Mulan and Miya are bilingual. I speak to them in English; Mama speaks to them in Mandarin Chinese.
But learning a language as a native speaker is different from learning as a foreigner. It would be good for the girls to also learn a foreign language.
In term 4, the girls started learning New Zealand Sign Language through HASCA. It is being offered again in term 1, and we were strongly considering continuing it as the girls' foreign language.
But after a few back and forths, we decided that instead of Sign Language the girls would learn Cantonese Chinese as their foreign language. So, for the past several weeks the girls have been having weekly formal Cantonese lessons.
On the plus side for NZ Sign Language, it is one of New Zealand's official languages. But we also found a couple of big minuses -- (a) it seems that there are lots of different sign languages around the world, so NZ Sign Language would only be for local New Zealand use, and (b) we (currently) don't know anyone in our daily life who uses it, so (currently) it would only be used in the classroom. We feel, then, that the girls learnt enough in term 4 that should they ever need to know it in future they will already have a sense of what to do.
Cantonese, however, is much more practically useful for us. It is Mama's second native language, and in everyday life she uses it with some of her friends and family. Mulan and Miya would be able to connect much better with the extended family, and also it would allow them to fit in better whenever we return to Guangzhou.
The obvious other plus for Cantonese is that Mama is the teacher, so lessons are free!
Meanwhile, I have restarted formal Mandarin lessons (also with Mama). I learnt for a year full time back in 2008/9, and since then I have sort-of made do with partly understanding bits in everyday life. But we thought I should return to weekly lessons. It is painful, but for the best.
Thursday 27 December 2018
Saturday 22 December 2018
Book review: N K Jemisin
A few months ago I read about N K Jemisin winning her third Hugo Award in a row. Apparently this is a first -- no one had ever won three in a row before.
I'd never heard of Jemisin, but the blog post was provocatively enticing, and her acceptance speech was funny with bite.
Curious, I requested one of her books from the library. I was hooked. I requested more. I've now read:
Inheritance Trilogy:
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (2010)
The Broken Kingdoms (2010)
The Kingdom of Gods (2011)
The Awakened Kingdom (2014)
Dreamblood duology:
The Killing Moon (2012)
The Shadowed Sun (2012)
Broken Earth series:
The Fifth Season (2015)
The Obelisk Gate (2016)
The Stone Sky (2017)
And I'm still wanting more. I have to say, Jemisin is now one of my all-time favourite authors. When I run through in my mind the various aspects of what, to me, makes a good book, these books have it all to near perfection.
I won't suggest Mulan read them just yet. There's some challenging stuff in there. But in another five years or so she might be ready for it.
So, what's so good about Jemisin's writing? Saying everything would take way too long, but I'll say a quick few things.
First off, a good novel needs to have plausible, interesting, three-dimensional characters. Jemisin's books have those. In fact, Jemisin is one of the best writers I can think of who can get into the heads of her characters.
This isn't all that surprising. Apparently, before becoming a fulltime writer, Jemisin was a counselor. Her first couple of book series above were written while also working fulltime. I can only assume that over the course of many, many hours of helping people, she has built up a pretty good understanding of what makes people tick. And then she is able to put that into her characters. Her characters are uniquely flawed, contradictory, whole, real, relatable people. It is a pleasure to spend time with them.
On top of that, Jemisin is a wonderfully creative world-builder. For those who are not aware, the Hugo Awards are for science fiction works. Jemisin's books (at least all those above that I read) are squarely in the speculative fiction camp, either fantasy or science fiction or some sort of mix. Each of Jemisin's three series above are set in a uniquely different world -- each amazingly creative and unique in themselves. That Jemisin has managed, in such a short writing time, to develop not one, but three fascinatingly complex worlds is impressive.
(Mama tells me that one of the big praises Chinese readers have for Cixin Liu's The Three-Body Problem is his creative world-building. They should read some of Jemisin's novels to get an idea of what real creative world-building is about!)
The third big thing I noticed about Jemisin's books is her mastery of stringing words together. She shows her expertise in the rules and history of writing. And then she breaks the rules to make it even better. Reading her writing is a true pleasure.
Fourthly, Jemisin's stories are un-put-down-able. There are plot twists and turns and excitement galore.
