Using Rhythm and Tones In the Classroom and At Home

One of the things that we prioritized when creating our new Chinese language learning book and CD set, Rhythm and Tones, Inventive Chants and Songs for Learning Chinese, was the ability to use it both in the classroom and at home. In order for language learning to be successful, it is important that children get as much exposure to the language as possible. The songs used to teach words in Rhythm and Tones are catchy and easy to sing, which make it easy to incorporate Chinese language learning into every day life.

We created the book so that it could easily be used both as guided coursework in the classroom and at home for self-study. The textbook is straight-forward enough that parents, without any formal knowledge of Chinese, can use the book to teach their children Chinese words, phrases, numbers, and even basic principles of the written language. Chinese teachers can take the textbook's simplified format to the next level by challenging the students with games and questions that cause the students to think more deeply about what they are learning.

The book's colorful illustrations are designed to illuminate the meaning of the songs and chants. The pictures tell the story without interference from the native language. The book's authors, Pauline Huang and Robin Harvey have been developing the Rhythm and Tones coursework in their classrooms for years. Below are some of their suggestions for incorporating the text and CD in your own Chinese language learning efforts:

• Study the pictures first. What do you think the song is about? Can you name the children? Try to describe the pictures. Lesson 4 will help you say “This is…” and “That is…”
• Listen to the song or chant. Do you recognize any words? You might hear the names of children, or phrases from earlier songs. Begin to put together the meaning.
• Read along. You will see that each character is one spoken syllable. (Sometimes two or more characters join to form a word.) Explore the beauty and logic of Chinese characters through radicals searches.
• Play along! Small xylophones and percussion instruments enhance the rhythms and allow us to immerse ourselves in the music, forgetting that we are learning language.
• Practice pronunciation naturally. Our chants emphasize the natural speech patterns and four tones of Chinese, which are introduced in chapter, The Four Tones Chant. Try Tones Yoga and move your body with the tones.
• Play the language-based games we suggest. Try out different roles as you sing and chant. Act out the songs or chants. Play and learning are not mutually exclusive!
• Take advantage of the karaoke versions on the CD and musical scores in the back of the book. Use the original lyrics, or make up your own!

What are some of your suggestions for using Rhythm and Tones to teach Chinese language?

Using Rhythm and Tones In the Classroom and At Home

Rhythm and Tones Uses Music to Make Chinese Language Learning Fun

I spent the last few months working to produce a new ChinaSprout published book and music CD called Rhythm and Tones, Inventive Chants and Songs for Learning Chinese. I am very excited to share this set with our customers, because I believe that it fills an important need in Chinese language education -- making learning fun!

The number of students learning Chinese is on the rise. But, the complaint that I hear most from Western students, parents and even teachers is that the typical Chinese classroom environment is too rigid to keep students interested. That's why I jumped at the chance to work with Pauline Huang and Robin Harvey. These two talented teachers put their lessons to music, and brought fun back into the classroom.

"We love teaching Chinese with music and rhythm, and the children we teach love it, as well," Robin says. "When we sing, we are relaxed and receptive. Research shows that this is a key to language learning. Lyrics are naturally repetitive, another key, and they run through our heads while we go about our day. In fact, I still sing the song that my Latin teacher taught in 11th grade, "sum es est."

Before they met, they each used chants and songs to teach Chinese. Robin was inspired by Carolyn Graham's "Jazz Chants," and Pauline by her musical background. One day, Pauline wrote the song "I'm Hungry"(肚子饿了) for their classes. The two then worked together to focus the language for their students. After that, their collaborations continued.

In mid-November, we showcased Rhythm and Tones for teachers at the 2010 American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language (ACTFL) conference. The positive response that we received was incredible! Everyone who walked past our booth would stop when they heard the chants and music. Most of the Chinese language teachers we spoke with bought the set. They loved it because of the rhythms, the simple, repetitive words and the fun music. Many teachers said that this was exactly the sort of teaching tool that they had been seeking for a long time.

Many of our ChinaSprout customers are looking for Chinese language tools that they can use to help their children at home. With this in mind, we created the Rhythm and Tones set so that it has a life outside of the classroom. Kids and parents can easily work together through the textbook to learn words, sentences and even radicals. Plus, the accompanying CD is filled with songs that families can listen to and sing along with while at home or in the car.

There are so many ways to use this set, both in the classroom and at home. I will share some suggestions and video in the next few days.

