Teaching Chinese at Home

[csb]

Hi tamarind,

This looks interesting.
Just wondering, if ds is going to P1 next year, and has a reasonable standard (his kindly Chinese teacher who’s from mainland China says he has no problems with Chinese), which volume would you recommend I start with?
His word recognition is better than writing. I’ve shown him P1 Chinese textbooks before, and he’s able to read them (with help from the hanyu pinyin in the books).
Thanks in advance for your advice!

[tamarind]

csb:

Hi tamarind,

This looks interesting.
Just wondering, if ds is going to P1 next year, and has a reasonable standard (his kindly Chinese teacher who's from mainland China says he has no problems with Chinese), which volume would you recommend I start with?
His word recognition is better than writing. I've shown him P1 Chinese textbooks before, and he's able to read them (with help from the hanyu pinyin in the books).
Thanks in advance for your advice!

Hi csb,
You can take a look at the photos of the pages in my blog :
http://tamarindvillage.blogspot.com/2009/12/teaching-chinese-at-home.html

Scroll down to the lesson 20 in the second book. Click on the photo to view the bigger image. Get your child to try to read those sentences. If he can read them easily, then he can probably start from book 3. These books do not have Hanyu Pinyin, the correct method is to teach the kids to recognize as many words as possible before they learn Hanyu Pinyin.

I also have a photo of the last page of book 6, if your child can read that easily, then there is no need to get this series

Also note that it is very important to read the first 30 pages of the first book to understand the correct methods of teaching Chinese.

Actually my girl has attended Berries and she is reading books quite fluently without hanyu pinyin. But I am still starting from book 1 with her, she does 4 lessons in 15 mins, to make sure that she knows all the words necessary for the higher levels. These books do not start from the most simple words, they start with the most commonly used words necessary to read sentences.

[csb]

Hi tamarind, just got him to read. He could read the book 6 passage except for 3 words. Looks like I can save the $

Wish I found this forum earlier-- realise that I could have done more with him in his younger days. Thanks again for sharing.

[Blobbi]

[Am editing this to make it more coherent]


Tamarind, I followed your advise to csb and, surprise! My son could read Chapter 6 fairly well (think he missed out about 5 words). I’m taken aback because his kindy Chinese teacher had always told me he had problems. This school doesn’t have tests of any kind; even regular work is kind of like copying passages, and there are no marks given. That said, his spoken Chinese is not good - he’s obviously expressing himself in English grammer, but with Chinese words.

Would you have any recommendations to help in this area? We don’t speak Chinese at home or watch any Chinese TV, but probably I should start. Do you know of any good Chinese TV serials we can watch together as a family? I’ll purchase the video if possible. I did start tuning in to Chinese radio like another poster suggested. I’ve also arranged for him to start Chinese tuition after school starts.

TIA!

[tamarind]

Actually the passage in book 6 does not contain all the words that are taught in this series There are many more words taught in the earlier lessons.


If your kids are already reading well, they should be reading as many Chinese books as possible. You can look for very interesting books for them to read. Try to establish a routine to read at least a few pages of Chinese every day.

I don't have time to search in the library, so I have been buying many books for kids to read at home. Here are some of the good books that we have :
http://tamarindvillage.blogspot.com/2009/12/chinese-picture-books.html

I am not that in touch with Chinese TV serials now, not sure what is suitable for kids.

[Blobbi]

tamarind:

Actually the passage in book 6 does not contain all the words that are taught in this series There are many more other words taught in the earlier lessons.


If your kids are already reading well, they should be reading as many Chinese books as possible. You can look for very interesting books for them to read. Try to establish a routine to read at least a few pages of Chinese every day.

I don't have time to search in the library, so I have been buying many books for kids to read at home. Here are some of the good books that we have :
http://tamarindvillage.blogspot.com/2009/12/chinese-picture-books.html

I am not that in touch with Chinese TV serials now, not sure what is suitable for kids.

Tks for the advise, Tamarind. The books you posted on your blog are awesome - the illustrations are very captivating. I've tried going to the library but it's much more efficient to browse on the internet for sure, judging by the English books I buy. I'll certainly look around for the titles. If I find anything interesting, I'll post it here to share.

Cheers!

[schellen]

tamarind, do you know if these books can be bought at local shops in China itself? If yes, do you know where? Or do you know anyone who knows? TIA!

[tamarind]

schellen:

tamarind, do you know if these books can be bought at local shops in China itself? If yes, do you know where? Or do you know anyone who knows? TIA!

schellen,
dangdang.com delivers free to any address in China. The best thing is that you can pay cash on delivery in China.
I think that their prices are even cheaper than the local bookshops in China.
I am not sure which local bookshop has stocks now.

You can google 四五快读 to search.

[tamarind]

Blobbi:

Tks for the advise, Tamarind. The books you posted on your blog are awesome - the illustrations are very captivating. I've tried going to the library but it's much more efficient to browse on the internet for sure, judging by the English books I buy. I'll certainly look around for the titles. If I find anything interesting, I'll post it here to share.

Cheers!

Please do share any books that you find interesting !

I also think that it is more efficient to browse on the internet. It is difficult to look for books in the library, and the titles I want are often not available

I will be posting more Chinese books that we enjoy reading in my blog. I am buying many more books from dangdang

[tamarind]

Dear all,

Note that the total cost of all the 7 books is about RMB104 (SGD22).

四五快读
http://product.dangdang.com/product.aspx?product_id=20645179

Search for 四五快读 for all the 7 books.

Direct shipping to Singapore by dangdang is additional RMB70(SGD15).
Total cost + shipping should be less than SGD40 (prices/exchange rate may fluctuate) for all the 7 books.

If someone else offers to ship for you, first check how much they charge per kg. The 7 books weigh slightly less than 2kg.