Our Chinese & English Journey : Recent Episodes
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Raising bilingual kids who can understand Chinese in an English speaking environment is a struggle. We are a group of parents who hold this common goal and want to share our experience and exchange different resources. This collaborative podcast will touch on various ways to learn Chinese. We will be sharing all the tips and methods we have tried. Most importantly of all, we want our listeners raising bilingual kids to know that they are not alone in this journey.
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Any feedback or ideas for future episodes: please email us at chinese.english.journey@gmail.com or DM us on IG.
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In this episode, listen as Grace and Bei discussed why they took charge of their Chinese kids learning journey. It's not an easy path—in fact, they would caution against it because it can be exhausting, costly, and sometimes less successful than hoped. However, if you're genuinely passionate and have the time and energy, it can be a rewarding experience.
Follow us on our bilingual journey:
- Bei's IG
- Grace's IG
Follow us on Instagram Our Chinese & English Journey Podcast If you like this episode, give us a review on Apple Podcast or Spotify.
Any feedback or ideas for future episodes: please email us at chinese.english.journey@gmail.com or DM us on IG.
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In this episode, we're thrilled to have a special guest, Peggy, also known as 早媽. Peggy has been a resourceful figure in various Facebook groups and on her YouTube channel, sharing valuable insights and resources. With over a decade of experience teaching Chinese in middle and weekend schools in the US, Peggy brings a wealth of knowledge to our discussion. During the pandemic, Peggy made the significant move back to Taiwan with her husband and daughter. Her daughter initially attended a local Taiwanese school and later transitioned to homeschooling. Peggy shares their unique journey, discussing the challenges and benefits they encountered along the way.
Join us as we delve into:
- The differences between public elementary schools in Taiwan and the US.
- The workload, school hours, and necessary skills to adapt to Taiwan's education system.
- Peggy's personal experiences with her daughter's transition from public school to homeschooling.
- Valuable tips for families considering a similar journey.
Whether you're curious about bilingual education, contemplating a move to Taiwan, or just interested in different educational systems, this episode is packed with important perspectives and insights. Tune in to hear Peggy's story and gather valuable advice on navigating education in Taiwan.
Links:
Peggy's blog
Peggy's Youtube Channel:
- 早媽早妹共學趣
- 早媽早妹不專業親子共讀
Follow us on Instagram Our Chinese & English Journey Podcast If you like this episode, give us a review on Apple Podcast or Spotify.
Any feedback or ideas for future episodes: please email us at chinese.english.journey@gmail.com or DM us on IG.
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In this episode, we dive into the details of the Short-Term In-School Program, also known as OCAC. This program is designed for overseas Taiwanese parents visiting Taiwan with their children aged 6-15. The goal is to help these children gain a deeper appreciation for their heritage and make new friends by attending local schools and learning about Taiwan's culture, customs, and society.
What We Cover:
- Program Introduction: An overview of the OCAC program, including its objectives and benefits.
- Application Process: Step-by-step guidance on how to apply for the program, including important deadlines and necessary documents.
- Preparation: A detailed list of items to bring to the school, ensuring a smooth and enjoyable experience for both parents and children.
- School Experience: Insights into the homework and activities children can expect, and how they can make the most of their time in Taiwanese schools.
- Tips for Future Applicants: Practical advice for parents considering the program in the future, based on our experiences and observations.
This episode is packed with valuable information for any overseas Taiwanese family considering the OCAC program. We hope you find it insightful and helpful!
Link:
2024 Short Term In-School program
2025 Short Term In-School program
Follow us on Instagram Our Chinese & English Journey Podcast If you like this episode, give us a review on Apple Podcast or Spotify.
Any feedback or ideas for future episodes: please email us at chinese.english.journey@gmail.com or DM us on IG.
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Tune in to this episode where we discuss the fascinating world of Weekend Chinese Schools! While these schools often receive a bad rap, our guest, Taliyah, offers a refreshing perspective by sharing her positive experiences. She recounts how weekend Chinese school was not only enjoyable but also laid a strong foundation for her reading and writing skills in Chinese. Moreover, Taliyah highlights the immersive environment these schools provide, which significantly aids in learning the language. Beyond language proficiency, weekend Chinese schools offer a deeper understanding of Chinese culture, traditions, and history, fostering a profound sense of cultural awareness and appreciation. Join us as we explore the many benefits and enriching experiences that weekend Chinese schools can offer.
Follow Taliyah at her IG and Youtube and her Bobayway website.
Follow us on Instagram Our Chinese & English Journey Podcast
Any feedback or ideas for future episodes: please email us at chinese.english.journey@gmail.com or DM us on IG.
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Join us for our 4th episode where we dive into the essential strategies for setting up a bilingual home environment. As parents navigating the journey of raising bilingual children, Grace and Bei share their insights on fostering language success within the family.
