动物朋友
dòngwù péngyou — Animal Friends
📐 Standards alignment
ACTFL World-Readiness: Communication (interpretive, interpersonal) · Cultures (animals in Chinese stories and the zodiac) · Connections (animals and where they live, in science)
Can-Do targets (NCSSFL-ACTFL, Novice Low):
- I can name six animals in Chinese when I see a picture or a toy.
- I can say which animal is my favourite.
- I can add one small word to make an animal word mean “baby”.
Learning objectives
- Recognise and say six everyday animal words
- Use 小 xiǎo + an animal to mean “little” or “baby”
- Match an animal noise to the right Chinese name
Materials
Soft toys or animal picture cards, if you have them. Optional: paper and crayons for the homework poster, and a real pet to point at.
Prior knowledge
Units 1–6. Unit 2’s four tones come back today — 马 mǎ is one of the tone words your child has already met, so it should feel like bumping into an old friend.
Key vocabulary
猫 狗 鸟 鱼 马 兔子
What does a dog say in Chinese?
Go round the animals in English first, making all the noises — moo, woof, neigh, tweet — and get thoroughly silly. Then ask the question that starts the lesson: “Do you think a dog in China says woof?” It does not. It says 汪汪 wāng wāng, and a cat says 喵喵 miāo miāo. Animal noises are different in every language, and that surprise is the best possible doorway into today’s words.
Six animals to meet
Tap each card to flip it over. Look at the characters, say the word out loud, then check the back for the meaning — and press 🔊 to hear it.
The little word 小
小 xiǎo means “small”. Put it in front of an animal and you get the baby version, or just the cuddly one: 小猫 xiǎomāo (kitty), 小狗 xiǎogǒu (puppy), 小鸟 xiǎoniǎo (little bird), 小兔子 xiǎotùzi (bunny). Children take to this straight away, and it is the first time in this course that one Chinese word bolts onto another to build a new one.
Soft-toy parade
Line up every stuffed animal in the house. Hold one up, say its Chinese name, and your child repeats it and gives the animal a cuddle. Then swap over — your child holds one up and you have to name it. Get one wrong on purpose: being the one who corrects a grown-up is every five-year-old’s favourite part of any lesson.
Memory game — find the pairs
Every Chinese word has its English meaning hiding somewhere in the grid. Tap two cards to see if they match.
Find the matching pairs!
Listen and choose
Press each play button and pick what you heard.
1. Press play. Which animal did you hear?
2. Press play. Which animal did you hear?
3. Press play. Which animal did you hear?
Guess my animal
One person acts out an animal — movement only, no noises allowed — and everyone else shouts the Chinese name. Whoever gets it first acts next. For a calmer version, hide the soft toys behind a cushion and reveal one ear, one tail or one paw at a time until somebody names it.
Show what you know
1. Which word means “dog”?
2. Your neighbour’s cat has had a kitten. What would you call it?
3. Which animal is 马 mǎ?
Great work!
Today your child met six animals — 猫, 狗, 鸟, 鱼, 马 and 兔子 — and learned that 小 in front of any of them makes it small and sweet. Animal words are wonderful early vocabulary because the world is full of chances to use them: a dog in the park, a bird on the fence, a fish in a tank. Lesson 2 takes a trip to the zoo for the big ones.
Take it home
My animal poster
Draw your favourite animal from today in the box. Underneath, copy its Chinese characters as carefully as you can — drawing them, not writing them, is exactly the right idea at this age. Then say the word out loud three times to whoever is nearby.
Name: Date:
Animal hunt
Find today’s animals out in the real world this week — on a walk, out of the car window, in a book, on a screen. Every time you spot one, say its Chinese name out loud and colour in a star.
Note for teachers & parents
Pacing: this lesson is short and very physical, so it works well in one sitting. If attention runs out, do the flashcards and the soft-toy parade today and save the acting game for tomorrow — it works just as well as a review.
Watch for: 狗 gǒu (dog) and 马 mǎ (horse) are both third tone and both one syllable, so they blur together at first. Slow right down on the dipping tone: the voice goes down and then back up, like a little valley. Exaggerating it is fine — children copy the shape before they copy the sound.