Posted on 5 Comments

Cantonese for Kids | Virtual Class

Little Explorers Cantonese is an online Cantonese class for children that gives family the control to schedule lessons on their own time with our on demand Cantonese videos. It is run by dedicated Cantonese educators. We create our own lessons and music while featuring many independent authors and publishers.

http://littleexplorerscanto.teachable.com

This is a post I should have written months ago, but here it is now. Better late than never. I would like to take the time to introduce the Cantonese online program that I am running alongside Eveline, Cherry and Dorothy.

If you follow any of us on our social medias, you might have noticed that we have been working together to create an on demand virtual Cantonese program for kids after our success of our Summer Cantonese Program last year. We went all out to make a cohesive brand by creating a new brand name, logo, social media accounts and a website for our program. Shout out to the families who participated in our logo contest. It really helped us bring our brand together.

Why an on demand Cantonese class for children? We understand the busy life style as families. An on demand online program gives you control of your learning. Families can schedule these lessons at the time that suits their child. You could do these lessons during meal times or perhaps you have an early riser and you would like to provide educational content to give yourself some extra time to wake up. You are in control and you don’t need to worry about scheduling, different time zones, being late or other commitments. You can learn Cantonese on your own time.

online virtual Cantonese classes for kids

I’m not fluent. Why a Cantonese immersion program? With on demand, you can stop, pause, and rewind at any time. Missed something and want to hear it again? Just do it! Because you have life time access to these programs, you can repeat the lessons or parts of the lesson as many times as you like. Repetition is good for fluency and understanding.

If you have little ones whose first language is not Chinese, you will be surprised at how fast they can pick up a language. The prime time to learn a language is between 0 to 6. Their brains can absorb the language with lots of exposure. Babies are not born with language. They are born with the ability to learn any language. They can learn with full immersion. Trust them. My own children did not start learning Cantonese at birth. When we finally started, they were put in an environment that was only Cantonese and they were able to pick up the language without the need for any English translations. It can be intimidating and you can go at the pace that suits your family. You might want to break up our lessons into sections to complete at separate times. How you decided to complete the lessons is up to you. There is no right or wrong way!

What is our program like? Every lessons follows a set structure. No surprises. Children strive on routine and consistency so we have set up the lessons to follow a format to bring your child comfort.

For our younger audience, we have conveniently set up vocabulary, song and lesson at the beginning. They can stop the lesson after the story. For our other children, we follow up with an activity and writing. Younger children may need help with the activity and writing if their fine motor skills are still developing. Feel free to help them out.

Our writing sheets come in two different levels and are inviting for all. We start off with tracing and finding the missing strokes before attempting to write the character. We hope that your child can also become confident reader and writers in the future.

Cherry’s Cantonese art class are calming for both child and parents. We highly recommend doing these classes with your child. Cherry goes through the art process while also engaging in light conversation that parents and children can enjoy together.

How to get the most of our program?

  • Consistency is key! Choose a set day and time to complete these lessons and commit to them every week.
  • Be prepared. Have printouts and materials ready at the start of the lesson. If you are staying just for the songs and stories, all you need is an open and focused mind. If you are doing the activities and writing, come with pencils, colouring supplies, scissors and glue.
  • Participate in your child’s learning. You can do the activities with your child or talk about what they saw, learned or noticed in the lessons. Find connections from the lessons to their daily lives. Let them know you are interested in their learning.
learn language today online class for kids

Language learning will not occur overnight and on its own. It does take effort and commitment. We are here to help you though to provide you lessons and tips to make the experience easier. For more information and to register check us out: http://littleexplorerscanto.teachable.com.

If you have any questions you can send them to us through email littleexplorerscanto@gmail.com or find us on our social media @littleexplorerscanto on Facebook and Instagram.

As always, thank you so much for your ongoing support to our program and to the content I post here. You are truly amazing for taking on this language learning journey!

Links

Cantonese Online Class for Kids: http://littleexplorerscanto.teachable.com

Sign Me Up Now!