In this episode, we explore the diverse methods we employ to immerse our children in Chinese language and culture. From carefully selected books to curated media content, we discuss the resources and activities we incorporate into our daily routines to promote language learning.
Grace and Bei each offer personal anecdotes and practical tips on creating an environment conducive to bilingual development. Whether it's exploring cultural events or integrating Chinese media into playtime, we share our experiences and strategies to inspire and support fellow bilingual families.
Follow us on Instagram Our Chinese & English Journey Podcast
Any feedback or ideas for future episodes: please email us at chinese.english.journey@gmail.com or DM us on IG.
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In this episode, we're joined by Elizabeth Weise, a highly respected figure in Mandarin Immersion education. With over 25 years of experience as an award-winning climate change and energy transition reporter for USA Today, Elizabeth brings a wealth of knowledge to our discussion. As a founding member of the Mandarin Immersion Parents Council, her dedication to promoting excellence in Mandarin Immersion education is evident. Beyond her journalistic achievements, Elizabeth is also the author of “A Parent’s Guide to Mandarin Immersion,” establishing her as a leading advocate for Mandarin language learning. Her book delves into the workings of Mandarin immersion programs, offering valuable insights for maximizing educational opportunities. Covering topics such as program history, academic impact, bilingualism, and Chinese language acquisition, it serves as an invaluable resource for parents and educators alike. As someone who embarked on the bilingual journey as a non-native and non-heritage speaker, Elizabeth shares her own experiences and reflects on her children's interests now that they're in college.
- A Parent's Guide to Mandarin Immersion
- Mandarin Immersion Parents Council
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Any feedback or ideas for future episodes: please email us at chinese.english.journey@gmail.com or DM us on IG.
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Join podcast creators Grace and Bei as they share their experiences navigating summer camps in Taiwan for their kids. This episode covers everything from planning and selecting the right camp to unexpected essentials and costs. Additionally, they candidly share personal anecdotes and reflections, shedding light on the lasting effects these experiences can have on children, offering insights and relatable stories for parents navigating the summer camp landscape in Taiwan.
Follow us on Instagram Our Chinese & English Journey Podcast
Any feedback or ideas for future episodes: please email us at chinese.english.journey@gmail.com or DM us on IG.
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Season 2 starts with the incredible Guavarama! Tune in as Guavarama shares insights on balancing Chinese and English, the importance of reading aloud in language learning, targeted learning, and the significance of forming enjoyable Chinese habits before the teenage years. Furthermore, she highlights the crucial role of parents in understanding priorities to bridge the language gap effectively and emphasizes making Chinese practical.
Follow her blog - Guavarama - Montessori + Chinese
Follow us on Instagram Our Chinese & English Journey Podcast
Any feedback or ideas for future episodes: please email us at chinese.english.journey@gmail.com or DM us on IG.
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In our final episode of the first season, we invite Christine Tu, the daughter of famous blogger, Oliver Tu, who writes the well known RAISING BILINGUAL AND BILITERATE CHILDREN IN CHINESE AND ENGLISH blog that inspires a lot of families around the world. Christine is a rising senior in high school who showcases her fluent Chinese and English speaking in this episode. Christine takes us through her bilingual journey and shares with us her perspective on growing up bilingual.
Follow us on Instagram Our Chinese & English Journey Podcast
Any feedback or ideas for future episodes: please email us at chinese.english.journey@gmail.com or DM us on IG.
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In this episode, we have a 2nd generation Taiwanese American dad, Bobby, whose first language was English and later wanted to learn Chinese. Bobby shares details about his own Chinese learning. His journey started from weekend Chinese school to living in Taiwan working as a translator. He shares why he thinks Chinese is more than just a tool and how he thinks raising his kids bilingual will open up their world.
Follow us on Instagram Our Chinese & English Journey Podcast
Any feedback or ideas for future episodes: please email us at chinese.english.journey@gmail.com or DM us on IG.
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As working moms, podcast creator Grace & Bei have to juggle between work and their kids' daily activities. In this episode, they share their kids' bilingual journeys and discusses how they made their choice of bilingual pre-schools as well as how they supplement Chinese learning outside of school. Both of them also talk about the struggles and mistakes they've made along the way.
Follow us on Instagram Our Chinese & English Journey Podcast
Any feedback or ideas for future episodes: please email us at chinese.english.journey@gmail.com or DM us on IG.
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Our producer, Grace has been following our guest, Wen Chi's family's bilingual journey, particularly inspired by her move to a school district with multiple Mandarin immersion programs. Prior to moving to the States, Wen Chi was an English teacher at an after-school program in Taiwan. When she moved to the States, she became a Mandarin teacher at a Private School in California before starting her family. Wen Chi is very passionate about teaching and bilingualism. In this episode, Wen Chi shares how she chose her child's Mandarin Immersion School, why she doesn't think simply attending a Mandarin Immersion School will help a student to be fluently in Chinese, and what was her child's turning point from being fluent in Chinese and switching to using English primarily.
