Teaching Chinese characters - what do you use?

[HejKatt]

I've always viewed teaching Chinese reading (characters) as the ultimate 'drill-and-kill' exercise : it's painful, but it just has to be done for the dc to start reading even simple texts.

 

I'd love to hear how other Hive members teach their dc. Could you share your experience? Here are some considerations to get started.

- What methods: paper flashcards, electronic

- How often, how long (e.g. 10 minutes, daily)

- Goals (e.g. cover the words used by a curriculum, first 1000 frequently used)

- Explanation, e.g. do you try to break down into the radical components to help them remember? Do you use your own tips to remember pictures of the word? History of how the character developed?

- Motivation :D

 

Thank you in advance, I look forward to hearing your ideas!

 

ETA - I realize that other Asian languages (Japanese, Korean) and other pictograph-based languages share this aspect, please feel free to chime in.

Edited April 12, 2012 by leeyeewah

[Laura Corin]

Yes, they just write them again and again. Then we do Tingxie, and they rewrite the ones that they don't know. Motivation? No choice. Explanation? A bit, but they don't find it very helpful. We just work through a curriculum and study the characters in the lessons.

 

Laura

Edited April 12, 2012 by Laura Corin

[HejKatt]

Yes, they just write them again and again. Then we do Tingxie, and they rewrite the ones that they don't know. Motivation? No choice. Explanation? A bit, but they don't find it very helpful. We just work through a curriculum and study the characters in the lessons.

 

 

Thanks for sharing, Laura!

 

The writing method is the one I learned in school too. The curriculum I use with ds now teaches more words than I would expect him to write at his level (K), though. It's been a challenge.

 

Motivation - no choice. :lol: I hate to say it, but this is a time-tested and honorable motivation for learning Chinese.

[Laura Corin]

Thanks for sharing, Laura!

 

The writing method is the one I learned in school too. The curriculum I use with ds now teaches more words than I would expect him to write at his level (K), though. It's been a challenge.

 

Motivation - no choice. :lol: I hate to say it, but this is a time-tested and honorable motivation for learning Chinese.

 

I was told that the early years in school are more about recognition. There's writing of some very simple characters (da, xiao, etc.), but the real hard grind doesn't start until a few years later - I'm not sure what age. FWIW, we didn't start serious curriculum/writing until about age eight.

 

Laura

[Bug's Mom]

We're using Better Chinese which works more on reading, than writing. I like that in each chapter, the new words are introduced by character and pinyin and in chapters after that, the character only.

 

For practice, we've got Pleco on dd's ipod touch and my ipad. I've got the words from each lesson on there as flashcards and we go through that. There are several options as to how to see the cards, as well. I really like it.

 

Better Chinese has been promising their new ipad app since the beginning of the year. It looks cool. Hopefully it will be out soon.

[HejKatt]

We're using Better Chinese which works more on reading, than writing. I like that in each chapter, the new words are introduced by character and pinyin and in chapters after that, the character only.

 

Thanks for the Pleco link, BugsMom! I browsed the features briefly - I like that the flashcard system (paid version) also allows for testing on stroke order. But the free version is also usable for simple review.

 

About the Better Chinese - I've only seen the samples at an early level, where very simple sentences are used. Which level do you use?

[Bug's Mom]

Thanks for the Pleco link, BugsMom! I browsed the features briefly - I like that the flashcard system (paid version) also allows for testing on stroke order. But the free version is also usable for simple review.

 

About the Better Chinese - I've only seen the samples at an early level, where very simple sentences are used. Which level do you use?

 

We're using My First Chinese Reader and are just finishing Volume 1...we hit a wall for a bit, but are back on track. We may move to the Discovering Chinese series for Vol. 2 or 3. Pretty much the same, as far as I can tell, just written for slightly older students. There are more words in that series, as well. Not a lot, though, if I remember correctly.

 

I'm STILL waiting for them to get their iPad app out....been waiting since Jan. I think that that will be what really gets dd to spend time on her Chinese.

[nutella08]

When my kids were young, between age 2-5, I started exposing them to Chinese character flashcards/homemade videos similar to the methods used in Your Baby Can Read DVDs and How to Teach Your Baby to Read by Glenn Doman. We started with animals and action verbs where we could act out in a silly way. Then we pieced them together and identified characters in popular children songs. The first 100 characters or so were fun & relatively painless to learn. The kids were just excited to recognize the characters in the song & storybooks we read together.

