Asianmommy Reviews

Chinese New Year is coming up soon, and 2K Play has a new Nintendo DS game for preschoolers called “Ni Hao, Kai-lan:  New Year’s Celebration.”  Asianmommy.com received this product from 2K Play for free.

Fans of the show “Ni Hao, Kai-lan” will love this game.  It’s designed specifically for preschoolers—easy enough for them to play on their own, and provides encouraging hints when they need help.  It’s just right for kids ages 3 to 5.  In order to do the activities, they’ll need to be able to tap, scribble, drag, and trace with the stylus and blow or speak into the microphone.  To prepare for Chinese New Year, the players will wake everyone up, clean up the house, go shopping for clothes, pick up ingredients to make Chinese dumplings, bake almond cookies, serve food for dinner, and then wash the dishes--all with Kai-lan and her friends.  They’ll identify colors and shapes in the lantern parade, make gift envelopes, color a dragon mask, make a lantern, and play musical instruments.  Finally, they’ll trace shapes and create a beautiful fireworks display.

What I liked:  Overall, this is a fun game for little ones, especially for those who are already familiar with the TV show "Ni Hao, Kai-lan."  The graphics are cute, the activities review colors and shapes, and the kids get to learn a little bit about Chinese culture.  My daughter is 5, and her favorite activities were coloring the dragon mask & the gift envelope, lighting the lanterns, and making almond cookies.  She really enjoyed the entire game.

What could be improved:  I wish that more Chinese words and phrases were incorporated into the game.   Ideally, this game would be bilingual, and offer kids the opportunity to learn their colors and shapes in Mandarin Chinese, as well as in English.

The Year of the Tiger is the 5th book in the series Tales from the Chinese Zodiac by Oliver Chin.  Asianmommy.com received a PDF version of this book for free.

2010 is the year of the Tiger.  According to the Chinese Zodiac, Tigers are bold, proud, courageous, and charismatic.  They can be unpredictable and secretive, but they make the fiercest of friends.

In this story, Teddy the tiger is born & raised in the jungle.  He is warned to stay away from humans, but his curiosity leads him to go to the village and spy on a little girl named Su.  Su is frightened at first, but she and Teddy soon become friends.  One day, Su follows Teddy into the forest, accidentally steps on a snake, and falls over a ledge.  Can Teddy save his friend?

What I liked:  I enjoyed how the story introduces the reader to the Chinese Zodiac and the characteristics of the Tiger.  The illustrations by Justin Roth truly bring life to the characters.  My kids really enjoyed this story.

What could be improved:  Again, I would have liked if the publishers had included Pinyin with the Chinese characters for the Zodiac animals, so that we could practice learning a bit of Chinese.

The Octonauts & the Frown Fish by Meomi is a cute little story about the Octonauts, a team of 8 adorable underwater explorers.  Asianmommy.com received a PDF version of this book for free.

In this book, Professor Inkling, Kwazii Kitten, Tweak Bunny, Captain Barnacles Bear, Tunip the Vegimal, Peso Penguin, Shellington Sea Otter, and Sauci Dog were called by the Octo-Alert to help a fish with a very big frown.  They tried to cheer him up with music, a dress-up party, a trip to the Snail Gardens, mini-golf, a robo-tank, pastries, a joke book, and the playground.  What would finally make the Frown Fish smile?  It's up to the Octonauts to find out!

What I liked:  This is a simple and cute story written for preschoolers to early grade schoolers.  My girls, ages 5 & 7, really liked it.  I loved the beautiful & vivid illustrations of the wonderful characters and the lovely & unique ocean floor.

What could be improved:  No real complaints--other than the fact that I think one of the Octonauts is actually a turnip?  :)
 

Julie Black Belt:  The Kung Fu Chronicles, by Oliver Chin, is a lovely story about a young Asian American girl who is learning about the challenges of Kung Fu.  Asianmommy.com received a PDF version of this book for free.

The book begins with Julie's parents asking her if she wants to try out kung fu.  Julie thinks that she knows everything about kung fu, since she always watches her favorite actress, Brandy Wu, in her kung fu action movies.  On the first day of class, Mr. Fong, her teacher, passes out the white belts and teaches the students how to bow and salute.   As Mr. Fong watches Julie struggle with the basic moves, he says to her, "A black belt is just a white belt that doesn't quit."  After months of training hard and learning not to give up, the day of the test comes.  Will Julie be able to earn her yellow belt?

