For parents who would like to find a suitable music teacher for their children in their area, here is a directory of music teachers:

www.musicstaff.com

School Aged Children: Since cost cutting measures many school districts have taken, music is hardly taught in school any more. If your child has not taken any music lessons yet, make sure your child is exposed to different kinds of music. One trick that worked for me was, playing classical music channel while we had to drive in car. Having a busy schedule, like most people nowadays, we spent a long time in car, and I took opportunity to play classical music from radio, or from CD's.

A highly recommended activity that children love, is learning to play an instrument "by ear". This is an excellent method of strengthening audio memory of your child. This will have a profound effect on your child's learning ability. A good program for learning to play guitar by ear is provided by Jamorama. This program is an excellent place to start, until your child is ready to go to music lessons, or if it's difficult for you to enroll your child in guitar lessons at moment. Your child can use this program at privacy of your own home. He will learn to play popular music, and maybe later will be interested in classical guitar.

Whether your child is taking music lessons or not, playing an instrument or not, make sure to provide for your child ample of opportunities to listen to music, and to watch other people playing a variety of instruments. When my son was about 13, he has requested to go to a concert of a popular band. We wanted to support him, and thought that it would be a great opportunity for us all to enjoy music together, so my husband and I bought 3 tickets to concert. The music was so loud, that we could not take it. As we left concert hall, a savvy fan has offered to give us a par of ear plugs. We went back in, and enjoyed rest of concert with our son, who was having a great time! In my son's opinion, we were coolest parents, making it possible for him to attend concert, and enjoying evening with him. You want to expose your child to many types and styles of music, not just what he is naturally exposed by his friends. Go to concerts together, (even if style of music is not your favorite).

Let your child listen to "oldies", he might like it! Tell him stories about old singers, especially singers that you like and admire.

Summary: Music is an excellent tool to increase your child's intelligence and his audio memory and discrimination, while enriching his enjoyment in life. It gives your child opportunity to meet other children their age, participate in recitals and bands, and excel in one more area. It is advantageous for children of all ages, from infant to college students (and adults), and gives you, parent, opportunity to enjoy this activity with your children and strengthen your bond and friendship with your child.

To find out more about activities you can do with your child to develop his intelligence, go to www.all-gifted-children.com.

tángdì(younger) Mother's brother's son biaoge(elder)

biadì (younger)

I am sure this table can be endless knowing that one can have as big a family as possible. However, simply from above, one can imagine how complicated it works when calling someone in your family in China. That is why it is not surprising that very often one doesn't know how to call someone when they meet in a Chinese New Year family gathering. What you need to know is that you always see this person every time you meet with your family and you can eat together at same table.

Very often these days as well that sometimes my mother refers to someone about something in family and she expects me to know who she is talking about. Well, case is that I can hardly recall what this person looks like.....

In China, with One-Child policy started over 2 decades ago, I think this system may not be as commonly used as before.