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This week parents insight, Dots is sharing with us. This is her second time going through Sagebooks with a child. She started at a similar time with both her daughters and is in the thick of things with her youngest and have made good headway in the last month or two.
Dots, from this week parents insight, is a 2nd generation Taiwanese American with a first-grade level Mandarin reading and writing ability and can also read zhuyin. Her husband is also second generation Taiwanese American with similar level of speaking ability, no reading ability and cannot read zhuyin. She speaks only Chinese to her children.
7.5-year-old daughter (started: 4 years, 2 months old; finished in 2 years with lots of stopping and starting)
4.5-year-old daughter (started: at 4 years, 3 months; progress: have made it to Budding Reader, book 1, lesson 11 in four months)
With older child: Typical lesson was reviewing two chapters, reading one new chapter. Towards the end (levels four and five), she would breeze through three or four chapters at a time, in part because she was getting more confident in Chinese overall. At first I had her write the character multiple times but I found that she really didn’t have the fine motor skills or concentration for that, and it didn’t help her retain the character.
I used the companion materials suggested by Guavarama when she had trouble retaining certain words (hundred-word board, and flashcards). As we progressed further, I kept a dry-erase notebook with me to help her distinguish between words that were similar in sound or appearance that she tended to mix up (eg.,把抱 or 那都).
With younger child: Typical lesson is reviewing two chapters, reading two new chapters. A piece of candy for each chapter.
Be consistent and just keep going. Even if you lost the book for two weeks and had to order a new one. Mandarin Mama has really great “big-picture” advice about how to approach doing Sagebooks and how to push through slow spots. Also found Guavarama’s blog very helpful for a good overview of Sagebooks as compared to other reading series out there. Finally, both Mandarin Mama and Guavarama have good activities listed on their blogs to reinforce the words and make the process more fun for your children.
Thanks so much for taking the time to share your experience, Dots!
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。
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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.