What I liked:  This story emphasizes the importance of working hard and not giving up when striving to reach your goals.  I liked how the author shows a girl gaining self-confidence while learning self-defense.  I also love the beautiful illustrations by Charlene Chua, which bring the story to life.  My girls really enjoyed this story.

What could be improved:  I would love the book more if they included a few Chinese characters with the pinyin and English translations.

The Year of the Ox by Oliver Chin is the fourth book in the series Tales from the Chinese Zodiac.  Asianmommy.com received a PDF version of this book for free.

This is a cute story with wonderful illustrations by Miah Alcorn.  The book begins with an introduction to the Chinese Zodiac. 

Olivia the Ox is good friends with a little girl named Mei.  Olivia tries to plow the fields, fetch the water, bring the rice to be milled, and help out at the market, but somehow always makes a mess of things.  She's eventually told to just stay behind and out of trouble. 

But one day, when the old dam bursts and the village is about to be flooded, everyone else starts to run away.  It's up to Olivia to save the day.  Can she do it?

What I liked:  This story is a great way to introduce kids to the animals of the Chinese Zodiac calendar and to teach them about the personality traits of the Ox.  The illustrations are really the best part of the book--the characters are goofy, fun, and so alive.

What could be improved:  It would've been nice if they had included the Pinyin with the Chinese characters for the animals, for those who would be interested in learning or practicing a little bit of Chinese.
 

The first product to be featured on Asianmommy Reviews is "Let's Go Guang, Episode 1:  Meet Guang, the Chinese Dragon."  Asianmommy.com received this product from aha!Chinese for free.

This new Chinese language program comes nicely packaged in a colorful box which includes a DVD, a storybook, an audio CD, flashcards, and a parent/educator guide.  The recommended age group is 2-8 years.  This program was made by Janet Lin Lawson & Karen Wu Audi, founders of aha!Chinese.

"Let's Go Guang" is an introduction-to-Mandarin program, geared towards children who are new to Mandarin Chinese.  The DVD is an animated show featuring a Chinese American family.  The 2 children, Ling and Kai, go with their parents to visit their grandparents' house.  Yeye is doing Kung fu exercises in the backyard and teaches them about his dragon style Kung fu.  There's a funny scene where Yeye tries to chop open a watermelon.  The kids go play in the basement and meet a dragon named Guang.  They learn his story and bring him Chinese dumplings to eat.  He promises to teach them Chinese, and they offer to keep him in their tree house.

The storybook and audio CD relay the same basic story.  The flash cards include English, Pinyin, and simplified Chinese characters for each Mandarin vocabulary word or phrase used in the story.  The parent/educator guide provides the vocabulary list of common words, phrases, and sentences in English, Pinyin, and simplified Chinese.  Some examples are:  Hello, Good-bye, What's your name?, Thank you, You're welcome, I'm sorry, I, you, he, we, they, family members, numbers, dragon, and monkey.  Song lyrics are also included.

What I liked:  I liked that both English and Chinese were used to introduce the kids to Mandarin.  This method maintains their interest better than some total immersion DVDs, where there are too many new words that they can't understand, which can result in boredom & frustration.

I also liked that the DVD added an element of Chinese culture, with the Grandfather's Kung Fu and the story of the Dragon.  My girls especially liked the short clip at the end, where real-life children were learning to make Chinese dumplings from scratch.  My girls are now looking forward to making Chinese dumplings themselves someday.

My daughters, ages 5 & 7, have been taking Mandarin classes for a while, so the Mandarin words used were not new to them.  Despite this, they really enjoyed the DVD.  They also liked the storybook, too.  For me, it was refreshing to find a high-quality, entertaining DVD program that teaches Mandarin Chinese to English-speaking kids.

What could be improved:  When I asked the kids which was their favorite part of the program, my 7-year-old said, "All of it, except for the part with the songs."  I have to agree with her on that.  For an early grade schooler, the story was interesting and fun.  The songs were cute, but pretty simplistic, and probably more suited for a 3-year-old.

Although the boxed set is very appealing, it would be nice to have the option to buy the DVD alone with the guide, or perhaps just the storybook with the audio CD.  That would make the program more affordable for those who'd like to try it.  In addition, for those who are not flash card people, it would be nice if the flash cards were optional, too.

Special offer for Asianmommy.com readers:  aha!Chinese is offering a 20% discount on "Let's Go Guang" to Asianmommy.com readers. You can take advantage of this offer by going to http://shop.ahachinese.com and using the code: AMSave20.