Rhythm and Tones Uses Music to Make Chinese Language Learning Fun

Education Differences in the U.S. and China

About two weeks ago, I attended a conference "Putting the World into World-Glass Education", hosted by the Asia Society. The conference aimed to "bring together K-12 educators, policymakers and resource providers to focus on developing American students' global competencies."

During the conference, I went to different presentations and was excited to see so many schools across the country focusing on global education through language learning, culture education and study tours. One session, "Singapore Math in the U.S. Classrooms," made me think again about the differences in education between the U.S. and China. In that presentation, two presenters introduced Singapore Math methods, as well as the education system in Singapore. They talked about how government supports teachers and students, and how students learn math and other subjects. Everyone in the room wished for a similar system in the U.S.

Singapore Math focuses on teaching math basics step by step and having students practice these basics on a daily basis -- in many ways very similar to what we did and are still doing in China. While the participants were puzzled with the math problems for 6th graders, I was wondering if the Singapore Math or education system is really the direction the U.S. math teaching and education should go. Yes, maybe Singapore's and China's education systems are great for teaching math, but how about creativity, innovation, and social skills? If a country lacks these skills but has plenty of math skills, will it lead to global competency?

On another side, I really feel math education in the U.S. is behind international standards. My son has not learned much math in his elementary school, at least not like we did in school, with endless math drilling in the classroom and at home. Having seen his math book and homework, I understand why Americans cannot do math. But do we really use math on a daily basis at work? I only realized that when I started ChinaSprout-- it's not because we need math to calculate sales, but we use math to guide logical thinking to improve the business. Luckily, my son has been practicing math at Kumon since he was six years old and has started learning Singapore math in his middle school.

Nevertheless, I do think creativity, innovation and social skills are more important than math skills and unfortunately, China and Singapore are lacking such education or promotion. If U.S. education is behind international standards, how could the U.S. have the innovative technology and creative people that made it a world leader of technology and creative arts? Interestingly, the plenary guest speaker in the following day's session answered some of my questions.

Professor Zhao Yong from Michigan State University shared his studies about "Catching Up or Keeping the Lead: American Education in the Age of Globalization" with the audience. He showed us statistics that American math skills in secondary schools were among the second to last position in international standards 4o years ago, but the U.S. now has one of the highest living standards among countries. Why is that? He talked about 3 Ts: Technology, Talent, and Tolerance. He said the U.S. has the most advanced technology and focus on developing technology, and the U.S. education system discovers and encourages talents and tolerates differences among students, regardless their of backgrounds or whether they think differently. He also gave us the example of the talent shows that his daughter's elementary school has. In these talent shows, there are no standards, no rankings, no prices; students can just show whatever talents they have.

Professor Zhao Yong also showed us some photos of Chinese moms holding the certificates of their children passing the Olympic math contests, comparing the photos of U.S. moms doing crafts projects with their kids. Yes, that's the answer, the schools in the U.S. may not focus on math drillings, but they encourage talents and tolerate diffferences. These are the things that we have never experienced in China, no standards, no rankings in a show or competition? How could that be possible in China? As a result, students in China focus more on standards and rankings not only in such talent shows, but also in their daily school work. And when we focus on such standards and rankings, how can students be creative and innovative and tolerate differences?

For awhile, I have been wondering why the U.S. education seems behind global standards, yet the U.S. has most creative and innovative people in the world. Now I think I understand much better why this is. Shall the U.S. "catch up" to the global education standards or "keep up the lead" of technology, talents, and tolerance in the world? Or should the U.S. do both, but is it possible to do both? These are the questions I still have, and hopefully you will have some answers.

Education Differences in the U.S. and China

How ChinaSprout Got Its Start and Blossomed

ChinaSprout launched officially on June 19, 1999. The story of our origins are humble. It began as nothing more than conversations between mothers on a playground — with many mothers asking me for advice about how to teach their children about Chinese culture and me looking for a way to fill their void.

A few weeks before our launch, I was told about the FCC of Greater New York’s annual “Chinese Culture Day”. I had been preparing to launch the ChinaSprout website and thought that this event would be a good opportunity to to promote the company. We rushed to prepare the website to go live and then, armed with fliers, books, crafts, and Chinese dresses for girls, I headed to Chinese Culture Day on June 19.

