Nice to meet you! I’m a mother of 3, engineer, believer and day dreamer.
I live in the heartlands of the beautiful city-state island of Singapore. I love sharing learning moments with my family, and hope some of these tips will help you, especially if you’re also in Singapore and embarking on a bilingual Chinese-English parenting journey.
The term “Lah Lah Banana” refers to our mixed-heritage family: yellow on the outside, white on the inside. Whilst many are surprised to learn that neither my husband nor I speak Chinese, they’re more surprised that my children speak almost fluent Chinese. No, we haven’t invested in expensive mainland Chinese nannies, tuition or private schooling, we’re achieving it through focus on interactive methods where we can all learn together, with minimal effort or cost.
This blog primarily is about about learning Chinese with our little Bananas, and helping them to understand their yellow side a little more, lah! If you’re lost on exactly where to start, this summary page lists the resources we couldn’t have done without on our language journey.
Parenting can be overwhelming at times (which might be when I don’t update this blog for months!), especially in Singapore, with many competing pressures from outside influences. That’s why in our house we try to keep it simple and carefree. There are many ways to be right and everyone’s journey will be different – and if this helps simplify some of your journey, I’m delighted.
I am passionate about building strong, loving and resilient families. We love volunteering and giving back to others. This blog is part of that spirit of giving and helping. My family and I can often be found on a weekend doing community work – activities we’ve been involved with range from the soup kitchen at Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2), gardening in the National Parks, Riding for the Disabled, singing songs a Lions Befrienders Elderly homes, activities at the local Community Club, and of course, our church.
I’m trying to do things a little differently – to create resilient, creative and caring kids, in a local school system which focuses on academics; to create true bilingual children, despite parents not speaking any Mandarin; and to create children with a love of the outdoors and nature, in an urban setting. Most importantly, I want to rear God-fearing children who bear fruit for God and abide in Jesus.
There’s no Instagram, no affiliations, nothing fancy here. Just some simple reviews of what we’ve enjoyed as a family. Perhaps I’m a dinosaur persisting with a blog, but I wanted to fill the gap for those who are struggling to keep up with the children’s Chinese, or interested in home learning options.
Hope you enjoy the reading, and if you find anything useful (or not), feel free to reach out and ask, either via the ‘contact me’ form, or through IG / FB.