Korean Kids Song Sunday: I'm a Little Teapot 작은 주전자예요

"I'm a Little Teapot" is a definite favorite of kids probably due to the easy hand motions.  I'm having trouble finding a you-tube video of the song in Korean. But it is easily found in English.
So, instead, I'm including a page of my favorite Korean kids song book by Samsung Publishers.  This book/CD combo includes 40 songs, its lyrics, sheet music and illustrations of the handmotions.  I have purchased 3 books in this series and a few of their iphone apps too.



Lyrics in English:
I'm a little teapot short and stout
Here is my handle, here is my spout
When I get all steamed up, hear me shout!
Tip me over and pour me out


Lyrics in Korean:
나는 작고 뚱뚱한 주전자
손잡이 있고 주둥이 있죠
보글보글 물이 끊으면
쭉 기울 여따라 주세요


Romanization/Transliteration:
nah-neun jah-ggoh ddoong-ddoong-han joo-jun-ja
sohn-jahb-ee eet-goh joo-doong-ee eet-jyo
boh-geul boh-geul mool-eul ggeu-reu-myun
jjook gee-ool yuh-ddah-rah joo-seh-yoh


Translation: (is pretty similar to the English lyrics..but I guess the Korean teapots just don't steam and shout)
I'm a fat teapot
I have a handle and a spout
When my water starts to boil
Tip and pour me out.


PS: I entered the Lyrics into Google Translate and this is what I got:

I have a small kettle fatHandle and spout'sIf you disconnect the water SpongeBob SquarePantsPlease pay straight yeottara

Where "SpongeBob Square Pants" comes from, I really really don't know. 

iPhone app: 한글루

I've been downloading and testing out a bunch of *free* iPhone apps.  The free version of 한글루 (han-gul loo) is pretty good and from what I can tell, the full paid version would be a great learning tool for kids maybe 3 years old and older.  It's also a great app for adults learning to write hangeul and learning vocabulary.






Swipe the star to the right to start.






The main menu shows 3 options:
1) 한글 쓰기: (han-gul sseu-gee) practice the stroke order for writing han-gul characters.





If you want the entire alphabet (or without adds) you have to buy the full version, which is $3.99.






2) 낱말 쓰기: (naht-mahl sseu-gi) writing vocabulary.






3) 한글게임: (han-guel game): (sorry...no pictures).  For the "game," the audio give you one syllable at a time and you have to pick the right characters to spell out the multi-syllabic vocab word like balloon, camera, chick, etc.  This would actually be good practice for my Korean-learning husband who recognizes the characters and their sounds.

Korean Kids Song Sunday: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star 작은별

야후! 꾸러기 동요
	작은별 반짝반짝 작은 별 아름답게 비치네 동쪽 하늘에서도 서쪽 하..

Other You-tube finds:
Blond-haired, blue-eyed Kids singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in Korean and in English! If they can do, my kids can do it!
Cute Korean girl singing with handmotions!


Lyrics in Korean:
반짝반짝 작은 별 아름답게 비치네 
동쪽 하늘에서도   서쪽 하늘에서도 
반짝반짝 작은 별 아름답게 비치네


Korean Lyrics translated into English:
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star beautifully shines
In the western sky, in the eastern sky
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star beautifully shines


Transliteration:
ban-jjak ban-jjak ja-geun byul ah-reum-dab-geh bee-chee-neh
dong-jjok hah-neul-eh-suh-doh    suh-jjok hah-neul-eh-suh-doh
ban-jjak ban-jjak ja-geun byul ah-reum-dab-geh bee-chee-neh

Korean Kids Song Sunday: English Kids Songs with Korean Lyrics

Sorry! I've missed quite a few Korean Kids Song Sundays as life has gotten REALLY REALLY busy lately. Our friends with their cute Korean kids stayed at our house this weekend so I got to practice some of my Korean songs with them.  Because of their Konglish-ness, traditionally English songs sung in Korean lyrics tend to be favorites since the tunes are so familiar.  Usually, when English songs are Korean-nized, the outcome can be slightly disturbing due to translation errors or forced translations, but I've found a few that are pretty good:

Head, shoulders, knees and toes*
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Eensy Weensy Spider
I'm a Little Teapot
10 Little Indians
It's a Small World
Little Cabin in the Woods

*I'm going to try to update this blog with these English children's songs.

Baby's First 100 words in Korean

Do you think that the first 100 words that the Korean baby learns is the same as the first 100 words that the American baby learns?

