Today is a beautiful day, feeling
more like summer than fall. For my son’s
family homework day, we went to the Russell Orchards farm in Ipswich for apple
picking. We took the hay ride into the
orchard. With the blue sky and red apples hanging on trees it was picturesque. Walking around the orchard with the sweet air,
we were eating while picking apples off the tree. It was a very nice way to unwind from the
first week of teaching for Panda Land Chinese Fall 2011 and helping my own children
settle into their new school year.
This week I was happy to
return to Shore Country Day School to teach Chinese for its afterschool
enrichment program. I said Ni Hao to one
class of 2nd to 4th grade students and another of 5th
grade students. Some of them studied
with me last year and happily return to learn more; others are new students who
were eager to learn Chinese with me.
On Tuesday at the Salem
Athenaeum, we resumed our children’s Chinese class. A new girl from China joined us. I was glad to see that she and the other
students were so friendly with each other.
Saturday I taught two lovely young children age 3 & 5 (brother and
sister) their first Panda Land Chinese lesson.
They sang the children’s song of Liang Zhi Lao Hu (Two Tigers) to me -- Chinese
lyrics to the same melody as “Frère Jacques”.
At the end of each class, I gave each child moon cakes to celebrate the
Chinese Autumn Moon Festival.
At Panda Land we have
children of all different backgrounds learning Chinese together. I felt so lucky to have such a wonderful
opportunity to teach these American children my native language and share with
them my own heritage.
