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Many of our parents who shared their experiences have finished the course with at least one child. This week, we’re highlighting Chi Tsai, a family who is still in progress. They’ve finished the first Set and are in the middle of Set 2. We hope you find her experience thus far to be helpful and relatable to your own.
Both Chi and her husband grew up in Taiwan and are native Mandarin speakers. Though they live in the US, they only speak Mandarin at home and chose not to use baby talk so their daughter had an expansive Chinese vocabulary. Her daughter has been in bilingual (Chinese/English) preschool since 18 months old and they constantly Facetime with her grandparents in Chinese. Both Chi and her husband work full time.
4.5-year-old daughter (started: 4.5 years old; in progress: finished up to Budding Reader, Book 1)
I struggled to learn zhuyin when I was little and didn’t want my daughter to go through it. We also didn’t want to teach pinyin before she mastered phonics. Sagebook’s system matches what I was looking for.
I started to introduce Sagebooks to my daughter when she was 4 years old but she refused to learn it. However, I kept the books in her little library. When she turned 4.5 years old, one day she picked up the book and asked me to teach her. We have lessons about 3-4 days per week and she finished set 1 in 3.5 months.
We are working parents and have busy schedules so we try to teach her on weeknights but sometime we miss a night. 4 characters per lesson is our goal. I always ask her to use the new vocabulary to make sentences and I might come up with some stories or songs that relate to the lesson we just learned. Sometimes we play tiles with Chinese characters to let her make free form sentences or stories.
Here is what I liked about Sagebooks:
A) Instead of starting to teach characters with less strokes, it starts with commonly used characters. Therefore, in a short time, my daughter could read sentences or books by herself. It builds up her confidence.
B) The context is fun for young age kids.
C) Characters have stroke order. Although I have not taught my daughter how to write, she has fun using her finger to follow the strokes to “write” the words.
The only thing I don’t like about is the price. It’s pricey especially after shipping.
If your toddlers or preschoolers are not into learning recognizing Chinese characters, don’t worry! Build up their vocabulary as large as possible so when they are ready to learn, it’s easy for them to 举一反三 /jǔ yī fǎn sān/ (learn by analogy) and know how to use characters in different sentences. They will learn very fast when they are ready.
The content is short and fun for small kids but it might be boring for older ones. I plan to finish the whole 5 sets before my daughter finishes kindergarten next year.
Set up a goal in building up vocabulary but be flexible because sometimes kids just don’t want to read the same book or repeat the same sentence. Be creative and teach or review lessons in other ways. (Eg: flash cards, making sentences competition game, children’s songs or tile game)
Thanks so much for taking the time to share your experience, Chi! We look forward to following your daughter’s progress in our Facebook Group.
If you would like to be a featured parent, please let us know.
很多家長都已是我們 Facebook 群組【講媽 · 講爸園地】 的成員。歡迎你也加入我們，一起互相鼓勵和支持，共同為孩子的學習而努力。
Many parents are already part of our Facebook Group. If you’d like to take advantage of the collective wisdom of your fellow parents, please join us.
Sagebooks Hongkong promotes independent reading and life-long learning by nurturing the child’s confidence, autonomy and self-teaching abilities. Since 2006. Find out more About Us.
© 2020 Sagebooks Hongkong. All rights reserved.
Sagebooks Hongkong promotes independent reading and life-long learning by nurturing the child’s confidence, autonomy and self-teaching abilities. Since 2006. Find out more About Us.
© 2020 Sagebooks Hongkong. All rights reserved.
Sagebooks Hongkong promotes independent reading and life-long learning by nurturing the child’s confidence, autonomy, self-teaching abilities and mental health. Since 2006.
© 2023 Sagebooks Hongkong. All rights reserved.