Fifthly (and finally), Jemisin's stories quite clearly have social and moral messages. Her books are not merely entertaining stories set in another universe (although they are that, too). They also have plenty to say about our world, our society, and real people. The Broken Earth series is her most mature work (although the other two series are excellent in this regard, too). Part of it's message is a subtle and sensitive commentary on US race history. It is well worth reading for this alone.
(And then we read true stories like this one. All in combination, it hits hard.)
UPDATE 15/1/2019: I've just finished reading Jemisin's Mass Effect Andromeda Initiation, which she co-authored with Mac Walters. It's a pretty dull read, and is absent all of Jemisin's usual distinctiveness.
I'd never heard of Jemisin, but the blog post was provocatively enticing, and her acceptance speech was funny with bite.
Curious, I requested one of her books from the library. I was hooked. I requested more. I've now read:
Inheritance Trilogy:
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (2010)
The Broken Kingdoms (2010)
The Kingdom of Gods (2011)
The Awakened Kingdom (2014)
Dreamblood duology:
The Killing Moon (2012)
The Shadowed Sun (2012)
Broken Earth series:
The Fifth Season (2015)
The Obelisk Gate (2016)
The Stone Sky (2017)
And I'm still wanting more. I have to say, Jemisin is now one of my all-time favourite authors. When I run through in my mind the various aspects of what, to me, makes a good book, these books have it all to near perfection.
I won't suggest Mulan read them just yet. There's some challenging stuff in there. But in another five years or so she might be ready for it.
So, what's so good about Jemisin's writing? Saying everything would take way too long, but I'll say a quick few things.
First off, a good novel needs to have plausible, interesting, three-dimensional characters. Jemisin's books have those. In fact, Jemisin is one of the best writers I can think of who can get into the heads of her characters.
This isn't all that surprising. Apparently, before becoming a fulltime writer, Jemisin was a counselor. Her first couple of book series above were written while also working fulltime. I can only assume that over the course of many, many hours of helping people, she has built up a pretty good understanding of what makes people tick. And then she is able to put that into her characters. Her characters are uniquely flawed, contradictory, whole, real, relatable people. It is a pleasure to spend time with them.
On top of that, Jemisin is a wonderfully creative world-builder. For those who are not aware, the Hugo Awards are for science fiction works. Jemisin's books (at least all those above that I read) are squarely in the speculative fiction camp, either fantasy or science fiction or some sort of mix. Each of Jemisin's three series above are set in a uniquely different world -- each amazingly creative and unique in themselves. That Jemisin has managed, in such a short writing time, to develop not one, but three fascinatingly complex worlds is impressive.
(Mama tells me that one of the big praises Chinese readers have for Cixin Liu's The Three-Body Problem is his creative world-building. They should read some of Jemisin's novels to get an idea of what real creative world-building is about!)
The third big thing I noticed about Jemisin's books is her mastery of stringing words together. She shows her expertise in the rules and history of writing. And then she breaks the rules to make it even better. Reading her writing is a true pleasure.
Fourthly, Jemisin's stories are un-put-down-able. There are plot twists and turns and excitement galore.
Fifthly (and finally), Jemisin's stories quite clearly have social and moral messages. Her books are not merely entertaining stories set in another universe (although they are that, too). They also have plenty to say about our world, our society, and real people. The Broken Earth series is her most mature work (although the other two series are excellent in this regard, too). Part of it's message is a subtle and sensitive commentary on US race history. It is well worth reading for this alone.
(And then we read true stories like this one. All in combination, it hits hard.)
UPDATE 15/1/2019: I've just finished reading Jemisin's Mass Effect Andromeda Initiation, which she co-authored with Mac Walters. It's a pretty dull read, and is absent all of Jemisin's usual distinctiveness.
Thursday 20 December 2018
Book review: Under the mountain
Mulan and I both just finished reading Maurice Gee's Under the Mountain (1979).
I suggested it to Mulan, along with Gee's O trilogy (The Halfmen of O, The Priests of Ferris and Motherstone), and she read them all within a few days.
This was the first time I'd looked at Under the Mountain since I read it when I was about Mulan's age. It held up extremely well; I recommend it. Mulan also really enjoyed Gee's books.
For those who don't know, Gee is a local New Zealand author who has written many excellent books, both for children and adults. Under the Mountain was made into a popular TV series back in the early 80s, and a few years ago was remade as a movie.