I will never forget that beautiful, sunny day in Terrytown, New York. Although I had prepared for the event, I was completely surprised at the outcome. There were so many families with Chinese girls. Even though I had met some adoptive families in my neighborhood, I had not expected to see so many adoptive families at this event. There were quite a few Chinese product vendors, as well. However, ChinaSprout was the only vendor with a diverse display of books, dresses, and crafts. People were very excited to see these products and were even happier to find that we offered a greater selection on-line. Some of these families helped to spread the word about ChinaSprout by posting messages about us on Internet list serves. Their generous word-of-mouth helped to launch ChinaSprout and to this day, word-of-mouth contributes greatly to our growth.

A few days after June 19, 1999, ChinaSprout began accepting on-line orders. Ten years have passed and I could not have imagined on that evening, when I packed up from Chinese Culture Days, that ChinaSprout would be where it is today. We have grown from attending our first small, local event to achieving international sales. We are now selling products not only to families with children from China, but also to anyone who with an interest in Chinese culture. We have grown to serve schools across the United States that teach Chinese as a foreign language. Although I had been promoting Chinese language products to public schools since early 2000, I never expected that Chinese would become such a popular subject. It is now the second post popular foreign language among public and private K-12 schools.

As ChinaSprout has grown, we have continued to expand our customer reach from selling products on-line to incorporating traditional channels with our print catalogs and promotions and appearing at nationwide events and conferences all year round. Our products are not only imported from China, as I did in the first two years, but we now carry products from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the U.S. More importantly, we also produce and manufacture our own products. Today, I can proudly say that ChinaSprout provides the largest and best collection of Chinese culture and educational products on the Internet. Of course, this would not have been possible without your involvement and continuous support. I want to take this opportunity to thank you all for all your feedback, suggestions, and business.

To celebrate our 10th anniversary, we will be offering many exciting programs and promotions over the coming year. It is our way of saying “thank you” and celebrating what we have done together. We can’t wait to see what the next 10 years bring!

How ChinaSprout Got Its Start and Blossomed

Back to School

Now summer fun is over and my son has started middle school. It's a new school popular for its academic focus. We were thrilled he was able to get into the school, but we didn't know how much studying he'd face since we'd become used to his "fun-filled" elementary school.

Now it's been three weeks, and I am totally surprised by the study load my son has been given and how many school rules he has to follow. Every day he comes home with a lot of homework. He has so many notebooks, folders and dividers from his classes and for his homework. They make his backpack so heavy that one day he wanted me to call the AP and ask if he could let students carry fewer books! The school is also very strict compared to his old school. Students can't be late for class and they must wear the school uniform. If they're late or don't wear their uniform, parents must meet with the AP. One day after he talked in class without raising his hand, his teacher asked him to write a 500-word essay about it. (This reminds me of how we used to write self-criticism essays when we were in school.) After only three weeks, they've taken tests for their subjects and parents were asked to sign on each test!

I'm not used to this at all. In the past five years, he just had too much fun at his elementary school. He didn't have much homework and never had to write so neatly. When he talked in class without raising his hand, he either got time-out or his behavior was ignored. He had no tests except the state-wide ones. I thought that was the standard of American education - fun, fun, and more fun, plus creativity! But now I see a totally different picture of American education, and this is in a public school in New York City!

I know it sounds a little bit like he's in school in China - study, study, and study! But I really feel that's how he can learn and grow. Today I asked him how he feels about his not-so-great grades on the tests. He said he thinks it's good to know where he stands and why he made those mistakes, and that he'll learn more and try his best to improve his grades next time. Wow, that's what I was looking for all these years in his education! I feel so relieved to know he understands the importance of learning and appreciates it. I'm also glad to see a public school like his focusing on teaching and learning!

Back to School

Summer Time Fun!

Summer is always fun time for kids in the US because they don’t have school, no homework, but only fun-filled camps, vacations, or just hanging around! Not Chinese kids, though! Nowadays, during summer break urban Chinese kids go to Olympic math, Oxford English, piano, swimming, painting and endless classes, in addition to doing their daily homework for the summer break.