Some great resources to learn more about Mandarin Immersion Programs:
Mandarin Immersion Parents Council
Mandarin Immersion Parent Support FB group
Follow us on Instagram Our Chinese & English Journey Podcast
Any feedback or ideas for future episodes: please email us at chinese.english.journey@gmail.com or DM us on IG.
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In this bilingual journey we know language and travel go hand in hand. As many families know traveling with kids is not an easy task, however, the experiences and memories are lifelong, particularly travels to countries of our heritage. Today, we have Ruby joining us today from Canada. Ruby is the creator of Edkids Home, creating fun & engaging activities for kids. We were intrigued by Ruby’s travels with her kids to several places in Asia, along with her extended family.
Follow us on Instagram Our Chinese & English Journey Podcast
Any feedback or ideas for future episodes: please email us at chinese.english.journey@gmail.com or DM us on IG.
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In this bilingual education journey, most parents would agree the best way to learn Chinese is when one is immersed in a Chinese environment. Taking kids to Asia has been one of the most talked about topics among parents like us. After 3 years of pandemic, most Asian countries are open for foreigners which makes a lot of parents interested in taking their bilingual kids to visit Asia, hoping they can pick up more Chinese there. In this episode, Bilingual Mom, Bei took her two kids back to Taiwan in the summer of 2022. She shares details about the planning process, her actual experience during the trip, and tips for parents who are planning trips of their own.
Here are some FB groups that Bei uses to do her research:
- Raising Bilingual Children in Chinese & English
- Summer camps in Taiwan
- Taiwan Travel Planning
Follow us on Instagram Our Chinese & English Journey Podcast
Any feedback or ideas for future episodes: please email us at chinese.english.journey@gmail.com or DM us on IG.
Note: at the beginning of the episode, it's mistakenly mentioned that her trip was in 2021. Her trip was in 2022.
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Most parents who want to teach their kids Chinese will need some kind of curriculum to follow. Sagebook is one of the most talked about book sets among parents who live outside Asia. In today's episode, we invite Jean from Mandarin Home School to talk about how she uses Sagebook with her 3 children. Jean talks about how she follows the order of listening, speaking, reading and writing (聽說讀寫) to teach her kids Chinese. She explains in this episode that she usually reads to her kids first before asking them to read it back to her. She also further explains the difference of reading for interest and reading for reading.
Jean's review on Sagebook is here. A few other bloggers' reviews are here for your reference. Chalk Academy, Mama Baby Mandarin.
To purchase Sagebook, you can go to these websites but we're not affiliated with these vendors. : Sagebook HK, Gloria Bookstore.
Follow us on Instagram Our Chinese & English Journey Podcast
Any feedback or ideas for future episodes: please email us at chinese.english.journey@gmail.com or DM us on IG.
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Lunar New Year is one of the biggest holidays for Asian families. There are a variety of traditions to follow and Lunar New Year celebrations can be a fun way to incorporate culture and activities to make learning Chinese more memorable to children. In today's episode, we have homeschool mom, Lucy, talks about how she celebrates Lunar New Year with her kids the past few years. She goes through the entire 15 days of New Year celebrations in this episode.
Below are some books that she mentioned at our recording, we include some links that you can purchase through those websites but we're not affiliated with these vendors.
- 過年啦 Let's Celebrate New Year
- 歡樂過新年 Joyful New Year Celebration
- 漢聲中國童話 Han Sheng Chinese Fairy Tales
- 神明繪本: 門神-剛正不阿的學習 The Keeper
Lucy shares about her bilingual homeschool journey in her Facebook page 走在自學的路上.
Follow us on Instagram Our Chinese & English Journey Podcast
Any feedback or ideas for future episodes: please email us at chinese.english.journey@gmail.com or DM us on IG.
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Navigating the long and tricky process of teaching your kids Chinese is one of the biggest challenges we face as bilingual parents. In this episode, a bilingual mom and blogger, Sunny Horstmann, shares that she has had to re-learn Chinese to teach her child. In addition, during her 5-year journey, she has discovered that knowing how many chinese characters is not the most important part in this journey. So what is the most important part? Listen to this episode to find out.
Sunny’s blog, Spot of Sunshine, provides a great deal of useful bilingual parenting resources. Her IG also has many simple parenting tips that are easy to follow.
Follow us on Instagram Our Chinese & English Journey Podcast
Any feedback or ideas for future episodes: please email us at chinese.english.journey@gmail.com or DM us on IG.
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Two bilingual moms, Grace and Christine, met through a Facebook group called Raising Bilingual Children in Chinese & English. In this episode, both moms talk about why they wanted to start this podcast and why the podcast is named Our Chinese & English Journey. They talk about their bilingual journey and what their struggles have been and continue to be. They cover the topics they're interested in exploring with other parents in future episodes.
Any feedback or ideas for future episodes: please email us at chinese.english.journey@gmail.com or DM us on IG.
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