I've been trying to do some google searches for a list of the Korean baby's first 100 words.  I thought it would be a good starting point.
I came across this great audio book: Baby's First Words in Chinese (newborn to 2 years old) but would love to find it in Korean.
Then I came across a scholarly article that studied the content of a baby's first words in English, Chinese and Cantonese, which said a lot of things I didn't understand, but I sorta get what they're saying here:

... although one cannot make generalities at the level of word class (e.g., children learn nouns or verbs), one can make generalities within word classes— children learn terms to describe people (whether kinship terms or individual names), concrete, manipulable object nouns, action verbs, and so on. In all three languages, the common nouns that children learned were manipulable objects that children encountered in their homes, or animals, rather than larger household objects or outside things

Finally, I have been coming across of lots of resources for the native Korean speaker trying to teach their child English.  My impression is that many Korean parents are also gungho about setting up their children for success by starting them early on learning English AND Mandarin Chinese. So there are books, websites, apps, DVDs, CDs, etc, that teach English to Korean speakers, which I would imagine works the other way...teaching Korean to English speakers.

This Korean parenting website tells parents that baby's who know a lot of words in English will be the final victor in the fight.  (Fight against what...I'm not sure!).  They advise parents to teach their children vocab words by topic instead of word by word.  Here's the words they offer:

◎ 신체부위

 body    몸

 hands  손

 legs     다리

 face     얼굴

 mouth   입

 ears     귀

 teeth    이

 feet      발

 nose    코

 eyes    눈


◎ 음식

apple    사과

 potato   감자

 carrot   당근

 egg      달걀

 bread   빵

 cake    케이크

candy    사탕

 milk      우유

 water   물

◎ 사람~가족

 baby    아기

 boy      소년

 girl       소녀

 brother 남자형제

 sister   여자형제
mother   어머니

 father   아버지

 man     남자

 woman 여자

◎ 동물

 bear     곰

 cat       고양이

 cow     소

 dog      개

 elephant           코끼리

 fish      물고기

 fox       여우

 horse   말

 lion      사자

 monkey 원숭이

 pig       돼지

 rabbit   토끼

◎ 행동

 eat       먹다

 sleep   자다

 go        가다

 come    오다

 stand   서다

 sit        앉다

 run       뛰다

 walk     걷다

 cry       울다

 dance  춤추다

 drink    마시다

 listen    듣다

 look     보다

 read     읽다

 speak   말하다

 swim    수영하다

 watch   보다

 write    쓰다

◎ 탈것

airplane 비행기

 boat     보트

 bus      버스

 car       자동차

 ship     배

 train     기차

taxi       택시

◎ 의복

clothes  옷

 dress   원피스

 hat       모자

 shirt     티셔츠

 glasses            안경

socks    양말

 skirt     치마

 pants   바지

◎ 주변 사물

balloon  풍선

 ball      공

 bed      침대

 clock    시계

 doll      인형

 door     문

fork       포크

 spoon  숟가락

 table    탁자

 telephone         전화기

 window            창문

◎ 자연

flower    꽃

 grass   풀

 moon    달

 sun      해

 rain      비

 mountain           산

 river     강

snow    눈

 star      별

 tree      나무

◎ 시간

morning 아침

 night    밤

 afternoon          오후

 month   달

 time      시간
 week    일주일 

Vocab

TTMIK Quiz: Korean Emoticons ㅋㅋㅋ

So, you know how =) means happy...what doesㅎㅎ mean?  You can take the Talk To Me In Korean's Quiz on Korean Emoticons to find out!! 

I scored very low.  So I copied and pasted the answers for you.  Call it a cheat sheet.

Happy:
ㅎㅎ comes from 하하 (haha) and it represents laughter.
ㅇㅋ comes from 오키 (oh-kee), which is a short form for 오케이 (Okay).
ㅋㅋㅋ comes from 크크크, (kekeke)which represents the giggling sound, so it has the same meaning as ㅎㅎㅎ
^^ represents a smiling face, 
 ㅍㅎㅎ is 푸하하 and has the same meaning as ㅎㅎ or ㅎㅎㅎ. 


Sad:
ㅉㅉ comes from 쯧쯧, which shows disappointment or sympathy (as in Tsk Tsk)
ㅜ.ㅜ represents a crying face, with tears flowing down the cheeks from two closed eyes.
ㅠ_ㅠ is a sad face with tears dropping.
ㅡ.ㅔ represents a face of someone who is not excited and has long hair covering half of their face.
 -_- is also a sad look, 
;;; represents sweat or embarrassment.


