please outline your pictures with a sharpie. Your picture should be at least 11"x17"(the size of two copying paper). Please back up your picture with cardboard.  Bring the picture to class when you come to class next time.

3.Review ALL the new words we learned this semester, using the Quizlet study sets. We will play a game next class. Aim for winning!

Have a great winter break!
Gao Laoshi

巨人的花园

Dear Students,
Homework this week will include the following tasks:
1. watch the following video  

2.  study the Quizlet set
for the quiz next time

3.  workbook ex. (Mon-Tues)

4. make sentences of your own with the words on the Voicethread. 

Happy studying,
Gao Laoshi

蚂蚁和知了

Dear Students,

Homework this week is similar to last week.
1. First, watch the video of the story  蚂蚁和知了的动画片  at least 3 times.
2. Study the Quizlet set L4.2 for the test next week.
3. Do the workbook exercise L4.1 Thursday to Friday.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Translation

The hot sun is shining on the fields. The golden grains can be found everywhere in the vast expansive fields.

The ant and the cicada are neighbors. From morning to evening, the ant is busy moving grains to his home all the time in order to get ready for the winter. On the other hand, the cicada is busy singing and dancing, and playing all day long without working at all. Even though they are neighbors, they have never paid any visits to each other.

The winter is here. The ant stay at home comfortably for the winter. One morning, the sun is out, so the ant takes the grains out to air out. A starving cicada flies over and says feebly, “my good neighbor, could you lend me a little of your grains? I have not had a satisfying meal for many days.”

“Don’t tell me that you yourself have not prepared any grains.” The ant says,” In the fall, there are so many grains in the fields. Why didn’t you move some home?”

“In the fall, I was busy playing every day. I had so much fun that I had no time to move grains…” says the cicada.

“Oh!” The ant interrupts the cicada, and says, “ You didn’t work in the fall, so you certainly have nothing to eat in the winter. We only help the diligent people, but not those who don’t like to work. You’d better leave.” Hearing this, the cicada has to fly away without choice.

埋在地里的金子

Dear Students,
There are 4 assignments for this week.
1. Please watch the video at least 3 times,   看 这个动画片.
2. Do workbook (Mon-Wed.)
3. Study the new words of L4.1. There will be a vocabulary test next class.
4. Read the sentences on the Voicethread.

崔粗腿 cui1cu1tui3

Dear Students,

This week's homework:
1. Workbook exercises (Wednesday - Friday)
2. Review the new words of "海洋世界" for the quiz next time.
3. Go to the voicethread to record the tongue twist of "崔粗腿cui1cu1tui3".

Last week, Joy was the only one who did the assignment of typing up 3 sentences from our text in Chinese characters in the "comment area". So please make up this homework this week. You can email me your writing if you have trouble publishing it as the comment here.

海洋世界

Photo courtesy: elong.com

Dear Students,

Homework for this week:

1. Do workbook exercises ( Monday and Tuesday)

2. Review the new words on Quizlet, 

then read the sentences on Voicethread. Remember to "save" your comment. 

3. Last week, Erik, Max and Joy did a good job typing up their comments in Characters. If you don't know how to type Chinese on the computer, please watch the video I made and posted in another post. Then type any 3 sentences from our text  in the comment area. If it doesn't work, try typing it up in a word document, then copy and paste it into the comment area. Good luck!

How to type up Chinese characters on your computer

 If you are not sure how to do this now, please click on the following link to watch the video.

How to type up Chinese characters on your computer

木偶奇遇记

Photo courtesy: Walt Disney

Dear Students,

Homework for this week:
1. Watch the following short video in Chinese. Tell me what are some differences you have noticed between the video and the story in our book. Write at least 3 sentences in CHINESE CHARACTERS in the "comment" area. Please call me or email me if you don't know how to do this one.  Use the translation I give you at the bottom of this post.

2. Retell the story at Voicethread. Remember you have to use ALL the words given. Please practice to your parents or yourself for a couple of times BEFORE you do the recording.

3. Study the new words for a quiz next week.

Translation

I like a fairy tale very much, and it’s called “The Adventure of A Puppet”.

In the story, an old man called Geppetto made a puppet. The puppet is very special because he can open his eyes to look at things, and can open his mouth to talk and sing, and also can move his legs to walk. The old man named him Pinocchio. He made him clothes, and sent him to school. But Pinocchio loves to play. As soon as he gets to the street, he goes where crowds are in the Grand Puppet Theater with other kids. At the theater, he makes trouble, and is almost thrown into the fire to be burnt. He doesn’t like to study, and wants to play in the Toyland all day long. Once, he was changed to donkey in the Toyland. A circus bought him, and pulled him away in a cart. He suffered a lot on the way, and in the end, he ran into Geppetto in the ocean. Geppetto brought him home. Since then, Pinocchio dropped all his bad habits, and learned to work. He now also knows how to study hard, and look after his papa. One day, Pinocchio woke up to find that he is no longer a puppet, but has changed into a pretty child.