When I first time heard about summer camps in the US, I thought these camps are only for learning different things because the direct translation of summer camps - Xia Ling Ying in Chinese means schools for kids to learn during summer break. I thought American kids, just like Chinese kids, have to study during summer break, too. Then I saw my friends send their kids to camps where they just played. Later, it was my turn to choose a camp for my son. I realized all those camps are only for play, sports, arts, dance or music. I didn't see any classes to study anything except computers, which is just for fun, too. Since my son doesn't want to do sports, arts, dance, or music camps, I just sent him to one of those fun playing camps. Every day they just went to different places to play. Parks, swimming pools, museums, out-of-city drives - he had lots of fun and loved it. When he was old enough to attend overnight camp, he started going to another fun-filled camp and stayed two to four weeks. He has so much fun there that he looks forward to going every year!

Last year, when a friend told me she sent her son to a writing camp, I thought she was crazy because now in my mind summer camps are only for fun, not for studying! How can kids go to camp to study? But a few months ago, I noticed my son really needed to improve his writing skills and I started looking for camps that teach writing, I found only one camp that teaches different subjects and when we received the demo DVD, we were disappointed and didn't know what to do. I asked my friend about that writing camp, and she advised us not to do it because her son didn't enjoy it all. You see, it confirmed how I felt when she first told me about it.

But I didn't give up. I signed up my son to do the overnight camp for only two weeks and hoped something would come up later. Luckily, his new school (he will start in middle school this fall) offers a summer program teaching creative writing, math, music, and studio art to prepare kids for the middle school. I was so happy that he can finally study during summer break. But when he came back from overnight camp, he was so sad because he wanted to stay longer! This made me feel terrible and I thought maybe he should only have fun in the summer, not study.

So now a week has passed with his summer school. He liked it very much, and even learned some grammar for writing that he didn't learn in the previous school. I am so relieved - finally someone teaches him grammar! Sometimes I still feel he should have stayed at the other camp longer to have more fun, but then I know it's worthy to go to summer school and learn something new! And compared with the schedules Chinese kids face in the summer, his classes are only a piece of sweet cake.

Summer Time Fun!

National College Entry Exam

I still remember when I took the National College Entry Exam in 1981. It was in the hot summer of July 7-9, when the dates had been set for all Chinese high school graduates across the country. All exams from 1979 to 2002 were taken during these three days. They were such important days for all Chinese high school graduates and their families that I don’t think we could ever forget it. So if you ask me when I took that exam, I can tell you without a second thought!

For anyone who has been to China, you know how hot it becomes in early July. Regardless of how hot it was, millions of graduates had to take the exams in sweltering class rooms that did not have fans, much less air conditioning! I cannot use a hand-fan either, because we had to focus on taking the exam. Of course, water was not allowed into the examination room either, so we couldn’t drink anything until the exam was over, one exam lasting 2-3 hours in the morning and another one in the afternoon, totaling 6 exams in 3 days! When it was over, what a relief it was for graduates and their families! Yet, the anxiety would continue because we didn’t know if and which university we could get into! I still remember that there were only 9% of graduates who could go to universities during my time, but now that number of Beijing graduates who attend university has risen to 73% in 2007.

Anyhow, every year people would complain how hot each July was and that such important exams really should not have been taken in such intolerable heat. Finally, in 2003, the government changed the examination date to June 6-9 which is so much cooler than in July. How lucky all these graduates are now, they are allowed to take the exams during cooler months and some classrooms even have electronic fans or air conditioners!

I just received an email from a Chinese teacher who shared these “creative answers” from this year's entry exam for the Chinese language. When I first looked at the questions, I thought they were too difficult for anyone who should fill out blanks. But then I realized that we all have learned these ancient poems and should have known the answers if we had prepared for the exam for so long! When you read some students’ answers you can see the difference from the past to now in how young Chinese students have become so creative and materialistic. They don’t seem to care about whatever answers they could have. Now I have to share this in Chinese because it will be hard to translate these “creative” and "fun" answers!

高考創意答案 看一组语文试卷中的填空题吧—


1，＿＿＿＿＿，为伊消得人憔悴 同学答：宽衣解带终不悔 （正解为“衣带渐宽终不悔”）

2，问渠哪得清如许，＿＿＿＿＿ 同学答：心中自有清泉在 （正解为“唯有源头活水来”，咱还是和水粘了点边）

3，何当共剪西窗烛，＿＿＿＿＿ 同学答：夫妻对坐到天明 （正解为“却话巴山夜雨时”） 4，蚍蜉撼大树，＿＿＿＿＿ 同学答：一动也不动 （正解为“可笑不自量”，一动也不动，赫赫，很符合事实阿）