 

In the last couple years, I've gotten a little more systematic (unfortunately, less fun but not too painful). We currently follow curriculum for Taiwan schools (but not necessarily at grade level) and learn the new vocabulary in each lesson weekly. Once they've mastered a character, I put it in into Anki so they can continue to review them. Before using Anki, I found the kids were learning lots of characters but forgetting them just as quickly unless it was a very high frequency word. Now, I keep track of how many characters they know in Anki and give them a "prize" (bribe) when their total count reaches a multiple of 100 characters, maybe every couple of months (I'm a cheapskate). We spend about 15 minutes daily on new lessons, including reading practice, and 10 minutes daily reviewing characters in Anki. We don't focus too much on writing yet. Guess I'm a heretic. ;)

 

I suppose my near term goal wrt character recognition is to cover first 2000 frequently used characters, around 5-6th grade Taiwan curriculum. For "explanation", I use whatever method helps … whether it's drawing the pictogram, pointing out radical, telling a silly story, or even using usual gestures or dramatic intonation. But I generally reserve explanations for just the few characters that the kids seem to really struggle with. Otherwise, coming up with all the creative approaches is more than I can handle. :tongue_smilie: I have a couple books with mnemonics that helped me when I was learning myself but I'd think there's better ones out there today. HTH.

[HejKatt]

We spend about 15 minutes daily on new lessons, including reading practice, and 10 minutes daily reviewing characters in Anki. We don't focus too much on writing yet. Guess I'm a heretic. ;)

 

Thanks for the detailed explanation, nutella08!

 

An electronic flashcard system definitely seems to be the way to go - I've heard of Anki, and how you can collect stacks (is that the term?) of cards to flash. I suppose you can also create the cards on the computer?

 

As for reviewing without writing - I'm impressed by how many words you've taught without writing exercises (习字), I like your ideas of the acting/songs for younger dc, though it might be painful for my own dc to watch me come up with one. :D But it makes sense - writing, actions bring in the kinesthetic memory component. It reminds me of WRTR and SWR - hear the phonogram, write it down (using a salt box for kids w/o the fine motor skills), and read the phonogram after it's written.

[Bug's Mom]

Thanks for the Pleco link, BugsMom!

 

I believe that they still offer a decent educator discount, too.

[JadeOrchidSong]

Yes, they just write them again and again. Then we do Tingxie, and they rewrite the ones that they don't know. Motivation? No choice. Explanation? A bit, but they don't find it very helpful. We just work through a curriculum and study the characters in the lessons.

 

Laura

 

This is what we are doing, too. They can write characters this week, but then in two weeks they forget. I focus more on recognition. We always go back three or four lessons to review the words for recognition.

Good to see you here, Yeewah! Hope you find some more effective ways for character writing.

[nutella08]

An electronic flashcard system definitely seems to be the way to go - I've heard of Anki, and how you can collect stacks (is that the term?) of cards to flash. I suppose you can also create the cards on the computer?

 

 

I had cards on the computer in the past. To me, the biggest advantage with Anki is the scheduling of cards (higher frequency on new words while decreasing frequency on older/mastered words) so we're not constantly forced through the entire set or spending too much time on those that are too "easy". DD9 reviews about 100 characters in less than 10 minutes daily. DD6 does about 50 characters in 10 minutes. We started using Anki last summer and it has really helped their retention (and mine too).

 

But it makes sense - writing, actions bring in the kinesthetic memory component.

 

 

I agree that the kinesthetic act of writing helps with memory. We do SOME writing but very lacking in comparison to traditional systems. I have an idealistic vision that my kids will enjoy and appreciate Chinese. I just see too many heritage students with strong aversions due to writing overkill and can't even speak much despite plenty of family or environmental exposure. So in our home, we have more emphasis on listening, speaking, and reading.

 

I like your ideas of the acting/songs for younger dc, though it might be painful for my own dc to watch me come up with one. :D

 

 

Oh, I don't come up with songs myself. There are plenty of collections of children songs in book form. The "acting" is fairly obvious: quacking for duck, oinking for pigs, moo-ing for cows, etc. I guess I started when the kids were young enough and hadn't started judging me too critically. :D

[HejKatt]

I found these link thanks to BugsMom's blog :) and thought some might find them useful. They are online dictionaries which give the etymology, pronunciation. They accept look-up by PinYin, radical or stroke count.

 

http://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/chinese-dictionary.php

http://www.zhongwen.com/

 

I tried them out by looking for the word 浇, as in 浇水, one of the words DS has trouble remembering. I found zhongwen's explanation slightly better, because it explained it used the Water radical + the phonetic Yao (earth piled up on a base, clearer in traditional script), something I hadn't realized because it was just one of the words I memorized in school.

 

That said, I had already explained it to DS using pantomime (water + the right component looks like a tilting watering can, simplified) which isn't technically correct but will have to do.:glare: I don't see that we can sustain using this character for every word, but I'm going to try and hit these sites first in future for troublesome words.