Learn More about Our Classes

Learn More about the Educators of the Program

Frequently Asked Questions

More Cantonese Children Apps and Resources

Shop More Products

Posted on 9 Comments

Books with Jyutping

I love books with jyutping! It is inclusive to families who are learning to speak or read in Cantonese. Cantonese is a very hard language, a consistent pronunciation guide is helpful for us learners to learn together, communicate with each other and look up unfamiliar words. If you are new to jyutping, it is a romanization system for Cantonese developed by the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong. Jyutping and Yale are the most common Cantonese romanization. However, I have found jyutping is more accessible than yale. To learn more about jyutping, you can watch the following videos on YouTube: jyutping introduction and Cantonese tones.

I am thrilled to see many Cantonese resources available now. The community has really thrived in the last couple of years. Below I will share some books that have jyutping that you might want to add to your home library.

If you are looking for more Cantonese content with Jyutping, make sure to check out my shop and printables for more fun activities.

Quick Links

Board Books

Duck Duck Books

  • I Am Me! 我就係我自己!
  • All Puppies Are Good Puppies 所有嘅狗仔都係乖狗仔
  • I Love You More 我最愛嘅人就係你

Available in many countries. Full list here.

Bitty Bao, Lulu Cheng & Lacey Benard

  • Counting with Dim Sum
  • The Colors of Snow Ice
  • Everyday Heroes
  • Celebrating Chinese New Year – a book about family
  • Lucky Lunar Animals – a book of animals
  • Dragon Boat Festival – a book of shapes
  • Boba Emotions – a book of emotions
  • Foodie Detectives – a book of clues
  • It’s Hot Pot Time!

Also available at Little Kozzi, Summit Kids, De Ziremi 禧西利米 and more.

Jojo Adventure Books, Emily Shan

  • Jojo Goes to the Aquarium 祖兒去水族館
  • Jojo Goes Berry Picking 祖兒去摘莓
  • Jojo Goes to the Zoo 祖兒去動物園

Kebi Books, Nathan

  • A Magical Book of Numbers*

Also available at Little Kozzi, De Ziremi 禧西利米 and more.

* The physical book features Mandarin text and pinyin. With the augmented reality (AR) app, the book can display Cantonese text, jyutping and Cantonese audio.

Cantonese Stories written in Conversational Cantonese

These books are written in conversational Cantonese. You will see words such as 嘅 instead of 的 and 係 instead of 是.

Little Canto Learning, Farina Leong

  • My Troublesome Little Sister 我的麻煩妹妹
  • My Grandma 我的嫲嫲, 我的婆婆

Available at Amazon.

Mooliprint, Ann Hamilton

  • Goldilocks and the Three Bears 高蒂樂絲與三隻小熊
  • The Three Little Pigs 三隻小豬
  • Oh No, Monty! 唔好呀,Monty!
  • Rapunzel 長髮姑娘

Also available at Amazon.

Lele and Monkey, Tiffany Kwan

  • Lele Goes Out to Play 樂樂出去玩
  • Monkey’s Great Adventure 馬騮仔的大冒險

Also available at Little Kozzi, De Ziremi 禧西利米 and more.

Lychee Press, Katrina Liu

  • Mina Goes to the Beach 米娜去沙灘
  • A Colorful World 彩色世界
  • I Found It 我搵到喇
  • I Love My Grandpa 我愛我嘅公公

Also available at Amazon.

Cue Education, Kapo Szeto

  • Let’s Have Dim Sum 齊齊食點心 
  • Happy Chinese New Year!​ 新年快樂!
  • Chinese Bakery 中式餅店 
  • Travel the World with Me​ 陪我環遊世界
  • My Daily Routine​ 我的日常生活
  • Who’s in the Forest? 誰在森林裡?
  • Eating Utensils 餐具
  • The Way I Feel 我的心情
  • The Everchanging Weather 多變的天氣
  • Dressing Warm for Winter 溫溫暖暖過冬天

Cat Like Studio Books, Deborah Lau

  • Today is my Birthday! 今日係我生日啊
  • Cycling in Spring 春天踩單車

Available at Amazon.

Jok Sing Jai, Samantha Chan

  • I’m Too Loud! 我太嘈啦!

Available at Amazon.

Annie Mau

Also available at Little Kozzi and more.

Hambaanglaang

  • Full Collection of 40 books, hard copy
  • Also has free resources on their website and YouTube channel

Also available at Little Kozzi and more.

Cantonese Stories Written in Standard Chinese

These books are written in the standard Chinese written form.

