Category Archives: Chinese Book reviews

Tips for PSLE Chinese Oral Exams

Acing the PSLE Chinese Oral exams isn’t just a matter of language fluency. This post lists out a few practical tips to prepare wholesomely for your child’s Chinese oral assessments, without trying to sell you a tuition class to solve the problem! How you ever noticed that if you google ‘Tips for PSLE Chinese oralContinue reading “Tips for PSLE Chinese Oral Exams”

Dou Dou Books: Review of new Chinese levelled readers

What are Dou Dou Chinese Readers? Dou Dou Books are “first readers” for young children who are just starting to read in Simplified Chinese.  There were meticulously written by an American early childhood education expert, Miss Stella Beaver. Throughout two decades of teaching and researching across top immersion and Montessori schools, she has developed herContinue reading “Dou Dou Books: Review of new Chinese levelled readers”

Book Review:  Sometimes it rains pigs on sunny days

Review of the classic series Sometimes it rains pigs on sunny days 晴天有时下猪. A great bridging book in Simplified Chinese for upper primary.

Book Review: Squid for Brains Chapter Books

This review looks at the Squid for Brains Readers (also called Mandarin Chapter Books) published by none other than Squid for Brains.  These are different from the Squid for Brains Picture Books which I’ve reviewed earlier, however the Readers are just as zany and unique. One thing I try really hard to do with thisContinue reading “Book Review: Squid for Brains Chapter Books”

Book Review:  Squid for Brains Picture Books

Squid for Brains picture books have fun, readable and accessible content for beginners learning Chinese as a second language. They are designed based on the theory of comprehensible input. combined with a dose of good humour.

Book Review: 朱尔多日记 Zhu Er’s Diary

This review is of a bridging book set 朱尔多日记 (Zhū ěr’s Diary), which is ideal for middle-to-upper primary school readers. My daughter borrowed it recently from the library.  Until that point, I really thought we’d heard of most of the better known early chapter booksets from mainland China, especially those written in diary format, but apparentlyContinue reading “Book Review: 朱尔多日记 Zhu Er’s Diary”