4 Tips for Learning Mandarin

Mandarin has an unfair reputation. While it isn't exactly easy to learn, it's no more difficult than other complex languages, and you can make it even simpler by utilizing these four tips.

1. Know the Differences in the Language

Traditional Chinese is used in places like Taiwan and Hong Kong. Simplified Chinese is used in Singapore. If you're learning Chinese to fit in with a certain group or go to work in a specific country, make sure you're learning the right flavor of the language.

2. Use Mnemonic Devices

Let the picture-characters tell you a story. Make definitions into acronyms. The more you can link the different parts of your visual and auditory memory, the more success you'll have in retaining new knowledge.

3. Get Involved with the Culture

A love of Chinese culture will inspire you to keep up with your Mandarin lessons. For example, if you start watching a Chinese television drama without subtitles, you'll be that much more motivated to know what Xiao Ying is saying to his father when he yells so loudly.

4. Practice Daily

All skills go rusty with disuse, so it's important to practice your Mandarin every single day. A dual immersion school is good for this, and so are daily vocabulary words or memorization recitals.

You don't have to break into a sweat at the thought of learning Mandarin. With these four tips, fluency will come as easily to you as it does to Mandarin's millions of native speakers.

Learning At Lynda

What is your learning style?

If you are visual or auditory learners, you would definitely benefit from watching videos about topics you are interested in. I was given a chance to try lynda.com for a few days as a perk from Klout and I found it very helpful. I watched videos about using the Illustrator and about an author making children's books. There are also videos about enhancing one's self to be a better person or be better at work. I like that I had the option to save the transcript of the videos so I could go over them again and take notes. I perused the app on my iPhone so I could watch videos wherever I am and especially when I was breastfeeding my little one. I like the idea of learning on-the-go.

There are over 2,000 courses that could cater to your learning needs so you could achieve your dreams. To get access to all courses, membership fees start at $25 per month. If you need to learn about, say, Photography, lynda.com has that topic, and with access to other courses, the price is affordable if you also want to learn about post-processing using Photoshop. At the end of the course, you will be given a certificate, too.


I believe that we always have room for improvement, and that is through learning constantly.

Go to lynda.com now and give it a try!

Sharing: Infographics on Bullying

Have you been bullied? Or have you bullied someone? Sadly, bullying is a reality that our children could face. Some bullies even take it to the Internet, hence, cyberbullying. Bullying is one of the subjects that us parents need to talk about with our children. I want to share these infographics on bullying and cyberbullying. It helps for parents to be aware of these issues that could significantly affect all children.

Back To U.P., Alone

U.P., or University of the Philippines was where I got my university degree ten years ago. Although I have been back there recently with my hubby and our kids, it is only last Saturday that I went back there alone, taking jeepney ride after jeepney ride towards and around the place. I was there to attend the KUTING orientation seminar. It felt like I'm a freshman again. There were so many changes in U.P. that I thought I was getting lost, I alighted at the wrong waiting shed because the jeepney I rode on did not pass by in front of where I was going to, so I had to walk a long way back to the building, and got super sweaty. Thank God I was not late yet.

During the break, I decided to buy a bottle of water. This was one thing I should have brought. I walked again to the nearest sari-sari store, which was across the next building. I walked faster, afraid that the test might start soon. I think I need to visit U.P. more often, I would get good exercise there! :-D

KUTING orsem

I also shot a short video of one of my favorite places after the orsem. Here's the link: http://instagram.com/p/bcnX23CSch/ It really felt good to be surrounded by lots of trees and to have listened to sounds of the birds on the branches. 

Fortunately, I didn't have to go home alone, for my dear hubby Rix went and fetched me. Thank you, my darling!

A Little Sentimental About Life After College

Last week, I went through my college plates and folios I brought from my parents' home. Memories of my professors' voices, sleepless nights and faces of my group-mates popped up in my mind's eyes. I shook my head as I felt again the dipping of my spirits when I encountered the low grades. I was a bit relieved that that part of my life was over. It's just such a waste that I didn't get to practice my course longer. Maybe if I had taken and passed the board exam, I would still be deciding between vinyl flooring and quickstep laminate flooring for a project I would probably be working on. 

a little model I made for one of my Arch classes

Well, my string of decisions led me to this place and this season: a wife to my hubby and mother to our three little wonders. Some moms, after being stay-at-home-moms or work-at-home-moms, decide to be or go back to being work-out-of-home-moms. I wonder if I would do that when my children are a little bigger and more independent, but I cannot picture it as of now. I cannot imagine myself as a working woman again, at present. But, doing interior design for a whole house without budget constraints is on my life list (bucket list to most), among others. I am still populating that list and will share it to the world soon. He he! 