At 160 pages, Under the Mountain is a short book, but each chapter is tensely exciting. It tells the story of twins, who are about Mulan's age, coming to Takapuna to stay with their aunt and uncle over the summer holidays.
Yeah, the book is set just a short walk from where we live! Many of our local landmarks are featured -- Lake Pupuke, Rangitoto Island, the beaches, the shops, the Harbour Bridge. And it is all still recognisable -- not much has changed in the past 40 years. (The main things that stood out for me as having changed were that the Harbour Bridge tollbooths are now gone, One Tree Hill lost its tree, and the city's population has tripled.)
The tense excitement happens because Aunt and Uncle have weird neighbours, the Wilberforces, who turn out to be worm-like aliens intent on turning Earth into a mud-planet. And the twins are the only people in the galaxy who can stop them (with the help of another neighbour, Mr Jones, who also turns out to be an alien). It is a simple, silly premise, but an excellent, exciting story.
We found the old TV series version on Youtube. We plan on watching it over the next several days.
I suggested it to Mulan, along with Gee's O trilogy (The Halfmen of O, The Priests of Ferris and Motherstone), and she read them all within a few days.
This was the first time I'd looked at Under the Mountain since I read it when I was about Mulan's age. It held up extremely well; I recommend it. Mulan also really enjoyed Gee's books.
For those who don't know, Gee is a local New Zealand author who has written many excellent books, both for children and adults. Under the Mountain was made into a popular TV series back in the early 80s, and a few years ago was remade as a movie.
At 160 pages, Under the Mountain is a short book, but each chapter is tensely exciting. It tells the story of twins, who are about Mulan's age, coming to Takapuna to stay with their aunt and uncle over the summer holidays.
Yeah, the book is set just a short walk from where we live! Many of our local landmarks are featured -- Lake Pupuke, Rangitoto Island, the beaches, the shops, the Harbour Bridge. And it is all still recognisable -- not much has changed in the past 40 years. (The main things that stood out for me as having changed were that the Harbour Bridge tollbooths are now gone, One Tree Hill lost its tree, and the city's population has tripled.)
The tense excitement happens because Aunt and Uncle have weird neighbours, the Wilberforces, who turn out to be worm-like aliens intent on turning Earth into a mud-planet. And the twins are the only people in the galaxy who can stop them (with the help of another neighbour, Mr Jones, who also turns out to be an alien). It is a simple, silly premise, but an excellent, exciting story.
We found the old TV series version on Youtube. We plan on watching it over the next several days.
Monday 17 December 2018
Gymnastics (and the gym)
For the past two years, Mulan and Miya have been attending a gymnastics class for homeschoolers at our local YMCA. It has been brilliant for them, and I highly recommend it.
Recently, the teacher pulled me aside and suggested that Mulan has outgrown the class. (The class is theoretically for up to 12-year-olds, but even Miya is one of the biggest there.) The teacher was very nice about it, and suggested that Mulan do an after-school class.
Unfortunately, our after school times are almost completely booked up with ballet these days. I don't want to add another after school activity.
So, I checked out the North Harbour Gymnastics website, and happily they have a class at one of our few remaining free times -- Sunday mornings. Their final class of the year was yesterday morning, so we all went along to check it out. It looks really good, so we have booked Mulan in to start there in term 1 of next year.
(Our main comment was that some of the coaches look so young -- one boy's voice hadn't even broken yet. While they may be good gymnasts, we doubted the teaching experience of some. I could see that sometimes the coaches weren't following up on students who weren't as involved, so my advice to Mulan was that she will need to be somewhat proactive in taking charge of her own learning.)
Miya will continue next year with the homeschooler class at the YMCA (another few terms and she will get a free T-shirt for attending 100 lessons!).
So, our next question was what could Mulan do while Miya is in her YMCA gymnastics class.
Out of curiosity, I asked about the minimum age for joining the gym at the YMCA. And it's 11. Perfect. So, Mama and I cancelled our individual YMCA gym memberships, instead signing up for a family membership (at just $2 per week more). When Miya is doing the gymnastics, Mulan can join me in the gym!
