Teaching Chinese at Home

[tamarind]

MyBaby:

Found this story book - 小男生杜歌飞 in a book store in Bras Basah (#03-07, can't remember name of store). It is about a 7 yrs old boy starting Pri 1, his school encounters, friends and escapades.


I have been readng the stories aloud to DS after dinner and he loves the stories. He would ask me to read about 4 chapters in one-go (each Chapter is about 4 pgs).

The language used, vocabulary and themes explored are contemporary (unlike some story books from China which use 'traditional'/'localised' vocabulary and sentence structures which make reading awkward due to frequent stops to explain such terms and meaning of sentences).

There is also hanyu pinyin. I know there are some parents who prefer books with no hanyu pinyin but I think this book makes good transition from 四五快读 as most of the words are found in 四五快读 and with hanyu pin yin to guide, I should think it makes good transition. As DS is still half way through book 4 of 四五快读, I decided to read aloud to him. Will ask him to try reading this book when he \"graduates\" from 四五快读.

I would definitely recommend this book for boys who are starting Pri 1 - helps them to prepare/look forward to formal school life. There is a girl equivalent - 小女生金贝贝.

Thanks for the recommendation.
小男生杜歌飞 and 小女生金贝贝 are also by 杨红樱 who is the author of 笑猫日记.
http://product.dangdang.com/product.aspx?product_id=20936081

I agree with you that the language used, vocabulary and themes explored are contemporary, that is 杨红樱's style in all her books and I guess that is what make her so popular.

[tamarind]

keltong:

Found 多啦A梦 at Sembawang Shopping Centre Popular today. I think I will finish reading before my boy...haha....saw 18 books in the series (not sure got more or not) and bought 6. This is for my P5 boy who HATES chinese. Haiz...hope to read with him to generate more interest.


For my K1 boy, while waiting for 四五快读 (gonna take 6 weeks), I bought the 基础汉字500 (recommended at the beginning of the thread) to start with him first. Can I just jump straight into it or need other preparation to start the 基础汉字500? Bought it at causeway point popular, they have the entire series there.

You can use 基础汉字500 straight away, it starts with one letter on the first page and slowly builds up.

I bought the color version, see the links in the next post. When my girl first read 多啦A梦, I also had to read with her. She read every word out loud and I helped her with words that she did not know. She liked the books so much, she read them over and over again. She found the conversations very interesting, and even memorized the lines and repeated them to me

[tamarind]

jollyme:

I can't find xiao ding dang books in dang dang website leh. Can only see their Doraemon DVDs. Can someone help pls? tks!

tamarind:

The new ones are from China, all in simplified Chinese.

I still have all my old 小叮当 books , but they are in traditional Chinese so I bought new ones for my kids. My girl loves these books.

Her new favourite is 甜甜私房猫 :
http://product.dangdang.com/product.aspx?product_id=20839319
Very cute series of comics.

In China 小叮当 is called 哆啦A梦 Look for them in Popular first, they are selling quite cheap.

I recommend this version of 哆啦A梦. There are 6 books, all in colour, and the words are bigger and a lot easier to read.
哆啦A梦1（彩色收藏版）
http://product.dangdang.com/product.aspx?product_id=9165243&ref=search-1-pub
哆啦A梦2（彩色收藏版）
http://product.dangdang.com/product.aspx?product_id=9165244&ref=search-1-pub

I bought all 6 books from Popular.

Book 1 is essential, the first story explains how and why 哆啦A梦 came to live with 大雄.

[ksme]

keltong:

Found 多啦A梦 at Sembawang Shopping Centre Popular today. I think I will finish reading before my boy...haha....saw 18 books in the series (not sure got more or not) and bought 6. This is for my P5 boy who HATES chinese. Haiz...hope to read with him to generate more interest.


For my K1 boy, while waiting for 四五快读 (gonna take 6 weeks), I bought the 基础汉字500 (recommended at the beginning of the thread) to start with him first. Can I just jump straight into it or need other preparation to start the 基础汉字500? Bought it at causeway point popular, they have the entire series there.

My son started reading Doraemon comics at end p3 to early p4 last year. After some encouragement from school teacher and me, he progressed to read Chinese students novel by end last year. The comics was good way to get him to read Chinese storybooks as a start.

I am sure your boy will like them.

[tamarind]

porcupine12trade:

The comics look so cute, i want to order. I like to ask a question on dangdang.com. Is it true they take 2 months to deliver the books?! So after my 1st order, i wait for 2 months, then everytime i order, there is a 2 mths waiting period...hmmm??!!

I haven't ordered directly from dangdang in the past 6 months, before that it used to be about 4 weeks. I was working in China and sent a huge box of books home through China Post in Oct last year, it took 5 weeks to arrive.

dangdang website says 4 to 8 weeks. I heard from other parents that now it takes up to 8 weeks to arrive.

Note that the library also has almost all of the books that I recommended.
Parents can search for the books :
http://www.nlb.gov.sg/

[keltong]

tamarind:

You can use 基础汉字500 straight away, it starts with one letter on the first page and slowly builds up.

I bought the color version, see the links in the next post. When my girl first read 多啦A梦, I also had to read with her. She read every word out loud and I helped her with words that she did not know. She liked the books so much, she read them over and over again. She found the conversations very interesting, and even memorized the lines and repeated them to me

Started this morning with him. It was challenging but I keep encouraging him and he sort of remember the words. Haha, maybe I am too in a hurry for him to remember. Should I do 1 lesson at a time (which is very short), or few lessons at a go. I tried to did 2 lessons with him (means 2 words) and hope I did not push him too much. Just want to be careful not to kill his interest. I think we did ok as I try to animate the words for him Thanks!

Didn't know have color version of 多啦A梦! So much nicer and attractive!

[keltong]

ksme:

My son started reading Doraemon comics at end p3 to early p4 last year. After some encouragement from school teacher and me, he progressed to read Chinese students novel by end last year. The comics was good way to get him to read Chinese storybooks as a start.

I am sure your boy will like them.

Thanks ksme, that is very encouraging. I started yesterday night with him and at first he didn't want to read, so I say I will read with him while he sits besides me and look at the book, than he begin to show some interest. I try to make the 'conversation' as lively as possible to keep him interested and so far seems quite ok. Will keep on going. Wish I have bought the colored version!

[porcupine12trade]

tamarind:

Note that the library also has almost all of the books that I recommended.
Parents can search for the books :
http://www.nlb.gov.sg/

Gosh I just put in sgd200 worth of books from dangling.com! Coz they take forever to deliver n i din want to wait too long. I tried borrowing Chinese bks fr nlb, but I don't know what bks to search for. The few that I know, found on catalogue n showed avail, but can't b found physically on shelf, quite frustrating.

I'll go nlb try my luck again :). Thanks

[jollyme]

tamarind:

In China 小叮当 is called 哆啦A梦 Look for them in Popular first, they are selling quite cheap.

I recommend this version of 哆啦A梦. There are 6 books, all in colour, and the words are bigger and a lot easier to read.
哆啦A梦1（彩色收藏版）

Hi Tamarind, thanks for the reply. Will check it out at Popular!

[jollyme]

keltong:

Found 多啦A梦 at Sembawang Shopping Centre Popular today. I think I will finish reading before my boy...haha....saw 18 books in the series (not sure got more or not) and bought 6. This is for my P5 boy who HATES chinese. Haiz...hope to read with him .....

thanks keltong for sharing, i hope to buy this for my P6 nephew, hope he will grow to love chinese..not sure if its too late