Cantonese Resources for Non-Fluent Parents
In the spirit of New Years resolutions, I’ve just finished reading Atomic Habits by James Clear. One concept from the book that really resonated with me is the 1% shift i.e. by consistently making tiny tweaks to your current habits/routines, your overall improvement will be significantly greater than the sum of all those little changes.… Continue reading Two Cantonese Songs You Can Learn in Two Minutes
The week in Sing and Sign, we covered bedtime, which is always ends up being either mine and AJ’s favourite part of the day or least favourite depending on how well I soothe him. Just like with nappy changes and getting dressed to go out, the hope is that by adding baby signs to the… Continue reading Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and the Bedtime Routine (Baby Sign Language – Week 8)
‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’ is a timeless classic that has been enjoyed by children and adults alike in multiple languages across the world. The singsong chanting aspect of the story is equally delightful in both Cantonese and English and I’m so pleased to have created a written Cantonese version for AJ. How I… Continue reading We’re Going on a Bear Hunt: Cantonese Translation
For our sixth Sing and Sign lesson, we focused on something your baby has in abundance: feelings! Whilst AJ isn’t old enough to understand what I’m signing, it’s important to me to get into the habit of talking about his emotions so I’m prepared to validate all the wonderful, messy feelings he will experience growing… Continue reading Expressing Emotions and Positive Parenting (Baby Sign Language – Week 6)
This week in our Sing and Sign class, AJ and I covered what seemed like a million signs- they seem to have a lot of faith in our sleep-deprived minds (AJ hit his 8 month sleep regression right on queue.) Here, we are going to be focusing on signs about going outside. Signs of the… Continue reading Signs for Going Outside (Baby Sign Language – Week 4)
We are three weeks into our Sing and Sign class and today we will be learning key signs to play AJ’s favourite game, peekaboo. Sign of the Week 邊度 bin1 dou6 | Where? This week, our key word is 邊度 bin1 dou6 | where. I’ve found I’ve been signing where a lot to AJ… E.g.1.… Continue reading Signs for Peekaboo (Baby Sign Language – Week 3)
Each Sunday, we’re adding to both our baby sign langauge and Cantonese vocabulary inspired by our Sing and Sign class of the week. Remember, I’ve also made Quizlet deck especially for learning signs. If you need to catch up, here is what we learnt last week. Sign of the Week 唔 m4 + ··· |… Continue reading Saying No and Reading Books (Baby Sign Language – Week 2)
AJ and joined our first Sing and Sign class this week and we absolutely loved it. AJ sat entranced by the session facilitator and was full of smiles and happy arm flaps. If you haven’t heard of Sign and Sign before, it’s a class that teaches baby sign language through different songs and aims to… Continue reading Baby Sign Language for Bilingual Babies (Week 1)
Buying books and reading are two separate hobbies as far as I’m concerned and there’s no better reason to give in to my inner book-hoarder than having a baby. My goal is to be able to spend every story time reading to AJ in Cantonese, however, this presents a few issues: I can’t read Chinese… Continue reading How I Make my Own Cantonese Books
One of the main challenges of instilling a minority language is simply your child doesn’t get enough exposure. My baby will speak to the vast majority of his family in English, learn at school in English, communicate with his friend in English, and watch tv in English! It is often the case that a child’s… Continue reading 10 Ways to Create an Immersive Cantonese Environment
Mama Bear Cantonese 