Jok Sing Jai, Samantha Chan

  • Who’s Not Sharing? 誰不是在分享?
  • I Love My Daddy 我愛爸爸
  • Because My Mommy Loves Me 因為我的媽媽愛我
  • Who’s The Winner? 誰勝出了?
  • What Fruit Am I? 我是什麼水果?
  • Chinese New Year Greetings For Jok Sings
  • Lucky Red Mittens 幸運紅手套

Available at Amazon.

Super Speak Juniors, M Kan & H Wang

  • Chinese Legends

Available at Amazon.

Vocabulary Books

Little Canto Learning, Farina Leong

  • My First Words in Chinese
  • Animals 動物
  • Daily Vocab
  • Food and Drink 食物和飲品
  • My House 我的屋

Available at Amazon.

Green Cow Books, Karen Yee

  • My First Everyday Words
  • My First Animals
  • My First Colors
  • My First Book of Things that Go
  • Goh Goh and Dai Dai’s
  • Big Day with Elephant

Also available at Little Kozzi, De Ziremi 禧西利米 and more.

Level Readers

Little Bean Cantonese, Sophie & Nanz

  • 小豆釘, 40 issues available

Only available at Little Bean Cantonese’s Patreon page. Only introduction of characters includes jyutping. Rest of the text does not include jyutping.

Idioms

Ah To

  • Cantonese.jpg
  • Cantonese2.jpg

Also available at Little Kozzi

Nursery Rhymes

  • Classic Cantonese Nursery Rhymes (with Jyutping) • 廣府童謠氹氹轉(彩圖粵語注音版)
  • Cantonese Tang Poetry (with Jyutping) • 粵韻唐詩(彩圖粵語注音版)
  • Cantonese Song Poetry (with Jyutping) • 粵韻宋詞(彩圖粵語注音版)

Also available at Little Kozzi.

Learn to Speak Cantonese

Inspirlang, Jade Wu

  • Learn to Speak Cantonese I
  • Learn to Speak Cantonese 2

Also available at Amazon.

Mooliprint, Ann Hamilton

  • Every Day Cantonese for Parents

Also available at Amazon.

Cantonese for Everyone 大家嘅廣東話, Chow Bun Ching

I have 2 in stock for GTA, Ontario pick up.

Bilingual Activity Books

Sweet Note Learning, Pauline

If you are looking for more Cantonese content with Jyutping, make sure to check out my shop and printables for more fun activities.

More Cantonese Children Apps and Resources

Shop More Products

Posted on 8 Comments

I taught my daughter 500+ Chinese characters!

We did it! 🥳 Last month big sister and I finished Sagebooks Basic Chinese 500! It has been an amazing journey (2.5 years) learning to read Chinese together. I am not literate in Chinese and I am not a native speaker. There were definitely many challenges along the way. I wanted to just share a few things that has worked for us.

#1 Use the FREE audio! Download it! This saved us when the characters were getting harder. I recommend dividing the audio into chapters or pages and having it easily accessible on a device or c pen. I had each chapter sticker and my children are able to read them independently. This is empowering for my children! They can be in charged of their own learning, especially when I’m not around. Here’s a secret, I can add audio to my books much faster by splitting the audio file than reading it out loud and recording it. It’s also important for me for the kids to get native speaking audio (I am very tone deaf). It takes me less than 5 minutes to sticker one book. I have all the chapter audio for orange, pink and red. Send me a dm if you need this. 

UPDATE: I have all the audio for each chapter for all the sets (blue, green, orange, pink and red) in Cantonese. Thank you Cindy for finishing them off for me. I have also started on the Mandarin audio and have the audio divided by chapters for the blue and green set.

#2 Read lots and lots of fun books! Level books should not be your child’s first books. These are NOT story books. Read fun picture books first. Let them love reading. Once they start or finish level books, continue to read those fun picture books. It will supplement what they have learned. I made the mistake of treating these like picture books at the beginning and after a year of reading them, they did not learn much and we had to start over again. We now have a Chinese home library and have access to books at our local library. It’s definitely a blessing and privilege to have all of these. These books really helped us connect the meaning of the words and helped us to remember them.

If you do not have access to books, there are many YouTube stories available that you can use for reading. Although since Cantonese is a complex language, there may be some disconnect. I recommend Cantonese Mommy and Rhythm ‘N’ Rhyme read alouds as they do read in written and spoken form.