5，君子成人之美，＿＿＿＿＿ 同学答：小人夺人所爱

6，穷则独善其身，＿＿＿＿＿ 同学答：富则妻妾成群 　（正解：达则兼济天下）

7，＿＿＿＿＿，天下谁人不识君 同学答：只要貌似萨达姆

8，后宫佳丽三千人，＿＿＿＿＿ 同学答：铁棒也会磨成针￣￣￣￣￣￣ （正解为“三千宠爱在一身”）

9，身有彩凤双飞翼，＿＿＿＿＿ 同学答：拔毛凤凰不如鸡 还有个同学答：夫妻双双把家还 （正解为“心有灵犀一点通”）

10，东边日出西边雨，＿＿＿＿＿ 同学答：床头打架床尾合 还有个同学答：上错花轿嫁对郎 11，＿＿＿＿＿，糟糠之妻不下堂 同学答：结发之夫不上床

12，但愿人长久，＿＿＿＿＿ 同学答：一颗永流传 （正解为“千里共婵娟”）

13，西塞山前白鹭飞，＿＿＿＿＿ 同学答：东村河边爬乌龟

14，我劝天公重抖擞，＿＿＿＿＿ 同学答：天公对我吼三吼 （正解为“不拘一格降人才”，龚自珍）

15，天生我才必有用，＿＿＿＿＿ 同学答：关键时刻显神通 又有同学答：老鼠儿子会打洞 16，天若有情天亦老，＿＿＿＿＿ 同学答：人不风流枉少年！ （正解为“月若无恨月长圆”李贺《金铜仙人辞汉歌》）

17，洛阳亲友如相问，＿＿＿＿＿ 同学答：请你不要告诉他 （正解为“一片冰心在玉壶”） 18，期末考试出对联，上联是：英雄宝刀未老 初三同学对下联为：老娘丰韵尤存

19，良药苦口利于病，＿＿＿＿＿ 同学答：不吃才是大傻瓜 人生自古谁无死，＿＿＿＿＿ 同学答：只是死的有先后

20，床前明月光，＿＿＿＿＿ 同学答：李白睡得香

21，管中窥豹，＿＿＿＿＿ 同学答：吓我一跳 （正解为“可见一斑”）

22，＿＿＿＿＿，飞入寻常百姓家 同学答：康佳彩霸电视机

23，葡萄美酒夜光杯，＿＿＿＿＿ 同学答：金钱美人一大堆

24，＿＿＿＿＿，路上行人欲断魂 初一学生的杰作：半夜三更鬼敲门

25，老吾老以及人之老，＿＿＿＿＿ 同学答：妻吾妻以及人之妻 （那个同学特别具有奉献精神）

26，想当年，金戈铁马，＿＿＿＿＿

National College Entry Exam

Watching Chinese Movies to Learn Chinese

Throughout the years, many Chinese teachers have told me that Chinese movies help students learn the language. Based on this advice, I decided to carry some Chinese movies, yet not many teachers ordered them. I really don’t know if I responded to requests that may not appeal to most teachers or students in general, or if I got the wrong films or if the prices are not right. Can you let me know?

Drawing from my personal experience, when I ask my son, who is bilingual in Chinese and English, to watch Disney films, Chinese TV or DVDs in Chinese both here in the US and when we are back in China, it turns out that he either tries to switch the DVD into English or is not interested in watching them. When asked why, he said he didn’t understand most of them and it was not "fun"! So I gave up pressing him to watch Chinese movies.

The exception came last August, when we were in China and watching a TV program called “Jia You Er Nu” (Home with Kids). My son was glued to the television set and did not want to do anything else. He watched this series non-stop and even I began watching with him too. I found myself hooked on the show too. When I asked him why he liked the series, he said it was really fun and he could relate to the topics that the children on the show were talking about.

The question that I kept tossing around in my head was why he didn’t relate to Disney films, but understood Jia You Er Nu? It puzzled me, but then I realized the stories and the daily life around this family are current day situations and somehow relate to my son’s life. The moral of this story is simple: find a story that a child can relate to and you have a loyal audience for your show.

I set out to look for other films, cartoons and movies that children might relate to.

Flashempire
Although it is a website for designers who specialize in flash animation, the animations posted on that site are really fun and easy to understand. Each animation is not that long, so it is great for students who know limited Chinese or don’t have much time to finish longer films.