We met up with Laura, the wonderful YMCA gym manager/trainer, and she is making a training programme for each of us (Mama's and mine were ready to be updated). Laura even said that Miya could do a bit in the gym with us, too! We'll meet with Laura tomorrow to go through our new programmes.
We had been wondering what exercise activities to do over summer, with all our term-based activities (ballet, gymnastics, swimming, athletics) finishing. And this fills the gap perfectly!
Recently, the teacher pulled me aside and suggested that Mulan has outgrown the class. (The class is theoretically for up to 12-year-olds, but even Miya is one of the biggest there.) The teacher was very nice about it, and suggested that Mulan do an after-school class.
Unfortunately, our after school times are almost completely booked up with ballet these days. I don't want to add another after school activity.
So, I checked out the North Harbour Gymnastics website, and happily they have a class at one of our few remaining free times -- Sunday mornings. Their final class of the year was yesterday morning, so we all went along to check it out. It looks really good, so we have booked Mulan in to start there in term 1 of next year.
(Our main comment was that some of the coaches look so young -- one boy's voice hadn't even broken yet. While they may be good gymnasts, we doubted the teaching experience of some. I could see that sometimes the coaches weren't following up on students who weren't as involved, so my advice to Mulan was that she will need to be somewhat proactive in taking charge of her own learning.)
Miya will continue next year with the homeschooler class at the YMCA (another few terms and she will get a free T-shirt for attending 100 lessons!).
So, our next question was what could Mulan do while Miya is in her YMCA gymnastics class.
Out of curiosity, I asked about the minimum age for joining the gym at the YMCA. And it's 11. Perfect. So, Mama and I cancelled our individual YMCA gym memberships, instead signing up for a family membership (at just $2 per week more). When Miya is doing the gymnastics, Mulan can join me in the gym!
We met up with Laura, the wonderful YMCA gym manager/trainer, and she is making a training programme for each of us (Mama's and mine were ready to be updated). Laura even said that Miya could do a bit in the gym with us, too! We'll meet with Laura tomorrow to go through our new programmes.
We had been wondering what exercise activities to do over summer, with all our term-based activities (ballet, gymnastics, swimming, athletics) finishing. And this fills the gap perfectly!
Saturday 15 December 2018
Harry Potter 3
Today, I finished reading aloud to Mulan and Miya the third Harry Potter book. As expected, we all thoroughly enjoyed it.
I reviewed it here back when Mulan and I first read it. There's not really much more to add, except it reminded me just how horrible Snape is! Whatever else happens, Snape is still a bad guy.
I reviewed it here back when Mulan and I first read it. There's not really much more to add, except it reminded me just how horrible Snape is! Whatever else happens, Snape is still a bad guy.
Thursday 13 December 2018
MERC
On Monday, the girls and I went to MERC. That's the short way of saying Sir Peter Blake Marine Education and Recreation Centre.
The homeschoolers booked the Centre for the day, and 120 kids were there between 9 am and 4 pm. They got divided into 10 groups, with each group doing three different activities.
Miya's three activities were abseiling, boarding and dingy, while Mulan's were boarding, raft building and archery. The boarding was supposed to be body boarding, but the sea was completely flat so instead they did giant stand-up paddle boards that could hold 13 people.
Both girls learnt a bit about knots (Miya while doing abseiling and Mulan while doing raft building) and both have come away inspired to do more knot-related stuff at home.
They both really enjoyed their two water activities (of course) -- any time in the water is always a good time. But Mulan's water activities were more educational than Miya's. With both of Miya's water activities, it was mostly just jumping on and off the board/dingy and playing in the water. I felt that was a little disappointing -- they could have learnt a bit of rowing/paddling. Mulan paddled on the board, while the raft building was mostly about learning how to tie barrels together and design a raft that didn't fall apart in the water (their raft held together while the other team's raft fell apart).
Both the abseiling for Miya and the archery for Mulan were first times for them. It was a great educational opportunity, and Miya even said that she enjoyed the abseiling the most out of her three activities.
So, yeah, a great day was had by all, except that we were so busy that we forgot to put sunblock on and our faces got a little pink!
The homeschoolers booked the Centre for the day, and 120 kids were there between 9 am and 4 pm. They got divided into 10 groups, with each group doing three different activities.