The Parents and The School

Dear Parents,
What is your relationship with your children's school like? I attended my daughter's school's Parents' Orientation and the principal reiterated that the school and the parents are partners. But, how? According to him:

• Parents need to entrust their children to the school.
• The school is open to constructive suggestions from the parents, they aim to keep the communication lines open.
• The school will try its best to help the parents.
• The school will not say anything negative about the parents and likewise, the principal asks that the parents do the same. He said that it is not good for the children to hear anything bad about their teachers.
• Parents need to read and re-read the circulars provided so they could be well-informed of the goings-on in the school.
• The school's security measures include the fetcher's ID card to be worn by the parents or guardians or nannies when picking up the children or when bringing in lunch. This is to create a safe environment.
• When the student misbehaves or failed to submit assignments, warnings are issued then parents are contacted, subsequent misconducts will then be punished with detention or suspension. I guess it all depends on the gravity or the frequency. I hope this doesn't happen to my child!

For us, the deciding factors in picking out our daughter's school include its being a Christian school, its teaching of Chinese, its reasonable tuition and recommendation from family members. It is only the second year of my being a mommy with a child in school, in nursery, that is, so I am still a bit clueless about what to expect and about the whole shebang. 

Reminiscing College Days

Image by kevindooley via Flickr

My college days do not hold the fondest of memories. For one, I would say that I was mostly a loner. The good thing that came out of this is that I have learned to take my lunches in school, and sometimes breakfasts, alone. I had made two good friends from the university. I loved being with them as we could have shared anything about ourselves without fear of judgment. It was just so unfortunate and very sad that one of them passed away. And when the mother of the other friend left this life also, my adviser suggested that I was the one who kind of brought bad luck to them. I felt so crushed. 

Academic-wise, I remember tons and tons of papers to write for each prerequisite subject that we had. I wonder if it would be wise to scout for an essay online back then, afterwards, buy essays. Do you think it would enter the minds of students nowadays to buy essays online? Essays that are of course relevant and well-written. There were also the sleepless nights of finishing projects and plates, which were but normal for Interior Design students. The pressurizing defenses for completed ones made my stomach aflutter with butterflies. At present, if I were to take up this course again at the age of 30, I don't think I could handle being up most of the night drawing. Although, having a newborn is sort of like that. But with the baby, I didn't have to think much.

My environment in this university was so different from what I got used to in high school. My classmates and schoolmates in college were mostly pure Filipinos, so there was a bit of culture shock going on for me. I guess I needed Filipino-Chinese people to be around with, thus, I joined an organization for Chinese students. It was great to be in a circle of orgmates with whom I can relate to.

It was in college that I discovered the Internet and chatting using mIRC. I decided to find a room where there were similar people like me. So, I also became active in the Filipino-Chinese channel. But of course, Filipinos were also welcome. Back then, I felt safe to be meeting up with guys one-on-one. I remembered I "eyeballed" with many. I was not purposely searching for a boyfriend, but I had two or three crushes, heehee! It turned out they did not find me interesting. Oh, well! At present times, though, I would feel afraid of meeting up with boys without being accompanied by friends.

One of the memories I liked playing over in my mind was when the day I had an eyeball with Rix. He came to the university to meet up with me. I did not expect him to be my boyfriend, what more my husband? But, that was how we turned out to be in the end. :-)

She Moved Up

Moving up, that's what my daughter Elle's school calls their commencement exercises (but more of an awarding ceremony) where the students move up to the next level of their education. But not all the students were there, though. Elle did not go up the stage to claim an award but she did go up to perform a song (with matching actions) entitled Small Voice with her classmates. She was so cute! 

Even though Elle entered Junior Nursery just last November for the second semester, I am so proud that she could follow the class lessons and her assessment showed that she's going to "move up" to  Senior Nursery level next school year. Praise God! 

After their performance onstage, they went back to their classrooms and she was awarded the Most Participative of her class. I had a glimpse of her being participative when we were in her Sunday school and while the teacher was telling a Bible story, she had a lot of ideas to input and she answered questions, too. I will read the teacher's narrative report on her again. It tells how Elle was doing in school for the past semester. I am so thankful to God for giving me a smart and sweet little girl.

Note: This video was taken from YouTube.