达芬奇画鸡蛋

Mona Lisa, by Leonardo da Vinci

Dear Students,
Homework this week:

1. Using the translation below, try to read the story of Da Vinci (Refer to Set L12.2) and record it at Voicethread.

2. Review Set L1.1 on the Quizlet for the test next class. (Remember you are supposed to be able to write as well as to read these new words!)

3. Workbook exercises (Wed-Fri).

Translation

Da Vinci is one of the most outstanding painters in Italy.

When little, Da Vinci’s father hired a teacher to teach him drawing. On the first day, the teacher got an egg for Da Vinci to paint. Da Vinci thought, “It’s so simple.” So he picked up the pen to paint, and soon finished drawing. The second day, his teacher again brought an egg for him to paint. Da Vinci was a little unwilling, but still he did it. For several days in a roll, the teacher had been asking him to paint eggs. Now Da Vinci was not happy and asked the teacher: “teacher, how come you asked me to paint eggs every day? Don’t tell me I can become a painter by drawing eggs.” The teacher said smiling: “you see, is today’s egg different from yesterday’s egg?” Da Vinci looked at the egg and said: “no difference.” The teacher said shaking head:  “No two eggs in the world are totally the same. You can draw well only when you observe things carefully.”

The teacher’s words inspired Da Vinci greatly. From then on, Da Vinci continued to draw eggs every day. Nobody knows exactly how many eggs in the world he drew. Starting from that, Da Vinci finally becomes a great painter after his diligent practice.

在公园里

Dear Students,
Here is the homework for this week:

1.  Review the new words of L1.1 at Quizlet. Then do the oral assignment at the Voicethread websit. (Read sentences and make sentences of your own.)

2. Review the Most Frequently Used Chinese Characters (6)
for the test next class.

3. Do exercises in your workbook (Mon-Tues) You can listen to the text and refer to its English translation at this site.

Happy studying,
Gao Laoshi

The most frequently used Chinese characters (6)

罗丹

Dear Students,
I'm very glad that all of you spent some time studying Chinese before last Thursday, and most Ased in today's quiz. Many Kudos!
Homework this week:
1. Review the new words in Quizlet, and do the oral homework on Voicethread. You will be asked to read some sentences, and then to make some sentences of your own with the highlighted words.
2. Continue reviewing the Most Frequently Used Chinese characters (5) We will have a test next class.
I've also attached a translation of the text in the end of the post. Hope it's helpful.
Gao Laoshi

Translation of L1.2

“The Thinker” is a great piece of sculpture work. Its creator is the outstanding French sculptor and art master Rodin.

Rodin liked to draw pictures when little. On his fifth birthday, his aunt gave him several paint brushes. He was so happy that he started to paint on paper, wall and floor. In a few days, his paintings could be found everywhere at his home.

Having grown-up, Rodin entered a school of fine arts to study oil-painting, as he wanted to become a master of oil-painting. But soon after, he had to change to study sculpture because he couldn’t afford the pigment and canvas. Very quickly, he was fascinated by sculpture, and took it very seriously. Every morning he learned to do sculpture, and went painting outside in the afternoon. He scarcely took a break even on Sundays. He often shut himself up in his room to either painting or making statues.

Rodin is very gifted in sculpture and painting, plus his hard work and great effort, he created many famous sculpture work.

The most frequently used Chinese characters (5)

我爱我的英文学校 by Erik Ma

我以前在Olympic View Elementary上学，并且我会坐校车去学校和回家。但是我现在去Lakes Elementary上学，而且我妈妈需要每天送我，这样增加了很多路程。我去这个学校是因为我考上了TAG（Talented and Gifted Program)。

我喜欢Lakes是因为：首先，它很像一个大迷宫。你要是新来的话，很多东西你都会找不到的。 Lakes 的教学楼有红、蓝、绿、和黄颜色的门。其次，老师们都很好，而喜欢孩子们培养自觉性。例如，孩子们应该自己当天晚上准备第二天的东西。再次，我喜欢我们每天做的事情。我们做Daily 6 traits、Wordly Wise、Small Moments Memory Box Stories、和很多事情。我喜欢这些事情 因为它们很有趣和很重要，而以后会很有用的。

     我在这个学校学了很多知识。这就是为什么我喜欢Lakes Elementary的原因！