Miya's three activities were abseiling, boarding and dingy, while Mulan's were boarding, raft building and archery. The boarding was supposed to be body boarding, but the sea was completely flat so instead they did giant stand-up paddle boards that could hold 13 people.
Both girls learnt a bit about knots (Miya while doing abseiling and Mulan while doing raft building) and both have come away inspired to do more knot-related stuff at home.
They both really enjoyed their two water activities (of course) -- any time in the water is always a good time. But Mulan's water activities were more educational than Miya's. With both of Miya's water activities, it was mostly just jumping on and off the board/dingy and playing in the water. I felt that was a little disappointing -- they could have learnt a bit of rowing/paddling. Mulan paddled on the board, while the raft building was mostly about learning how to tie barrels together and design a raft that didn't fall apart in the water (their raft held together while the other team's raft fell apart).
Both the abseiling for Miya and the archery for Mulan were first times for them. It was a great educational opportunity, and Miya even said that she enjoyed the abseiling the most out of her three activities.
So, yeah, a great day was had by all, except that we were so busy that we forgot to put sunblock on and our faces got a little pink!
Sunday 9 December 2018
Music concert
Belmont Music Centre had its end of year concert yesterday.
It was really enjoyable, and not just because Mulan and Miya were both performing.
Mulan played three different instruments in three different groups. Miya played two different instruments in two different groups.
Mulan's senior flute class (two students and their teacher) played one piece.
Mulan and Miya's senior recorder class (three students) played two pieces on three different sized recorders (soprano, alto and tenor).
And Mulan played the cello while Miya played the violin in the string band.
Both girls got a handful of certificates each for all the classes/groups they are in, and both got a medal (Mulan for senior flute and Miya for senior violin).
Over summer, Mulan will continue the music by having private cello lessons with her Music Centre teacher.
Next year, both girls will continue again at the Music Centre with their same instruments (Mulan with recorder, flute and cello; Miya with recorder and violin). Mulan also plans to have flute lessons with Gugu (alongside cousin Maria), working towards sitting the Grade 3 flute exam during the year.
And both girls will continue learning the ukulele with Yeye.
It was really enjoyable, and not just because Mulan and Miya were both performing.
Mulan played three different instruments in three different groups. Miya played two different instruments in two different groups.
Mulan's senior flute class (two students and their teacher) played one piece.
Mulan and Miya's senior recorder class (three students) played two pieces on three different sized recorders (soprano, alto and tenor).
And Mulan played the cello while Miya played the violin in the string band.
Both girls got a handful of certificates each for all the classes/groups they are in, and both got a medal (Mulan for senior flute and Miya for senior violin).
Over summer, Mulan will continue the music by having private cello lessons with her Music Centre teacher.
Next year, both girls will continue again at the Music Centre with their same instruments (Mulan with recorder, flute and cello; Miya with recorder and violin). Mulan also plans to have flute lessons with Gugu (alongside cousin Maria), working towards sitting the Grade 3 flute exam during the year.
And both girls will continue learning the ukulele with Yeye.
Thursday 6 December 2018
Book review: Harry Potter and the cursed child
Mulan and I finished reading Harry Potter and the Cursed Child recently.
Or, more accurately, within a couple of days of getting it out of the library, Mulan had read it twice through. I was a bit slower, and have only read it once. I think Mulan plans to read it a third time before returning it to the library.
Obviously, we're big Harry Potter fans, and this was a Harry Potter book, so all good, right? Well not quite.
I mean, we both still really enjoyed the book. The story was exciting and fun, as we learnt more about the familiar characters "19 years later" and more. The Time-Turner plot point was obviously put in so that the reader/play audience could conveniently do "back-tos" to the old, familiar Harry Potter school days times. And it worked in that sense, even though Time-Turners inevitably create plot holes and inconsistencies.
(Yeah, I'm not going to say any more about what happens in the story. I don't want to spoil anything for Miya, as she is only onto the third book.)
That the book was the script of a play, and not a novel, made the reading a bit different. But that was good too -- I liked that this enabled Mulan to read a different type of writing.
To me, though, the big problem was the story writing. It was just done badly. One thing I always like about Rowling's writing is that she knows how to string words together to make reading a pleasure. But in this case she apparently didn't actually write the story. I think I am right to say she had the story idea, and then the words were written by John Tiffany and Jack Thorne. And I don't think Tiffany and Thorne did a very good job.