TuDou.com (Chinese YouTube)
Another great site like YouTube where people can post all different kinds of videos that they make themselves. Short and fun, students learn Chinese but also get a great glimpse of what life in China is like.

Can you recommend any websites or movies that you think will help students learn Chinese?

Watching Chinese Movies to Learn Chinese

English and Chinese Grammar

Recently I've noticed my son makes lots of grammatical mistakes in his homework. While I corrected some of them, I remember his teacher told us that parents shouldn't correct students' homework. So, I left some mistakes for the teachers to correct.

But when I get the homework back, there are only check marks and no corrections. I'm puzzled. Should I correct the mistakes or should the teachers correct them? If nobody corrects these mistakes, how can students learn to write correctly? Is this the American way of teaching, free and creative? (Sorry, every time I see things like this, I compare American and Chinese education.) Or is it just that my son didn't learn grammar well and his teachers don't correct mistakes?

When I first came to the US and asked people about grammar, many of them said they hadn't learned grammar or didn't know much about it. But when I learned English in China, all we learned was grammar. We had so many grammar drills, just like Chinese character drills. We knew the ins and outs of English grammar; that's how it helps us speak, understand, read, and write English. I cannot imagine how I could communicate in English if I didn't learn grammar.

Why do we have to learn English grammar? Because the Chinese language doesn't have much grammar. (I am sure some Chinese professors disagree with me!) It's not the kind of complex grammar used in English and other Roman languages. For example, we don't have past tense, past perfect tense, and future tense. Everything is present tense. For example, we say word by word in Chinese "we go school," "we yesterday go school," "we tomorrow go school." Also, verbs stay the same with different pronouns, such as "I go school," "he go school," "she go school," "we go school." You notice we don't use "to" to connect verbs and nouns or two verbs. We just say "I want go school!" See how simple Chinese grammar is? If you know those basic words, you can easily make sentences.

So in dealing with my son's grammatical errors, I really don't know how much schools here teach grammar and how kids learn it. I also realize some people born and educated in the US really don't know how to write English well. I wonder if it's because of the overall education or simply because they didn't learn grammar. Do you think schools should teach grammar more thoroughly? How can I imrove my son's grammar?

English and Chinese Grammar

Chinese Characters – Simplified or Traditional

Chinese is already a difficult foreign language to learn, as Level IV compares with Level I Spanish and French. We make it even more complicated by talking about simplified or traditional characters.

Traditional characters are the original Chinese characters standardized since the 5th century in China, and they’re currently used in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Simplified characters were introduced in the 1950s in mainland China and are used in China, Singapore and by the United Nations. People who come from or have lived or visited in either region seem to have strong feelings for which characters to use. They have endless good reasons why students should learn one version or the other. Traditional characters advocates say traditional characters represent Chinese culture, Chinese calligraphy can only look good with traditional characters, and if you learn the traditional version first, it will be easier to learn the simplified version later. Advocates of simplified characters say you should learn the version that most Chinese use. If you go to China, you see only simplified characters, and they’re much easier to learn. So who is right and whom we shall listen to? In my opinion, they both are right, but you still have to decide which version to learn. It really doesn’t matter which comes first or whether you learn only one. That’s because if you have a good foundation of either, you can learn both – even if you don’t master both. Why?

Do you know there are only “350 singly simplified characters, whose simplifications cannot be generalized to other characters” and only “132 simplified characters and 14 simplified radicals, which can all be generalized to other characters?” To learn more about this, please click here This means fewer than 500 Chinese characters actually have different forms among 5,000 characters that we use on a daily basis. And if you read Chinese daily and see both versions here and there, you can automatically read either of them. I am from mainland China and have learned only simplified characters, but I can read traditional characters without any problem, even though I cannot write them. Likewise, my suppliers in Taiwan and Hong Kong learned only traditional characters, but they have no problem reading my hand-written simplified characters. You may have heard some Chinese say that they cannot read simplified or traditional characters. I have to say, it is not that they can’t, it is that they don’t want to. If they want, they can!

I have also heard some teachers saying that we don’t need to teach Chinese characters, that Pinyin is enough for students to understand and speak Chinese. They say if students really need to know the characters, they can type Pinyin on the computer and pick the right ones. I am not sure I agree. Writing can help you memorize the characters, and if you only type Pinyin a few times and choose characters from the screen, how will you remember them? If you cannot recognize Chinese characters, you can’t even read street signs in China or in Chinatown. So choose whichever version you think best for your Chinese learning/teaching endeavor. In the end, you’ll know both characters and can read endless street signs in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, or Singapore!

