Ever since Kaia started at her Chinese immersion school for 3K, she has been a lot more receptive to Chinese language and songs. Around Lunar New Year, she was excited to listen to and sing a number of Chinese New Year related songs. In the weeks leading up to the end of the 3K school year, she was constantly singing parts of “Gan Xie Lao Shi” (Thank you, Teacher). When I’d play the song on YouTube for her to listen, she’d always get really excited. Based on playing this a number of times, YouTube suggested a few related songs, like “Mama, Wo Ai Ni” (Mama, I Love You) and “Ting Wo Shuo Xie Xie Ni” (Hear Me Say Thank you), plus a few others. And Kaia’s really gotten into them. We’ve only played them a handful of times, but she’s already getting most of the words correct. I am not a native Mandarin speaker by any means and do not always understand even the basic kids’ songs word for word, especially when they sing very fast. I usually will understand the gist or meaning, but I won’t always get every word or word’s meaning correct. Kaia, on the other hand, had only heard one of the songs just a handful of times, and she was actually able to pronounce even the non-chorus words correctly! It was really sweet and endearing to witness this. I love seeing her embrace Chinese language and culture; I actually feel warm and fuzzy on the inside when I see this happening and just want to squeeze her in my arms.

I don’t know how fluent or literate Kaia will become in Mandarin Chinese; my basic hope is that she will surpass my extremely rudimentary knowledge. But I do hope that this exposure lays a basic foundation for understanding and appreciation of Chinese language and culture.