Chinese Speech Contests

Every year Chinese school holds a Chinese speech contest. Students prepare their speech with parents' help (not too many ) and memorize them. The length of the speech is 45 seconds to 2 minutes. We like this event because it helps kids to be comfortable with speaking in the public.

This year Xander's topic is about our family trip to Chicago in February. He mentioned that our hotel was close to an airport and he didn't get enough sleep because many airplanes took off at night time. Then we went to the Fideld Meseum and saw many dinasour fossils and many mummies. That night we took kids to Medevel Times for dinner. They had fun cheering for the green knight while eating dinners with their fingers. We visited a Lego store the next day and Xander picked a Star Wars airplane.



p.s. Xander didn't do so many actions in his actual contest; otherwise the first place will be in his pocket easily. We still proud of him trying so hard though.

This is Khai's first time to attend the contest, so I make sure it's short and easy for him to memorize. Khai talked about his family and saying that daddy works very hard everyday and mommy stays home taking care of them. Xander is his best friend and he has 2 cats.

We knew that Xander would do a great job as usualy, but we were kind of nervous for Khai. Out of our surprise, Khai went to the stage confidently and gave his speech. He did forget some parts but recovered quickly. They both did such a good job and we are very proud of them.




中文學校每年都有演講比賽, 我們很鼓勵這個活動因為一來可以訓練小朋友說中文, 二來可以訓練他們上台講話的膽量. 傑升班上每個禮拜老師都會訂一個題目然後小朋友都要到台上去演講.雖然只是短短的幾分鐘,可是也是慢慢的訓媡小朋友的膽量.後來老師就要求小朋友開始背他們演講或朗讀的內容.所以我比較不擔心傑升的演講.

今年是煒勳第一次參加演講,我怕他背不起來或是上台後會怯場,所以我和煒勳寫了很短的內容,就只介紹我們家. 我們每天開車時,我唸一句煒勳就跟我唸一句.幾個禮拜下來煒勳慢慢的就背了下來,可是大部份時候他會忘記某些部份需要我提題他.

終於到了演講比賽當天,我們在路上讓小朋友再做最後一次覆習,2個小朋友都說的很好. 傑升那一組傑升排第五個,所以肖恩帶著錄影機去幫傑升錄並加油. 我本來要上課,結果第一班的小朋友都全去看演講比賽了,所以我就跟著去看演講順便幫煒勳加油.

很多小朋友都講的頭頭事道可是一聽就知道是父母幫他們寫的詞.還有幾個小朋友怯場不想講話.試了幾次之後還是不講,可是大家都還是幫他們鼓掌加油.我看煒勳一點也不緊張,坐在那很輕鬆的看大家演講,我坐在他旁邊反而替他很緊張,怕他會怯場或忘詞.結果煒勳上台時講的不錯,沒有怯場,有點小聲也忘詞了.我還偷偷的比了幾個手勢提醒他.最後一次我不幫他比手勢結果他記起了他的台詞並順利的講完他的部份.哇,好感動哦.

比賽結束後爸爸說他錄傑升時出了點問題結果只錄了2秒鐘.我們便到隔璧教室請傑升再重新講一次.肖恩說傑升在比賽時都沒有弄那些手勢,要是有這樣比就更好了.我看了影帶後覺得很好笑,可以看的出來傑升在沒有人時就比較放的開還會加手勢,我們叫他比賽時如果加了手勢觀眾會覺得很可愛,可是他都不要.結果重新錄時卻又自己加了許多手勢,我想他大概是看了比賽後覺得加手勢比較好吧! 真是悶骚包一個.

2 個小朋友都表現的很好,我們上課後帶他們去吃冰淇淋稿賞他們的表現.

煒勳的內容:
"大家好,我是煒勳.今天我要演講的題目是: 我的家. 我的家有爸爸,媽媽,哥哥和我.爸爸每天上班很辛苦,媽媽在家照顧我們,哥哥是我的好朋友,我喜歡和哥哥一起玩遊戲. 明天是我的生日我就變成五歲了哦.我也有2隻猫叫做Colby 和 Sasah. Colby 很乖, 毛很長. Sasah 不乖, 常常跑到桌子上. 我愛我的家. 謝謝."

Wii Fit

Sean had been wanted a Wii Fit for a long time, I told him that he got lots of toys already and doesn't need one. Sean's coworker said it's really fun and a good way to exercise while you play. His birthday is coming so it would be a birthday surprise for him. Turned out Meijer (one of the big grocery stores) had 3 units available, so we got one.

I was at a church leadership meeting the next day and Sean told me that they had a great time playing with the Wii fit and kids really love it. Khai showed me his running and he was so cute. Running with his toes and so excited about the game (Khai usually got so upset when playing video games because he wasn't very coordinate) . We had Khai run 2 rounds and his cheeks was so red. Xander was very good at skiing. Both kids went to bed very easily that night. I tried few games after they went to bed and they are really fun. I'm glad that we got this game.



p.s. You can click on "HD" on the lower right, then the picture quality would be nicer.

肖恩跟我說想要買Wii Fit, 可是我跟他說他已經有好多玩具了, 不要再買了. 最近他同事跟他說這遊戲很好哦, 一邊玩一邊又可以運動. 於是肖恩叫我每天打電話問店裡有沒有貨. 我每天打電話問人家有沒有貨都問的很不好意思, 再想他生日也快到了,那如果有貨就買一台送給他當驚喜好了. 吔, 結果竟然真的找到一台吔.

我隔天有事情所以肖恩在家裡陪小朋友. 打電話跟我說小朋友們很喜歡這些遊戲, 他們玩了好幾個鐘頭, 煒勳玩的很高興(煒勳通常玩電動玩具都會很沮喪因為他的手沒像哥哥那麼靈活). 我回來後煒勳秀給我看, 他跑的好可愛哦. 我們發現他全程都是用腳尖跑吔, 跑了2次下來, 他整個臉頰紅通通的好像是一個蘋果. 傑升也有玩滑雪. 嗯,當晚2個小朋友很快就睡著了. 我等他們睡著後也來試試看, 還真的很好玩. 一邊玩一邊運動哦.

註: 看影片時如果按右下角的HD,影片品質會比較好哦.

Happy Valentine's Day

I've seen so many nice video clips from family and friends' blogs, but our camera took really crapy videos and I never dare to put them on the blog. This Valentine Sean gave me a surprise present: a pocket HD video recorder (Sean found a great deal). It's small and light, but takes great videos, connects to computer easily and you can view the videos on the TV immediately. I took a try while kids were building a snow man with my neighbor. I love it and thanks a bunch to Sean. I was going to edit the video on my computer and wondering why it moves so slow. Figured out that my old crapy computer couldn't handle the video, so I'll post the videos later.

我很喜歡看大姐放影片在她步落格上, 一來可以看到小黑寶寶成長的狀況,二來可以看到背景裡有熟悉的家裡角落或是家人的聲音. 可惜我們的相機錄影品質很爛, 所以我都沒有放影片上來. 今年情人節時, 肖恩送了我一個驚喜: 一台HD品質的口袋錄影機; 他知道我很想放影片在我們的步落格上, 他剛好看到這台錄影機在大拍賣就買給我. 它很小很薄, 可是拍出來的品質很好. 我趁著鄰居和小朋友們造雪人時試拍, 在電視上看的品質很好, 可是一拿到我的電腦要修改時不知道為什麼都變成了慢動作, 可是聲音還是和平常一樣...想了想, 原來是我的電腦太爛了, 不能負荷看影片. 好吧, 請大家再等一下下, 讓我用肖恩的電腦修改再放上來吧.