Cantonese Families Meetup #6

Hi all!

We will be meeting closer to the Westside this time. We'll also be creating more structured, dedicated Cantonese time for the kids. We will try out a 20-30 minute Cantonese circle time with some short songs, interactive book reading, and perhaps a short activity. These will all be designed to be engaging for a variety of ages (mainly thinking ~1-6yo). Be prepared to circle up with your kids and help facilitate hopefully a fun and enriching short program!

Since it's 5 days before 中秋節 (Mid Autumn Fest), we'll use this opportunity to talk about the festival and center some of our activities/discussions around this. If you can, please bring a 月餅 (mooncake) to share!

The rest of the time will be free time for play, chat, and community building. Cantonese is always encouraged, but there's no pressure.

Picnic blanket recommended but no fret if you show up without one.

1 RSVP per family
Whether or not you're bringing your fam, please RSVP for just yourself to leave space for others to RSVP (we're capped by Meetup to 10 RSVP guests).

How my personal journey is going:
My daughter just turned 2 and is extremely talkative. She mostly speaks in English but will say random things in Cantonese. She can say her colors, animals, most fruit and foods, and can point to all the right body parts (but isn't saying them yet). She is mostly calling out nouns/verbs and doesn't yet make full sentences in Cantonese (she ONCE said "爹啲食麵包", but mostly it's a mix like "big 飛機"). I consider this to be a mild miracle considering how often I (don't) speak to her in Cantonese (a mix of my own Canto limitations, and my perceived ability for her to understand instructions/respond to me when I say more unfamiliar things in Canto). Let's all support and encourage each other and our kids!

Intentions:

• Create a fun, friendly, and supportive community
• Improve each other's Cantonese by providing more opportunities to speak and learn - both for parents and kids
• Bond with other Cantonese-speaking parents (or non-Canto parents trying to learn) and share the joys and challenges of trying to raise Cantonese-speaking humans
• Normalize Cantonese for our kids by creating a place where other kids also speak Cantonese
• Promote Cantonese language and culture, and both surface and serve the Canto-speaking community scattered throughout LA
• Share tips and Canto resources

If you can't make this date/time, but are interested in the group, please message me. I'd love to hear from you.