Doctor, Doctor!
Like it or not, parenting can be tiring while juggling with many other things at the same time. In a previous post, I talked about activities you can do to continue to boost your child's Cantonese exposure when you're tired. And here is another activity you can do with your child while snuggling under a blanket on the couch - pretend play doctor!
Before you can flop down onto the couch and be the "patient", you have to spend a little time to teach your child some Cantonese words you need for this activity. Oh and it's time to invest in a toy medical kit! Here are a hospital themed A3 poster and some flashcards to help you get started. Go over the new words with your child as usual. To practice the new words, you can recruit your child's favorite stuffed animal friends as patients. Have your child play the doctor and you the nurse, so the doctor can tell you - in Cantonese - what she needs to help the patients. When your child is familiar with the new words, you can get some rest by leaving your kid to cure the stuffed animals or lying on the couch as a very sick patient.
Here are some useful words/phrases for this pretend play activity:
Doctor, what do you need?
醫生，你需要乜野？
(Jyutping: ji1 sang1 nei5 seoi1 jiu3 mat1 je5)
What's the problem? (Literal translation: Where's your discomfort?)
你邊度唔舒服？
(Jyutping: nei5 bin1 dou6 m4 syu1 fuk6)
I have a fever.
我發燒。
(Jyutping: ngo5 faat3 siu1)
I fell.
我跌親。
(Jyutping: ngo5 dit3 can1)
You need a shot.
你要打針。
(Jyutping: nei5 jiu3 daa1 zam1)
Take a deep breath.
深呼吸。
(Jyutping: sam1 fu1 kap1)
Breath in, breath out.
吸氣，呼氣。
(Jyutping: kap1 hei3 fu1 hei3)
My tummy/head hurts.
我 肚／頭／手指／腳 痛。
(Jyutping: ngo5 tou5 / tau4 / sau2 zi2 / goek3 tung3)
To make the pretend play more real and interesting, bring out some real stuff - like band-aids, face masks, medical gloves (醫生手套, Jyutping: ji1 sang1 sau2 tou3), cotton balls (棉花球; Jyutping: min4 faa1 kau4), bandages (繃帶; Jyutping: bang1 daai3), etc.. Last time I even gave my daughter a keyboard, a calculator, a little notebook, and a pen - so she could catch up on her doctor administrative work while the patient (aka mommy) took a nap. Well, I didn't manage to take a nap but it did buy me a good half hour of quiet time.
Does your child like pretend play too? What's her favorite theme?