Edited April 26, 2012 by leeyeewah
grammar

[HejKatt]

I also wanted to mention this article on the website Hacking Chinese.

http://www.hackingchinese.com/?p=177

 

It has an interesting approach, by suggesting students learn some of the common radicals (he suggests approximately 150) to help compose the characters.

 

This intrigues me because it's not the way I learnt, nor the way DS's Chinese schools have taught (to be fair, in both environments Chinese was taught as a second language). However, it makes sense for parts-to-whole learning. Anyone learned in a similar fashion, and want to comment on their experience?

[Beth in SW WA]

:bigear:

You guys are awesome. Just starting Mandarin here.

[Embassy]

I've always viewed teaching Chinese reading (characters) as the ultimate 'drill-and-kill' exercise : it's painful, but it just has to be done for the dc to start reading even simple texts.

 

I'd love to hear how other Hive members teach their dc. Could you share your experience? Here are some considerations to get started.

- What methods: paper flashcards, electronic

- How often, how long (e.g. 10 minutes, daily)

- Goals (e.g. cover the words used by a curriculum, first 1000 frequently used)

- Explanation, e.g. do you try to break down into the radical components to help them remember? Do you use your own tips to remember pictures of the word? History of how the character developed?

- Motivation :D

 

Thank you in advance, I look forward to hearing your ideas!

 

ETA - I realize that other Asian languages (Japanese, Korean) and other pictograph-based languages share this aspect, please feel free to chime in.

 

Right now we are using Better Chinese for learning characters. My kids go through the flashcards about 3 times a week - twice on their own and once with me. I also go over the lessons with them several days a week where we practice reading, translating, and speaking. One day a week we focus on writing characters. We probably only spend 15-20 minutes each day on this. They also do tone discrimination practice every school day which typically takes 5-10 minutes.

 

I typically help them use mnemonic methods to aid memory. For instance memorizing the character that means "which" in English - we turned the character on its side and it looked like a witch flying on a broom. We then might make the witch fly up and down laughing "na" to help remember that it is third tone. This works well and it is fun to try and figure out each character.

 

I have them write characters from memory on a white board. Once they get the stroke order I have them practice making it neater on paper. We take it chapter by chapter and their reading skills are several chapters ahead of the writing.

[Guest miakelly]

My DD started young, at 4 with characters by drawing them. She's a very tactile learner, though. Learning by doing is her style. My DS, however, is more visual, and he likes to see them (flashcards or whatever) rather than draw them out. This is a faster method.

 

I found local Chinese preschools and after school programs put too much emphasis on character learning. I would rather them spend the time speaking and listening, to acquire the language with a native accent (which they can acquire if started young).

 

Chinese school children in China are all learning English. When our little ones are grown, it will benefit them to be able to converse in Mandarin. Reading the characters is second to conversational skills.

[HejKatt]

Right now we are using Better Chinese for learning characters. My kids go through the flashcards about 3 times a week - twice on their own and once with me. I also go over the lessons with them several days a week where we practice reading, translating, and speaking. One day a week we focus on writing characters. We probably only spend 15-20 minutes each day on this. They also do tone discrimination practice every school day which typically takes 5-10 minutes.

Thanks for the detailed description, WeHomeschool! You've mentioned something important, especially for the early stages - drilling tones.

 

15-20 minutes writing each day.. could you comment on your dc's ages, or if you've found any ideas to keep them doing it consistently? :001_smile:

 

I would rather them spend the time speaking and listening, to acquire the language with a native accent (which they can acquire if started young).

 

Chinese school children in China are all learning English. When our little ones are grown, it will benefit them to be able to converse in Mandarin. Reading the characters is second to conversational skills.

Hi MiaKelly, thanks for sharing! At the early level, I agree that speaking/listening are more important to nail down than reading/writing. At later levels, I was hoping to harness reading, however, to help with the speaking b/c there are many interesting picture books now which can extend vocabulary. I guess I'm lazy, but whenever I sit down for Chinese readings sessions , both dc now descend upon me with their selections (totally different ones) and I'm wiped out after reading aloud for 20 minutes. Read your own books, kids! :tongue_smilie:

 

More seriously, this is an interesting discussion b/c we have similar goals of fluency but have constraints of a non-native environment, i.e. we are usually the sole source for their Chinese language outside of Chinese class/curriculum. Books are what I've gravitated toward, there's another discussion on this board (dual schooling in Chinese, started by cellocoffee) where posters like cellocoffee, Nutella08, aomom posted fantastic resources. I'm always :lurk5: to hear how you teach.

Edited May 1, 2012 by leeyeewah

[Embassy]

Thanks for the detailed description, WeHomeschool! You've mentioned something important, especially for the early stages - drilling tones.

