Teaching Chinese at Home

[Bluepanda]

Hi laughingcat,

Thanks for taking time to reply me. I have 可爱鼠小弟 and 鸡蛋哥哥 too but I was reading these books to her instead. Maybe I should get her to read to me… By the way, do your DC read the books listed above only after they completed 四五快读 series? Thank you.

[laughingcat]

While going through 四五快读, we read alot of other books as well. DS will read some and i will reward them by reading up to 3 books for them.

[xueyan]

Dear mommies


I just bought the first series of 基础汉字500 for my 3.5 years old ds. I really don’t know how to teach him.
Shall i read the sentence and get him to read out loud with me?
Shall i explain the meaning of the sentence in English?
Shall i point to word by word and try to get him to recognize each word?

Please help.

Thanks!

[Wan]

Xueyan,


This is the recommendation from sage http://www.sagebooks.com.hk/en_download.php?id=3

IMO, dep whether ur son can converse in mandarin. It can be quite mundane for children who already can speak mandarin well bcos each page only have one word 山
I only use it for reinforce word recognition bcos the sentence structure is quite simple. I bought some sage books & realize my 4yo not interested. So I download the apps & let her scroll up & down to \"revise\" the words. Find 四五快读works better for her. I think it is trial & error no right or wrong way for each child

[3Boys]

Anyone got a recommendation for a store in Beijing or Shanghai to buy P-school level Chinese reading books?

[tuxsam]

HI Xue Yan,


My daughter too started reading 基础汉字500 from 3 yo onwards. She is now 4 yo and has completed up to 信心级 (Series 4). Throughout the learning process, she was the one reading outloud and I noticed this really helped as I was able to tell which word she was unsure of and also ensure that her pronounciation was correct. For each new word she learnt, I would explain the meaning in chinese or even English if necessary. I would also ensure that she understood and was able to recognise each word before we moved on to the next book.

Through reading out loud, her english accent had also faded away which I was glad.

It might be a bit mundane initially but the storyline became more interesting subsequently and my daughter found it enjoyable reading the books.

However, I usually cover the hanyupinyin as she tends to use phonics to pronounce them without learning to recognize the chinese characters.

Good luck

[tuxsam]

For parents who are looking for the 基础汉字500 final series ie. Fluent Reader (实力级) which is currently not available in any of the bookstores in Singapore and Malaysia, below is the response from the publisher regarding the upcoming availability:


\"Fluent Reader (实力级) should be available in Singapore in about a month. They will be shipped from HK next weekend, and depending on logistics they will be available in bookstores very soon.\"

So glad that it will be here soon!! :please:

For your info

[xueyan]

Thanks wan and tuxsam for your kind advice.


Do I understand correctly that for each series of 基础汉字 of 5 books, they are not numbered from 1-5. So that means for each series, I can start with any book?

Thanks!

[tuxsam]

xueyan:

Thanks wan and tuxsam for your kind advice.


Do I understand correctly that for each series of 基础汉字 of 5 books, they are not numbered from 1-5. So that means for each series, I can start with any book?

Thanks!

Nope, there is numbering from 1-5 in each set. You can refer to the \"Number of dots\" indicated at the cover page. For example, below is the Book 2 of Beginner Reader:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-sXuGQAe5vKI/TxUISqkGayI/AAAAAAAAU78/A-OOa9puR6c/s276/sage.JPG\">

[Wan]

xueyan,

The series use repetition to reinforce word recognition & build up vocab along the way, like Peter & Jane does to English. If ur child have been reading Chinese, can jump start based on his level, not necessary to start from 山、高高的山…subsequent books also have these words but sentences are more meaningful.

I always think CNY is the best time to teach Chinese bcos there are Chinese words everywhere on 春联& decorations & angpaos. I believe in bringing learning to life beyond books so that the child can see the relevance & motivated to learn. Have fun!