Teaching Chinese at Home

[Brenda10]

wonderm:

tamarind:

I advise parents to buy one book of 笑猫日记 at a time, like what hquek has done. In case the child does not like to read it, then you don't waste money. 12 books will take up a lot of shelf space. It is not the very exciting, fun type of books so I don't expect all kids to like it.

You are right. My DS read 2 or 3 of them when he was in P4/P5 but he did not really enjoy it and when I tried reading it myself, I also found the content more suitable for girls. It was quite a waste as I bought the whole series.

Yes. Agree 笑猫日记 seems more suitable for girls. Perhaps 马小跳 will be more suitable for boys as dd rather goes for 窗边的小豆豆. I had get in 窗边的小豆豆 and 小时候就在想的事. If dd can complete the 2nd book (more tough than the 1st one) then will get in the balance 4 books.

[tamarind]

phankao:

wonderm:

[quote=\"tamarind\"]I advise parents to buy one book of 笑猫日记 at a time, like what hquek has done. In case the child does not like to read it, then you don't waste money. 12 books will take up a lot of shelf space. It is not the very exciting, fun type of books so I don't expect all kids to like it.

You are right. My DS read 2 or 3 of them when he was in P4/P5 but he did not really enjoy it and when I tried reading it myself, I also found the content more suitable for girls. It was quite a waste as I bought the whole series.

I could never find the books in popular, but i found in the library today and flipped thru them. The stories seem so juvenile. My p6 son wouldn't enjoy animal stories really. The only animal he possibly likes is probably the Monkey god. haha.[/quote]I do not agree that the stories are juvenile. If you do read every page of the book, you will find that the themes are very matured. The author uses animals to criticize certain aspects of human nature. My girl finds it very interesting, and I think it is also suitable for boys who are into good literature that is thought provoking, rather than action packed type of books.

[tamarind]

Brenda10:

Yes. Agree 笑猫日记 seems more suitable for girls. Perhaps 马小跳 will be more suitable for boys as dd rather goes for 窗边的小豆豆. I had get in 窗边的小豆豆 and 小时候就在想的事. If dd can complete the 2nd book (more tough than the 1st one) then will get in the balance 4 books.

Actually I find that 马小跳 has too much of a mainland China flavour, I am not too sure if local kids will find it relevant. Perhaps other mommies whose kids have read 马小跳 can comment.

[phankao]

tamarind:

phankao:

[quote=\"wonderm\"]
You are right. My DS read 2 or 3 of them when he was in P4/P5 but he did not really enjoy it and when I tried reading it myself, I also found the content more suitable for girls. It was quite a waste as I bought the whole series.

I could never find the books in popular, but i found in the library today and flipped thru them. The stories seem so juvenile. My p6 son wouldn't enjoy animal stories really. The only animal he possibly likes is probably the Monkey god. haha.

I do not agree that the stories are juvenile. If you do read every page of the book, you will find that the themes are very matured. The author uses animals to criticize certain aspects of human nature. My girl finds it very interesting, but I think it is suitable for boys who are into good literature that is thought provoking, rather than action packed type of books.[/quote]My boy likes chinese classic stories better. And stories with human interest.

[tamarind]

phankao:

My boy likes chinese classic stories better. And stories with human interest.

Then the choices will be very limited. There are very few Chinese classics.
If we want our kids to be good in Chinese, they must read large number of books. Reading just a few books are not good enough.

[phankao]

tamarind:

phankao:

My boy likes chinese classic stories better. And stories with human interest.

Then the choices will be very limited. There are very few Chinese classics.
If we want our kids to be good in Chinese, they must read large number of books. Reading just a few books are not good enough.

Yeah, i generally get them from 2nd hand bookstores. Popular doesn't have any suitable. But plenty from 2nd hand bookstores.

[tamarind]

phankao:

Yeah, i generally get them from 2nd hand bookstores. Popular doesn't have any suitable. But plenty from 2nd hand bookstores.

Just curious, what titles do you get ? What are considered Chinese classics by you ? Very few Chinese novels are written before 1900 :
http://www.chinapage.com/novels.html

After 1900 and before the cultural revolution, there are novels written by 鲁讯, 巴金, 冰心 etc, but I thought that these are considered Chinese literature rather than classics. I will be very surprised that kids nowadays like to read these books. There are also not enough of these books for kids.

[tamarind]

phankao:

tamarind:

[quote=\"phankao\"]
I could never find the books in popular, but i found in the library today and flipped thru them. The stories seem so juvenile. My p6 son wouldn't enjoy animal stories really. The only animal he possibly likes is probably the Monkey god. haha.

I do not agree that the stories are juvenile. If you do read every page of the book, you will find that the themes are very matured. The author uses animals to criticize certain aspects of human nature. My girl finds it very interesting, but I think it is suitable for boys who are into good literature that is thought provoking, rather than action packed type of books.

My boy likes chinese classic stories better. And stories with human interest.[/quote]I also want to clarify that although 笑猫日记 is about animals, the animals behave like humans, and these stories are indeed about human interests.

[phankao]

tamarind:

phankao:

Yeah, i generally get them from 2nd hand bookstores. Popular doesn't have any suitable. But plenty from 2nd hand bookstores.

Just curious, what titles do you get ? What are considered Chinese classics by you ? Very few Chinese novels are written before 1900 :
http://www.chinapage.com/novels.html

After 1900 and before the cultural revolution, there are novels written by 鲁讯, 巴金, 冰心 etc, but I thought that these are considered Chinese literature rather than classics. I will be very surprised that kids nowadays like to read these books. There are also not enough of these books for kids.

Basically most of the traditional stories. Yes, like those you've listed, and others like taotailang, stories about mengzi, kongzi, etc, etc. I will take photo of them later if & when I have time. It does take me a long time to find suitable books for him (& for pri level student).

[Callie Tan]

Hi all,


Thanks for the advise and suggestions and I will heed them by borrowing from the library and see whether my girl enjoys the book or not.