We've been going on vacation after vacation this year since both my husband and I are not working. I feel like we are finally catching up on all the years of not being able to go on vacation. Our year of vacation started in March when we went to Florida for 1 week with another family with young kids. Then we went to San Diego, LA, and Las Vegas in June for 3 weeks. We rented a cottage in Muskoka for the Canada Day long weekend and it was the first time we vacationed with my inlaws. In August, my sister came to visit us from Hong Kong with her family and another family. We did a road trip to Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, and Niagara Falls. After the road trip, we went to the Muskoka cottage again with our small group over Labour Day long weekend. So far, the highlight of all our trips was Hong Kong in Sept where, during the 1 month that we were there, we celebrated both my kid's birthdays and our wedding anniversary. We even took a side trip to Macau for a weekend.
You would think that I'm all vacationed out but we still have a few more vacation plans. We will be going to Guelph to visit friends and we've also booked a weekend at Great Wolf Lodge for November. Finally, we are looking to book an all-inclusive vacation for the winter. I can't wait!
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Chinese School
As a child, I attended Chinese school begrudgingly until I was in highschool. I swore I would never put my children through the same torture. But now, as a parent, I am choosing to do just that. This past week, my son started Mandarin class in an after school program at his school. My rationale for wanting him to learn Mandarin:
- I believe that learning a second language, any second language, helps a person to be more creative and intelligent because they learn that there is more than one way to solve problems and express themselves.
- I want my children to learn Chinese because that's their heritage.
- I want my children to learn Mandarin even though I speak Cantonese because everyone says Mandarin may become a dominant language globally in the future.
When I first dropped him off into the Mandarin class, I felt a bit nervous because it was a huge class of about 20 JK/SK kids. I think my nervousness rubbed off and my son was also hesitant as he walked into the class and I could see that he was on the verge of tears. But he was a very brave boy and sat down on the carpet to join the other kids. I felt better when there were other kids there who were from his JK/SK class at school who were calling out his name which gave him encouragement to join them. After class, I went to pick him up and he was in good spirits. I was relieved that my son seemed to have a good time. I was so proud of him when he learned how to say "yi" and "er" (one and two). He even brought home a workbook where he learned to write "yi" and "er". I was so impressed! If he keeps his up, he will learn over 50 charaters by the end of this school year. I'm happy with that.
- I believe that learning a second language, any second language, helps a person to be more creative and intelligent because they learn that there is more than one way to solve problems and express themselves.
- I want my children to learn Chinese because that's their heritage.
- I want my children to learn Mandarin even though I speak Cantonese because everyone says Mandarin may become a dominant language globally in the future.
When I first dropped him off into the Mandarin class, I felt a bit nervous because it was a huge class of about 20 JK/SK kids. I think my nervousness rubbed off and my son was also hesitant as he walked into the class and I could see that he was on the verge of tears. But he was a very brave boy and sat down on the carpet to join the other kids. I felt better when there were other kids there who were from his JK/SK class at school who were calling out his name which gave him encouragement to join them. After class, I went to pick him up and he was in good spirits. I was relieved that my son seemed to have a good time. I was so proud of him when he learned how to say "yi" and "er" (one and two). He even brought home a workbook where he learned to write "yi" and "er". I was so impressed! If he keeps his up, he will learn over 50 charaters by the end of this school year. I'm happy with that.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)