“中文游乐园-Chinese Learning Playground” is a Mandarin Chinese study group for school-age children. This program is led by volunteer native-Chinese-speaking parents, and teaches Chinese through an immersive setting to two tiers of learners — Advanced and Junior. The Advanced group is suitable for students with several years of Chinese learning experience. This year’s sessions follow an adaptation of the classic Chinese novel, Journey to the West,  to reinforce and expand a learner’s vocabulary and communication skills. The Junior group hosts lower elementary kids, teaching the language through reading folk rhymes and simple stories in Chinese, as well as memorizing and writing Chinese characters. The sessions sometimes incorporate games, crafts, and puzzles to keep the learning experience fun and engaging.

中文游乐园-Chinese learning playground is currently organized by four volunteer parents:

• Xiaoqing Zhu, a research scientist working on video coding and streaming, whose favorite activity is reciting and chatting about Chinese poetry along with her daughter.
• Wendy You, a college finance professor, who finds it more challenging to teach her two daughters than to teach a college class.
• Nan Jiang, a Ph.D. from UT Austin and the Data Science Practice Lead at her firm, has always been passionate about helping people, especially her American-born kids, to understand and appreciate the rich Chinese culture and history, including its difficult-to-learn but fascinating language.
• Qiong Zeng, a data scientist on mobile games and automobiles, has two daughters and enjoys teaching kids Chinese and Chinese cultures.

This month, Women in Print is being offered simultaneously online and in-person.

Click here to join Women in Print, online or come to Laura’s Library to join us in-person.

If you’re having difficulties, please refer to Zoom’s support information. Westbank Library is unable to provide tech assistance during the program. Please contact questions@westbanklibrary.com if you would like to schedule tech help or if you would like additional information regarding this library program.

Led by library staff, this book club reads and discusses books focusing on women’s perspective of the world. Their reading list includes literary fiction, non-fiction, and some classic titles. Join the group on the fourth Saturday of the month at 3 p.m and on the third Saturday of the month in May, November and December.

2023 Reading Selections

• January 28^th: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo: a novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• February 25^th: Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy
• March 25^th: Horse by Geraldine Brooks
• April 22^nd: Euphoria: a novel by Lily King
• May 20^th: The Measure: a novel by Nikki Erlick
• June 24^th: Lessons in Chemistry: a novel by Bonnie Garmus
• July 22^nd: Hope and Glory by Jendella Benson
• August 26^th: The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka
• September 23^rd: The Good Wife of Bath: a (mostly) true story by Karen Stormer Brooks
• October 28^th: The Daughter of Doctor Moreau: a novel by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• November 18^th: The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
• December 16^th: I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

Please read these ground rules ahead of the conversation:

• Please keep your camera on for the discussion and provide your name.
• Mute if there is background noise.
• Respect the privacy of others by not reporting what you hear in this conversation with any specificity or attribution.
• Be respectful and listen when others are speaking.
• Allow everyone’s voice to be heard that wants to be heard.

You’re never too young for storytime! Our littlest book lovers stroll in to Infant Storytime to hear fun songs, stories, and fingerplays, followed by open free-play with other wee ones. Designed for children from 0 to 12 months old.