 

15-20 minutes writing each day.. could you comment on your dc's ages, or if you've found any ideas to keep them doing it consistently? :001_smile:

 

 

 

It looks like I wasn't too clear:tongue_smilie: We do 15-20 minutes of Better Chinese Mandarin each school day. 2-3 of those days are vocabulary focused -memorizing characters. 2 of the days are focused on reading, speaking, translating, and understanding our lesson. 1 day each week is focused on writing characters from our lesson. This is for the 8 and 10 year old.

 

We also do 5-10 minutes of tone discrimination drill and about 20 minutes of listening to Mandarin conversations on children's shows each day.

 

I hope that is a little clearer :)

[HejKatt]

It looks like I wasn't too clear:tongue_smilie: ..1 day each week is focused on writing characters from our lesson. This is for the 8 and 10 year old.

Not you.. my reading skills have been called into question before. :tongue_smilie: Thanks for clarifying! It sounds like a good, methodical system.

[JadeOrchidSong]

I just discovered 写汉字免费版for my iPad apps. Google it and download it to your iPad. It is AMAZING! You can speak a sentence and the screen will show your sentence in characters with their pinyin. I use this to review words. I basically make phrases or words out of the text we learned and ask the kids to trace them on the iPad ; yes, you can actually write words on it.

[HejKatt]

I just discovered 写汉字免费版for my iPad apps. Google it and download it to your iPad. It is AMAZING! You can speak a sentence and the screen will show your sentence in characters with their pinyin. I use this to review words. I basically make phrases or words out of the text we learned and ask the kids to trace them on the iPad ; yes, you can actually write words on it.

 

Thanks, aomom! I have an Android reader so unfortunately I may not be able to see that on the Android market. However, I am in the process of evaluating Pleco (free) and Hanping Chinese dictionaries, will post when I'm done.

 

BTW, have you tried to order any eBooks from dangdang? I had not noticed their eBook marketplace until this afternoon.

http://e.dangdang.com/list_98.01.41.htm#ref=read-0-B

[HejKatt]

Here's another website with Chinese resource links, which I found while searching for Chinese apps on Android.

http://chinesehacks.com/category/resources/

 

I'm especially fascinated with the Mandarin Poster of radicals (and its Anki deck), linked from above.

http://mandarinposter.com/resources/

[Embassy]

Here's another website with Chinese resource links, which I found while searching for Chinese apps on Android.

http://chinesehacks.com/category/resources/

 

I'm especially fascinated with the Mandarin Poster of radicals (and its Anki deck), linked from above.

http://mandarinposter.com/resources/

 

Thanks!!!!

[HejKatt]

However, I am in the process of evaluating Pleco (free) and Hanping Chinese dictionaries, will post when I'm done.

 

At the moment, I find Pleco (free) a better dictionary, because you can also install the handwriting piece free which makes for better lookup if you can write the character. It also downloads relevant dictionaries on demand, while Hanping downloads all on first start.

 

On the other hand Hanping links to various websites like Yellow Bridge, which give more information and examples about a word, assuming WiFi is turned on.

 

ETA: Pleco will allow users to install handwriting component free until June 30th, their webpage states "As a special promotion, we're offering anyone who downloads our Android app before June 30th a free copy of our handwritng recognition add-on".

[JadeOrchidSong]

At the moment, I find Pleco (free) a better dictionary, because you can also install the handwriting piece free which makes for better lookup if you can write the character. It also downloads relevant dictionaries on demand, while Hanping downloads all on first start.

 

On the other hand Hanping links to various websites like Yellow Bridge, which give more information and examples about a word, assuming WiFi is turned on.

 

ETA: Pleco will allow users to install handwriting component free until June 30th, their webpage states "As a special promotion, we're offering anyone who downloads our Android app before June 30th a free copy of our handwritng recognition add-on".

Yeewah,

Can you please post the link for the free handwriting component of Pleco? I downloaded the free Pleco dictionary a while ago, but I couldn't find the handwriting one when I searched just now. Thank you!

[HejKatt]

Yeewah,

Can you please post the link for the free handwriting component of Pleco? I downloaded the free Pleco dictionary a while ago, but I couldn't find the handwriting one when I searched just now. Thank you!

 

Hmm, I think the offer I posted was specific to the Android app because it's newly introduced. I found it by going to the menu for the app, then choosing an option to manage Add-ons.

 

For the iPad app, I found this page with download links:

http://www.pleco.com/ipdirectdownload.html

 

Hope this helps! I wish the app you mentioned (写汉字免费版) were available on Android, it sounds very useful.

[Guest jasperraff]

Flash cards are the easiest to use for me. It makes the child's mind more retentive.