Bilingual learning

I use to feel reasonably happy that I could hold my own in Chinese. Ok, I guess what I really want to say is, my Chinese use to be better than my kids. I use to tell them how to say things, etc. Nowadays, they do that for me. 

There are words that I just don't know in Chinese. Like the names of the Marvel superheroes, "Iron Man, Captain America, etc." I don't very effectively explain chess rules in Chinese. My grammar and vocab isn't as stellar as it could be. Lately, my 6 year old steps in and says, "Don't worry, I can explain it." And the thing is, he does it 100% better than I can. It's great. I learn new words and ways to say things from him. Humbling. My 4 year old is catching up too. Kids pick things up fast. 

I went for a recent parent teacher conference. She told me great things and encouraged us about how are kids are doing. And then told me that she's concerned about his pinyin. It's essentially spelling out the characters and using the right sounds for them. We weren't really able to skip out on it (not really necessary to learn.) but even as the year comes to 

A few months ago one of our friends came to us and asked if we realized some of the words our son picked up. It appears he picked up some bad language. He didn't understand that they weren't ok to say. My DH sat down with him and clarified which words weren't ok.  We had some talks with his teacher and things improved at school.

Local life isn't always easy. People love to touch my kids, people relate in different ways and the kids get a lot of attention. But as they've learned the language they've grown in confidence and feeling settled here. I'm happy when we walk outside and kids call them by their names. Grateful.