#3 Go at a pace that suits your child. For our family, that was one chapter/character per day. No revision. My daughter had various strategies for reading each chapter. Read all on her own if she knew all the characters. Repeat after me (using the audio). Listen to the whole chapter (audio) and attempt to read it all on her own. I let her decide how she will attempt each chapter and how many she would do. Occasionally she will be up for 3 chapters. It was important for her to be in charged of her own learning and her own intrinsic motivation kept her going. 

#4 Start at a time when your child is ready. Most importantly, none of these will matter if your child is not developmentally ready. Every child is different. I started noticing my child could recognized characters at 2. We started at 3, but we were unsuccessful the first year. She may not have been fully ready and I didn’t approach these books correctly. We tried again at 4 and experienced much more success. We also took a 2.5 month break after half a year. We weren’t using the audio at the time and it became increasingly difficult by the orange (3rd set). When we started again, I introduced the audio and it was more manageable for us to follow along and get through. We read a lot of other books and my daughter is able to point out words she had learned through Sage. 

These were special moments between my child and I. After each set of books, we found ourselves becoming more confident in reading. We were able to point out characters that we learned together with Sage. My youngest who is now 4, started Sage at 2. She zoomed through the first two books so fast. She wanted to mimic her older sister. However, she was not ready to read. She has taken 1.5 year break from Sage. She is just starting to show signs she is ready to read again. It’s hard but you really got to follow the pace of your child. Let them show you when they are ready. And lots of encouragement and praises go along way.

Throughout our journey, we read a lot of books and we did a lot of activities. There really is no one way to learn a language. A good combination of things will really help a child to understand the language.

Here are more FREE resources.

  • Cantonese for Families has a word list printable with all the characters and its jyutping. I used these before I switched to audio. Audio is very important for the children to hear. I found the jyutping helpful as an adult.
  • Guavarama has a hundred chart, games and other resources on her page as well. We used her hundred chart to track the characters my girls had learned.
  • Mama Baby Mandarin has tracing sheets, character search and many more resources on her page. I did not do any Sagebook worksheets with my kids. My kids traced the main character each lesson with their finger or c pen.

I have CHALK Academy to thank for introducing these books to me. She’s also another mom who was illiterate and non native in Chinese, and she inspired me to do this. I also have to thank Eveline from Rhythm ‘N’ Rhyme for bringing these books to Canada, sharing tips with me and encouraging my family along the way. I love her.

More Cantonese Children Apps and Resources

Shop More Products

Posted on Leave a comment

My First Bilingual Busy Book

You can purchase My First Bilingual Busy Book 快樂學習廣東話 or 快樂學習普通話 in Cantonese or Mandarin here. It is available in traditional or simplified characters with the corresponding pronunciation guide (jyutping or pinyin).

Update: The video below is the original version created in 2021. The newest edition (2023) is bilingual with English and Chinese and contains more language options for Chinese, image below.

I’m so happy to share with you another activity book. This book was made in request by another parent. This one is geared towards young children (toddlers, preschoolers, kindergarten, early primary). It includes a lot of first words that your child will find helpful. This activity book was designed to be interactive and to be used more than once so that they can really learn the vocabulary. Kids learn best through repetition, consistency and through play. You may have seen this kind of book available in English. It goes by other names such as busy book or learning binder. If you are unfamiliar with these types of books, please read on.

Essentially, the pages in these books work like a puzzle. There is one correct position for the pieces and the child has to match it to the correct spot. I have included many hints to help your child do this independently such as, colour coding pieces to its correct spot and including silhouettes or outlines for your child to match. Every pieces has its corresponding Chinese character to help your child learn to identify characters. For this book, the Chinese characters that were chosen were spoken Cantonese words so the child can use them in speech. Jyutping is included for parents who are unable to read Chinese characters. Also, a QR code is available on each page that provides the audio from a native speaker for each word as well. You might recognize the voice. It’s from one of the co-founders of Little Kozzi, Charing. With these, I hope that you and your child are able to expand your vocabulary and become more comfortable including Cantonese apart of your everyday speech.

Note: This video contains a sample of the old version created in 2021.