I felt the writing was too simplistic. Everything was up front and on the surface. All the issues were (sometimes painfully) said out loud by the characters. It was dull and dumbed down, with no subtlety or character depth. This meant that many of the characters didn't seem like themselves -- they had turned into two-dimensional cartoon versions of themselves. Maybe this has something to do with the necessities of writing a play as opposed to a novel. Or, more precisely, maybe this has something to do with writing a play for a mass, pop audience. Did they think that anything that required a bit of brain power to process would scare away the ticket-buyers?
So, yeah, it was a book that was fun for already existing Harry Potter fans. But, objectively speaking, it was a so-so work -- if it didn't have the Harry Potter names attached to it, I probably wouldn't have bothered with it.
Or, more accurately, within a couple of days of getting it out of the library, Mulan had read it twice through. I was a bit slower, and have only read it once. I think Mulan plans to read it a third time before returning it to the library.
Obviously, we're big Harry Potter fans, and this was a Harry Potter book, so all good, right? Well not quite.
I mean, we both still really enjoyed the book. The story was exciting and fun, as we learnt more about the familiar characters "19 years later" and more. The Time-Turner plot point was obviously put in so that the reader/play audience could conveniently do "back-tos" to the old, familiar Harry Potter school days times. And it worked in that sense, even though Time-Turners inevitably create plot holes and inconsistencies.
(Yeah, I'm not going to say any more about what happens in the story. I don't want to spoil anything for Miya, as she is only onto the third book.)
That the book was the script of a play, and not a novel, made the reading a bit different. But that was good too -- I liked that this enabled Mulan to read a different type of writing.
To me, though, the big problem was the story writing. It was just done badly. One thing I always like about Rowling's writing is that she knows how to string words together to make reading a pleasure. But in this case she apparently didn't actually write the story. I think I am right to say she had the story idea, and then the words were written by John Tiffany and Jack Thorne. And I don't think Tiffany and Thorne did a very good job.
I felt the writing was too simplistic. Everything was up front and on the surface. All the issues were (sometimes painfully) said out loud by the characters. It was dull and dumbed down, with no subtlety or character depth. This meant that many of the characters didn't seem like themselves -- they had turned into two-dimensional cartoon versions of themselves. Maybe this has something to do with the necessities of writing a play as opposed to a novel. Or, more precisely, maybe this has something to do with writing a play for a mass, pop audience. Did they think that anything that required a bit of brain power to process would scare away the ticket-buyers?
So, yeah, it was a book that was fun for already existing Harry Potter fans. But, objectively speaking, it was a so-so work -- if it didn't have the Harry Potter names attached to it, I probably wouldn't have bothered with it.
Monday 3 December 2018
Ballet show
Mulan and Miya had their end of year ballet show over the weekend. This was for their ballet school, Rowe Dance, doing Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
They did two performances -- one on Saturday and one on Sunday. In total, probably a few hundred people watched the shows. Mama and I went to see it on Sunday, and it was awesome! It was a really well-arranged show, and the children danced beautifully.
Of course, I was totally proud of Mulan and Miya, as they both danced in three dances each.
For the past several weeks they have all been super-busy with their preparations, and last week Mulan was there practicing and performing for seven days in a row (Miya was only needed for six of the seven days!).
The school prize-giving was directly after Sunday's show, and Mulan was acknowledged as gaining the third equal best marks in the school for this year's RAD exams.
And with the show, ballet is over for the year. (Except for a one-off class next week taught by an RNZB dancer/choreographer.)
They did two performances -- one on Saturday and one on Sunday. In total, probably a few hundred people watched the shows. Mama and I went to see it on Sunday, and it was awesome! It was a really well-arranged show, and the children danced beautifully.
Of course, I was totally proud of Mulan and Miya, as they both danced in three dances each.
For the past several weeks they have all been super-busy with their preparations, and last week Mulan was there practicing and performing for seven days in a row (Miya was only needed for six of the seven days!).
The school prize-giving was directly after Sunday's show, and Mulan was acknowledged as gaining the third equal best marks in the school for this year's RAD exams.
And with the show, ballet is over for the year. (Except for a one-off class next week taught by an RNZB dancer/choreographer.)
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