Easy Steps to Chinese for Kids is a series of Chinese textbooks
specifically designed for kids from non-Chinese backgrounds. It covers four
levels, each of which is made up of two volumes: a and b (each with a CD),
accompanied by workbooks a and b, picture flashcards (for students) and word
cards (for instructors to use in the classroom).
This
series has four characters in it, namely Ding Yi, Tian Li, Jingjing and Lele,
who are primary school students from China and abroad. Beautifully designed
illustrations, simple sentences and dialogues and lovely songs among other
means are adopted to develop the kids’ interest in learning Chinese and help
them lay a solid Chinese foundation by mastering such fundamental Chinese
knowledge as numbers, basic strokes, families and daily expressions. In each
volume, a cultural point is introduced through exquisite illustrations, concise
words and interesting color stickers.
This is
Workbook 4a in the series, which has beautiful illustrations and abundant
exercises and is printed in full color. It has altogether 7 lessons
encompassing such topics as telephone number, languages, daily routine, means
of transport, etc. Supporting Textbook 4a, this book helps students
systematically review the pinyin they’ve learned and begins to teach radicals.
With a good variety of exercises, such as matching, sentence making,
translation, drawing and paragraph writing, it enables students to achieve a
solid grasp of the contents taught in the textbook and to put them into
practice as well.
Ms. Yamin Ma, with a bachelor's degree in English Language and Literature
and a master's degree in Education, is now teaching Chinese in an international
school in Hong Kong. Ms. Ma has many years' experience in teaching Chinese as a
foreign language and knows well about the AP Chinese Program in the US and the
IB Chinese Test in Europe.