In addition to the matching pages, I have given your child an opportunity to start on writing. You will find two pages with the eight most common Chinese strokes. Your child can practice writing them in a fun way by finishing the picture. The page that introduces numbers also includes a colour-coded stroke order to help your child learn about sequence and learn that Chinese writing follows an order. For the car page, the page with the large 車, your child can use the cars provided, and drive the car following the stroke order.

The book covers a range of topics, sample pages below:

  • Numbers
  • Shapes
  • Colours
  • Emotions
  • 12 Zodiac Animals
  • Kitchenware
  • Time
  • Music
  • Calendar, weather, seasons
  • Emergency and construction vehicles
  • Chinese strokes and character symmetry
My First Bilingual Busy Book contains 24 pages of playing and learning.

How to Construct the Book

There are many ways that you can construct this book. I will write some recommendations here. Please note, the hard part of constructing this book is cutting out each individual piece. You do not have to complete it in one sitting. If time is an issue, I would start off by cutting the pieces for the main pages that you want to learn first, and as your child starts to master the vocabulary, add on more pages and pieces so that you and your child is not overwhelmed.

• You will need Adobe Reader to open the PDF file. It can be downloaded for FREE at: http://get.adobe.com/reader/

To assemble this learning binder you will need:

  • colour printer
  • white paper/cardstock
  • a laminating machine (like this) and laminating pouches (like this or like this) *See notes at bottom of page
  • clear velcro dots (hook and loop dots)(like this)
  • paper fastener (brad fastener/split pin)(like this)
  • scissors
  • ring binder

ASSEMBLY

  • Prepare your materials.
  • Print all the pages with a colour printer (*at home or printing services).
  • Laminate the pages (*at home or laminating services). Cut out pieces you may choose to laminate whole page and then cut. Alternatively, you may choose to cut, laminate and cut again.
  • Cut out pieces. For some of the pieces, you can choose to cut close to the image or leave some extra space around the image (i.e. continents cut out pieces).
  • Affix velcro dots to the worksheet and pages. Use clear hoop and loop dots to have words or images still visible.
  • Punch a small hole into clock hands and centre of clock. Fasten the hands with a paper fastener.
  • Insert pages to a ring binder.
  • Use a dry erase or washable marker for written tasks.

There is no one correct method of utilizing a learning binder. Find what works best for your family. Here are some suggestions to guide you through the process.

  • Find a quiet space that is free from clutter.
  • Choose a time that your child is ready to learn (nourished and rested)
  • Work through one page at a time.
  • Place activity in a tray or work from the binder.
  • Your child can remove the pieces themselves (fine motor skill strengthening). You may also choose to have the pieces removed and placed on the table or in a small tray.
  • Invite your child to join you in a new activity.
  • Point to a piece and call it by the correct name. Example, red colour, say “紅色” (red colour in Cantonese is hung4 sik1). Invite your child to say the new word. Look at the worksheet together. Point out the red colour. Say “red” again. Show them how to place it on the worksheet connecting the velcro dots so it sticks. Let your child choose a piece. Call it by name if child doesn’t say it. Encourage the child to do the tasks independently while introducing new words if child does not voice it.
  • Repetition is apart of learning. Allow your child to do the activity again if they want to before moving to a new page.

*If you do not own a printer or laminator, you can bring the file to a specialty store that can help you print and laminate it. You might find printing services at your local library, pharmacy, courier store or technology store. Please call to find out about pricing. There are also self laminating sheets (like this, like this, or like this) where you do not need to use a laminating machine. I have not use these before, but they look like they should be fairly easy to use. You may also use sheet protectors (like this). Please note, with sheet protectors it is harder for the child to pull the pieces off with the velcro since it’s more flexible and movable. This only works for the full pages and not the individual pieces.

*You may also choose to use this one time by just making this a gluing activity. Once they are complete, you can make it into a book to read.

You can purchase My First Bilingual Busy Book 快樂學習廣東話 or 快樂學習普通話 in Cantonese or Mandarin here. It is available in traditional or simplified characters with the corresponding pronunciation guide (jyutping or pinyin).

First Words Poster

Also check out the poster version of the book. You can simply print and display the posters in your home space to create a print-rich home to increase exposure to Chinese. Available in Cantonese, Mandarin and with simplifed or traditional characters: First Words Poster.

More Cantonese Children Apps and Resources

Shop More Products