Other:
ㅇㅇ comes from 응 (eung)which indicates yes
^^a, the letter "a" represents a hand and a finger scracthing one's head.
ㄷㄷㄷ comes from the word 덜덜덜 (duhl, duhl, duhl), which describes a way in which someone shivers or trembles from shock or amazement. (equivalent to OMG).

Blogshare: Teaching Children to Read and Write in More Than One Orthography: Tips for Parent

Multilingual Living blog recently posted an article called: Teaching Children to Read and Write in More than One Orthography: Tips for Parents.  It's an excellent, academic yet practical article.  I'll probably continue to refer to the post and the author for more information about multi-lingual development, but I'm taking away 3 points for now:

1.     Our child can learn the Korean alphabet at the same time as the English alphabet..."There are no rules with regard to how many writing systems a child can learn at once.  Human learning capacity is highly adaptable. In general, children certainly have the capacity to learn more than one writing system..."

2.     There's lots more to think about..."practically you may want to mull over several factors that will affect your children’s multiliteracy progress: For example, your own literacy competence, your availability, your support, and your children’s developmental characteristics."

3.     Come up with a plan and revise as necessary..."All in all, some sort of planning and decision need to be made before you begin your home literacy teaching. The experiences of many parents suggest that the crucial step in teaching heritage literacy successfully at home is that you have to have a plan in place before you start, although you can change or modify your plan any time if it does not work.”

Reading articles like this get me excited, because it leads me to believe, “by golly, maybe we CAN be somewhat successful in developing some fluency in our children in multiple languages besides English!” 

The plan for now is that I continue to develop my own literacy and fluency in Korean (reading children’s books, increasing my vocabulary, practicing conversational Korean, studying grammar, and gaining confidence).  So, when baby comes, I can try to speak 100% Korean and begin teaching the Korean writing system.  Since Husband and I speak English to each other and English is all around us, it will come naturally.  Immersing our children in Korean will require intentional and planned efforts, which starts now…before baby comes. 

Korean Kids Song Sunday: Sprouting Love 싹트네

I really love this Korean Kids Song and after you watch this video, you will see why:
So fun right? Catchy tune, there's actually only 4 lines of lyrics (3 of them repeating), and it's about love that sprouts from the heart!!
Youtube videos:
Cute kiddo
Girl sings greetings to her grammas (할머니) and grandpas (할아버지). If you don't think that you can follow the dance moves to the 1st you-tube video: these motions are pretty fun and simple...as the sprouts get bigger and bigger.

싹트네 율동영상 from 우리미디어 on Vimeo.

Lyrics in Korean 싹트네 싹터요 내 마음에 사랑이
싹트네 싹터요 내 마음에 사랑이
 밀려오는 파도처럼 내 마음에 사랑이
싹트네 싹터요 내 마음에 사랑이
2nd time: 기쁨이 3rd time: 감사가
Transliteration/Romanization: ssak-teu-neh ssak-tuh-yoh neh mah-eum-eh sah-rahng-ee ssak-teu-neh ssak-tuh-yoh neh mah-eum-eh sah-rahng-ee meel-yuh-oh-neun pah-doh-chuh-rum neh mah-eum-eh sah-rahng-ee ssak-teu-neh ssak-tuh-yoh neh mah-eum-eh sah-rahng-ee Conversion into English It's sprouting, It's sprouted in my heart is love [the sprout that sprouts from my heart is love] It's sprouting, It's sprouted in my heart is love pushing through like a wave in my heart is love It's sprouting, It's sprouted in my heart is love

Hangul Charts - Great learning tool

I found these great colorful hangul charts that show all the combinations of the Korean alphabet:

• 14 consonants
• 5 double consonants 
• 10 vowels
• 11 compound vowels. 

 The greyed out characters indicate low usage.  They are in A4 size which is the typical papersize in Asia. But you can save the jpg and print it out "scale to fit."

I would love to see a version without romanization/transliteration since I just don't read "guh" when I see "거" romanized as  "geo."  Anyone else?

Anyway, I think its a great practice tool.  However, when I tried using it with my husband he kept cheating by looking at the English.  For kids, I would definitely invest in those brightly colored wall posters, but they usually don't cover the double consonants and compound vowels.

The designer is Byeong Cho.