Product Review: Gordon & Li Li Learn Animals in Mandarin (Mandarin for Kids) [Board book] (Age 2+)
Learn Mandarin with Gordon & Li Li!
When I was in fourth grade we had a big school assembly for children visiting our small town from China since we were part of an ‘International Sister City’ project that was arranged through a small local private college. I don’t remember much about that day except we did meet several children our age from China and our teacher made us learn a few phrases in Chinese to help them feel at ease. The only words I still remember are “Ni hao?” (Pronounced Knee how) meaning ‘hello’ and ‘Zai jian’ (Pronounced Dzai gee-en) meaning ‘goodbye’. It was fun to be able to talk to someone in their own language and have them smile in appreciation. I would have loved to have learned more, but there were no instruction for Chinese available in our city. Plus, I did not have much chance to use it back then. These days, I kick myself for not learning multiple languages as a child, but the nice thing is we are incorporating different languages early for Brooke. It is nice to open children to those opportunities and I have read a lot about exposing children to multiple languages during their sensitivity period of language acquisition between birth and age six that is extremely beneficial to their language processing. When I discovered these great little board books with Mandarin Chinese spelled out for this momma, I wanted to give them a shot!
Gordon & Li Li Learn Animals in Mandarin is part of the Mandarin for Kids board book series for children age two and up by Michele Wong McSween. Panda cousins, Gordon (from New York) and Li Li (from Beijing) are meeting each other for the first time and are learning about their different languages. McSween’s book is unique for a few reasons; first, there are not a lot of bilingual Chinese-English children’s board books available; and second, this book shows four ways to help us pronounce each animal (English, pinyin, Simplified Chinese and best-guess English pronunciation)! This is something even I can follow and read to my daughter and I don’t know any Chinese besides a few words I learned as a child! The art work is vibrant and full of energy and who doesn’t love a blue and pink panda? So Adorable! You must check out Michele’s other two board books in this series, Gordon & Li Li Words for Everyday and Gordon & Li Li Count in Mandarin and I hope to see much more from this author on this subject.
Bonus! Click here for the Pronunciation Guide for Michele’s first book, Words for Everyday!
About Author Michele Wong McSween: Michele is a fourth generation Chinese-American from Brooklyn, New York who did not grow up bi-lingual. Michele is a designer by trade who was working with fashion at Old Navy before she left to become a full time mother to her two boys and became interested in having them learn a second language of Mandarin Chinese. After taking several courses she found a lack of books for children on the subject and Michele decided to create her own. She used her design background to create a modern looking illustration style for her books and her two main panda bear characters, Gordon and Li Li, are brilliant blue and pink pandas that my daughter loves.
Gordon & Li Li Learn Animals in Mandarin (Mandarin for Kids) [Board book] (Age 2+)
List Price: $9.99
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