Old MacDonald, Chinese Style
Did I mention we enrolled Princess M in Chinese school this year? It’s only an hour a week, but it gives her the chance to learn a third language…a language neither my wife and I speak. Yes, I know I’m Chinese, but I only speak English, German, pig Latin, geek, and binary. If we keep Princess M in Chinese school, one of us will have to learn Chinese. Otherwise, down the road, Princess M will be speaking badly about us and we’ll be clueless.
On Saturday, they sang Old MacDonald in Chinese. Below is the 30-second version. The video and audio are not great because the stage was dimly lit and having a good sound system was not a high priority for the church. Princess M seems a bit shy on stage and a little confused. I don’t think she will be a public performer when she grows up. She was also shy and a little confused in her school’s kindergarten musical last year. Princess M is the one in red.
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My wife and I adopted our daughter from China in 2002 when she was 8 months old. She will be 5 in February.
We also enrolled her in a Chinese language class. She gets all bashful during class so I really don’t know how long we’ll continue. We wanted to create a basic foundation for her AND us as we prepare for a second trip to China hopefully next year for daughter #2.
Old MacDonald was cute! :-)
The kids are all adorable.
When my parents immigrated to the US, they decided that they would become American, so they didn’t speak Dutch at home to us kids, and, therefore, I never learned it. My older sisters who were born either in The Netherlands or in Indonesia all spoke Dutch, but I was born here. My parents would speak Dutch to each other, especially when they didn’t want me to understand, but most of the time only English was spoken in our home.
Eventually I learned to understand the Dutch when it was spoken, but only enough to get by. I learned to speak key phrases, too. Two of my sisters still speak it fluently.
It makes me sad that I didn’t do enough to learn it while my parents were alive (I’m teaching myself as much as I can and passing it on to my kids), but I know my parents had very strong feelings about becoming fully “American.” They really wanted their kids to succeed in life.
I commend you for trying to keep your culture alive. Maybe some day Princess M and her siblings will understand (and teach you a thing or two!)
I took Chinese as a second language in school but I only understood the yee-ah-yee-ah-oh part in the video :p
I am supposed to teach my future kid Chinese too, so if you come across any interesting educational DVD’s, do let me know!
The one in red, huh? Very cute.
Very sweet! They’re adorable.
A third language? I am impressed! At this rate, the colleges will be paying you!
Yay! Except for I couldn’t see the video…for some reason it isn’t loading onto my laptop..but anywhoo…Keep this video forever-you’ll need it to embarrass her on dates and at parties.
Latia, what are you using on your laptop? Windows XP and IE? Dial-up, dsl, cable, fios? Just want to see if I need to replace the video plugin.