To learn more about Chinese characters, visit Wikipedia’s Chinese character site, a great page with everything you want to know about the Chinese characters.

Chinese Characters – Simplified or Traditional

Endless Things to Say About Education

Just like any parent, I have endless things to say on the topic of education, specifically Chinese education. I am not an expert in either field but would like to share my experiences, thoughts, and knowledge with you. I also have many questions about these issues and hope to get answers from our readers.

First, everyone is aware of the importance that the Chinese place on their children’s education. I would like to share this article with you about a 5 year old girl’s education in Beijing. As you see in this article, unlike kids in the US who go to boarding schools beginning from middle school, it is a common practice for Chinese parents to send their children to such schools at a much younger age. Of course, not all the best schools are boarding schools, but this is a perfect example of the stress that Chinese parents place on their children regarding education. Nowadays, Chinese children not only spend about seven hours every day in school, but also about two hours finishing their homework. In addition, many children go to different classes to learn piano, swimming, karate (yes, not Kungfu) Olympics math, Oxford English, you name it, everything that can keep children learning, learning and learning! These kids are lucky if they can finish everything by 9 p.m. This routine is common to almost all children in cities across China. There is very little recreational time left for them.

When I was young, we also had to study very hard, with long school hours and lots of homework that consisted of endless math drills and Chinese character practice. But at least there were no piano, swimming, karate, Olympic math, and Oxford English classes, and of course, there was no TV either, so I had quite a lot of time to play games such as jump rope, Ping-Pong, badminton, hopscotch and more. Unfortunately, these days, I don’t see children in China playing such things anymore. They either study endless hours, or they play GameBoys and watch TV in their little spare time.

Having witnessed my son growing up in the American educational system, I often wonder which one is better and if we can combine the better parts of two educations. American education encourages children to learn not only from textbooks, classes and homework, but applies these methods in such a way that they can also be fun, engaging, creative and open-minded – all the things we have not yet learned in China. Yet, sometimes, I also wonder if all these fun activities can really build solid foundations in which children can grow up to be successful in the workplace and compete in a competitive global environment. Then I look at every advanced technology and innovations worldwide and notice that the majority of them are American-invented. So I really don’t know if I should push my son toward Chinese or American education. How will my son compete when he grows up if he doesn’t learn basic math skills at school? Or when he feels that a half-hour’s homework is too much, and if he thinks that writing a Chinese character 10 times to memorize it is considered suffering. If only he went through what I did with writing whole pages of them in grid-books. Oh, I have not mentioned, he attends one of the best public schools in the city, he does get some fours (not all fours as I wished) in his report cards, and he always gets 90+ for his Chinese tests. (Of course, I would be even happier if he gets 100. I know I am very Chinese in this perspective, even though I do believe learning Chinese should be fun!) I have been discussing these issues with my Chinese and American friends and still have not found all the answers. I guess I will know it when he grows up, and hopefully it won’t be too late.

Endless Things to Say About Education

Introduction of ChinaSprout’s Blogs

I’ve been thinking about writing a blog for a long time, and finally now I have the chance to do it with our new website. In this blog, I’ll focus on Chinese culture, Chinese language education, and education in general. I believe these topics are of high interest to our audience and customers. I’ll also talk about how I started ChinaSprout, my life in China (more than 20 years ago), and childrens’ lives in contemporary China, since so many people ask me about that. I may also write about my buying trips in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, as well as trade shows I attend across the country. I will also share my experiences with Chinese language education – a topic I deeply care about and am actively involved with as a mother, Chinese woman, and vendor.

I’ll also invite my editors, colleagues, and experts in various fields to write about related topics. We plan to include book reviews (not only the books we carry), author interviews, home-schooling, Chinese language, Chinese arts, and more. We will announce these blogs as soon as they are available on our new site.

Our blogs will also link the news and information about China, Chinese culture and Chinese language education. We’ll allow readers to post comments and will post them after reviews. I do hope readers will share their information, experiences, and expertise about China and especially Chinese language education.

If you have suggestions, please let me know!

Xiaoning

Introduction of ChinaSprout’s Blogs