Teaching Chinese at Home

[MandyMummy]

tamarind:

MandyMummy:

Hi, parents, any good Chinese books (novels/short stories/poetry/comics) to recommend to 12/13 year old to read?

Thanks.

Hi MandyMummy,
I highly recommend books by 沈石溪.

最后一头战象
斑羚飞渡
狼王梦
黑熊舞蹈家

The standard of Chinese in his book is very high, probably about upper secondary level in Singapore. Some of his short stories are used in the textbooks for upper primary in China. His writing is superb, and his stories are breathtaking. He writes about animals and the cruel reality of survival in the wild. Though he writes minimum dialogue and mostly description, his stories are very fascinating and exciting. I think that his books are excellent for improving creative writing skills.

Another good author is 张之路 who writes highly imaginative stories. His books are easier to read compared to 沈石溪, but more difficult compared to 杨红樱. I have scanned some pages from one his book in my blog:

http://tamarindvillage.blogspot.com/2011/08/progressing-from-picture-books-to-long.html

For girls age 12 to 13, I highly recommend 魔女宅急便, a series of 5 novels. These books have inspired a wonderful 宮崎駿 movie but the original novels are absolutely delightful. It is about a 13 year old witch girl learning to live on her own and has to work to support herself.

Another must read book for both boys and girls are 佐贺的超级阿嬷.

:thankyou: Tamarind, you are a wealth of information. Thanks for taking time to type out your recommended books. I'll be sure to check it out on dangdang and the NLB.
If I come across good books, I will come back and share.

[phtthp]

Tamarind is a gem ! :rahrah:


i love Tamarind!

[tamarind]

phtthp:

Tamarind is a gem ! :rahrah:


i love Tamarind!

It's my pleasure to share

[tamarind]

MandyMummy:

:thankyou: Tamarind, you are a wealth of information. Thanks for taking time to type out your recommended books. I'll be sure to check it out on dangdang and the NLB.
If I come across good books, I will come back and share.

Hi MandyMummy,
I am looking forward to your sharing I intend to expand my home library now that I am moving to a bigger place

[Brenda10]

tamarind:

I highly recommend books by 沈石溪.


最后一头战象
斑羚飞渡
狼王梦
黑熊舞蹈家

The standard of Chinese in his book is very high, probably about upper secondary level in Singapore. Some of his short stories are used in the textbooks for upper primary in China. His writing is superb, and his stories are breathtaking. He writes about animals and the cruel reality of survival in the wild. Though he writes minimum dialogue and mostly description, his stories are very fascinating and exciting. I think that his books are excellent for improving creative writing skills.

Hi Tamarind,

I have a copy of 狼王梦 and I do agree the that standard of this book is very high.

Think may be I should read through myself (perhaps need to check dictionary too) before pass to it DD in next few years.

[tamarind]

Brenda10:

tamarind:

I highly recommend books by 沈石溪.


最后一头战象
斑羚飞渡
狼王梦
黑熊舞蹈家

The standard of Chinese in his book is very high, probably about upper secondary level in Singapore. Some of his short stories are used in the textbooks for upper primary in China. His writing is superb, and his stories are breathtaking. He writes about animals and the cruel reality of survival in the wild. Though he writes minimum dialogue and mostly description, his stories are very fascinating and exciting. I think that his books are excellent for improving creative writing skills.

Hi Tamarind,

I have a copy of 狼王梦 and I do agree the that standard of this book is very high.

Think may be I should read through myself (perhaps need to check dictionary too) before pass to it DD in next few years.

Hi Brenda10,
May be you can just leave the book around and entice her to read it. Though there are many difficult words in the book, it should not affect her understanding of the book.

I remember that when I first read 金庸 novels in secondary school, I only knew 80% of the words but I could not put the books down

[Brenda10]

tamarind:

Brenda10:

[quote=\"tamarind\"]

Hi Tamarind,

I have a copy of 狼王梦 and I do agree the that standard of this book is very high.

Think may be I should read through myself (perhaps need to check dictionary too) before pass to it DD in next few years.

Hi Brenda10,
May be you can just leave the book around and entice her to read it. Though there are many difficult words in the book, it should not affect her understanding of the book.

I remember that when I first read 金庸 novels in secondary school, I only knew 80% of the words but I could not put the books down

[/quote]Hi Tamarind,

Just read this story and find the 母狼 just like the 人类, 望子成龙，望女成凤！However her 执着 and different coaching to her sons and daughter have caused her to pay for the heavy price as 事与愿违！ Her ending is very 凄凉悲惨。

Nevertheless, there are a Lot of beautiful phrases and I encourage DD to read this book after PSLE and think this will help her to handle the secondary school CL much more comfortable.

[tamarind]

Hi Brenda10,

My mother has read 狼王梦 too and she also finds it very good. The story is suitable for 10 to 80 years old, though the standard of Chinese is similar to adult books. The writing is superb and it is one of the best books for improving Chinese.

[Brenda10]

tamarind:

Hi Brenda10,

My mother has read 狼王梦 too and she also finds it very good. The story is suitable for 10 to 80 years old, though the standard of Chinese is similar to adult books. The writing is superb and it is one of the best books for improving Chinese.

Thank you Tamarind for sharing. I really agree that the book is very well written and I'm glad that DD has the interested to pick up this book after she completed no. 4 卫斯理 book - 妖火。

[Breadandmuffins]

Hi Brenda10

I read somewhere where Tamarind mentioned that you started getting yr child to read chinese books sometime in primary school. Could you share how you did it? Is it somewhere in this "thread" ?

My DS1 in P3 this year. I have tried getting him to progress to thicker chinese books but his preference is still English books till now. He will read the simple chinese books only if I insist but they are usually quite childish so he finds them boring. He attends Berries since K2 and having been struggling to cope at Berries this year. He is taking HCL in school. Weakness is the oral and composition. Do u think I need to start from the si wu kuai do at this point or should I start by getting him to read out loud as per tam’s method? He manged to finish one "xia mao re ji" with Berries help and I can see he actually enjoyed the story. Doesn’t help that he is in a mission school, ha,ha he claimed he is the only one reading chinese book during silent reading time.

Thank you.