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 this…
Ting xie word lists and apps for Singapore curriculum
This post has links to all the wordlists I have created which align with the MOE Primary Chinese curriculum 欢乐伙伴. They’re ready-made in Skritter and ready for you to use.
Best Children’s English Composition & Creative Writing Books
Great companion texts to encourage English compositions and creative writing, which will work in an Asian context too.
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.
Christmas gifts for preschoolers 2022…. with a Chinese literacy twist!
It’s my final blog post for the year! As always, the entire month before Christmas will be dedicated to a social media free Advent period (so please forgive the spelling errors, as this is being hurriedly typed in the few minutes before we jump on a plane). Given there is still time to buy Christmas…
Helping a child to write Chinese characters
Creative ways o encourage your child to write more in Chinese, from apps to smart pens, and magnetic tiles.
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 apparently…
Alpha Egg AI Writing Pen: Parent Review
A smart digital pen which teaches a child how to WRITE Chinese characters using traditional pen and paper.
Book Review: The Power of the Earth
The Power of the Earth 地球的力量科学绘本 is a book set for children who are nature lovers, geographers and mathematicians. See what it’s all about!
Parent Review: Alpha Egg Dictionary Pen T10
This post is a review of iFlyTek Alpha Egg Reading Pen T10 – a handheld multi-language dictionary and translating pen. It can scan just about any printed text and give an explanation or translation. The Alpha Egg T10 is designed to be kid-friendly and allows the user to accurately and quickly translate from/to different languages…
Le Le Flash Cards for learning-to-read in Chinese
Le Le flash cards are designed to reinforce learning from the Le Le Reading System.
New Chinese Learning Apps for Kids in 2022
In edu-tech, nothing stays still. This post is a round up of the new entrants and major upgrades that have happened in the Chinese Learning Apps for Kids space during first half of 2022. The exciting part is that there are some small “mumtrepeneur” businesses, along with homegrown Singaporean startups, that are now rivalling the…
Review: The Dim Sum Warriors Club
Review of what it’s like to be part of the Dim Sum Warriors Bilingual Club, where Chinese is learnt through creativity, stories, and doodling.
Maomi Stars: review of the best Chinese literacy app for preschoolers
What is Maomi Stars? Maomi Stars is a Chinese literacy app for children, perhaps an equivalent to the English kindergarten literacy apps like Starfall, ABC Mouse or Reading Eggs. It’s been meticulously researched, and tested on children, and offers several great advantages over other Chinese learning apps out there. My kids have road-tested A LOT…
Book Review: Zorori series in Simplified Chinese
Zorori 怪杰佐罗力) stories are a, great blend of comedy and mystery. A superb Simplified Chinese reading book for a P3 or P4 child.
Review: Vitamin M – a fun dose of Chinese online
What it’s been like learning online with Vitamin M for the last five months, with an innovative concept targeted at primary school students, blending online modules with weekly live teaching sessions.
Chinese Graded Novels: Books for not-quite-beginners
Easy-to-read graded novels in Simplified Chinese. Which ones are great and why?
Youdao Dictionary Pen 3 Review
有道 Youdao Dictionary Pen 3.0 offers quick translation between Chinese, English and Spanish! This is an honest comparison between the 3.0 version and earlier versions.
Review: Youdao Pocket Printer for Chinese home learning
Super cute little thermal printer, which is ink-less and wireless, and connects to your phone. You can print notes, photos, flashcards, invitations, and much more, including Simplified Chinese character range, with OCR text extraction.
Book Review: Magic Tree House in Simplified Chinese 神奇树屋
A good book set for a child who knows at least 1500 characters, and is ready to read novels. Historical adventure fiction., making is an appealing genre.
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Nice to meet you! I’m Emma. A mother of 3, engineer, believer and day dreamer.
Here are the most recent blog posts about learning Chinese with my little Bananas, and helping them to understand their yellow sides a little more, lah!
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