“Easy Steps to Chinese for Preschool and Kindergarten” is specifically designed for non-Chinese background children, who are learning Chinese as a second/foreign language. The series is suitable for preschool children aged 4 to 6.

This series serves as an “enlightenment course” for the children who use “Easy Steps to Chinese”. It aims to plant the seeds of the idea that “Chinese is not difficult” and “I like learning Chinese” in the minds of young children, laying the foundation for their systematic learning of Chinese in primary and secondary schools.

The goal of this series is to help children naturally acquire Chinese pronunciation, become familiar with Chinese character writing, and master the most basic words and sentence patterns in a relaxed and enjoyable environment. Furthermore, this series also focuses on cultivating their interest in learning Chinese, fostering a positive attitude, and developing good writing habits.

This series consists of two levels, with each level including a textbook and a workbook. In addition, it comes with PowerPoint slides, word cards, downloadable worksheets for tracing characters, and various digital teaching resources.

Keeping the characteristics of young children learning languages in mind, the series integrates materials and resources, such as word cards, picture cards, and interactive game cards, with their functions while compiling the textbooks and workbooks, making it convenient for teachers to plan and organize classroom activities.

The textbook focuses on teaching basic language knowledge of Chinese, such as Chinese numbers, simple characters, simple words, and short sentences, while the workbook provides diverse, age-appropriate, and interesting exercises and activities in order to consolidate the content of the textbook. The recurrence of words and repetitive exercises are designed accordingly.

There are four units in each book: numbers, my family, daily life and school life. The course progresses gradually, helping children understand and master vocabulary and short sentences while cultivating their ability to communicate using the Chinese they have learned on the topics in the course.

Ms. Yamin Ma has an M.Ed. in Curriculum Design and Instruction from Queen’s University, Canada. She used to teach English at both secondary and university levels in Shanghai (China), Hong Kong (China) and Kingston (Canada) for over 10 years and has taught Chinese at primary and secondary levels in Hong Kong (China) for more than 20 years. Ms. Ma has been the Head of the Chinese Department in Island School (located in Hong Kong, China) for over two decades and has taught IGCSE, AS/A-Levels and IB Language B courses.  

After years of studying relevant second language acquisition theories and gaining insight from the experiments and results of teaching young children Chinese and English, the author has developed a new approach to teaching Chinese as a second/foreign language to young children.

Based on the results of the successful teaching experiments, this series has been developed, ensuring that the teaching materials are scientific, systematic, and practical, while aligning with classroom teaching principles.

The course is designed with reference to the preschool education guidelines of China and other countries. It covers five themes: language, mathematics, society, science and art, with the hope to inspire children’s curiosity about the world around them, guiding them to explore confidently and exposing them to learn some basic knowledge. The course also aims to cultivate children’s observation skills, hands-on skills, and develop their independent and logical thinking abilities.

Starting with simple characters is an easy and effective way to learn Chinese for young children. Mastering a certain number of simple characters will pave the way for learning compound characters in later stages.

The rhymes, created with the newly learned simple characters and new words from each lesson, not only can strengthen the repetition and practice of vocabulary and language points but also cultivate children’s sense of Chinese language and rhythm.

Systematic study and repeated practice of Chinese numbers will lay a solid foundation for memorizing the times table in elementary school.

The course also emphasizes the importance of cultivating children’s correct pen-holding posture and promotes the development of arm, wrist, and finger muscles through activities such as connecting dots to form straight lines, zigzag lines and arcs, as well as tracing and writing Chinese characters. This approach ensures that children can write Chinese characters neatly from the very beginning.

Considering that children have small hands which would find it hard to hold big and heavy books, textbooks and workbooks are bound into booklets by unit, making it easier for the children to carry, write, and colour in.

This series is specifically designed for preschool children. Generally speaking, a four-year old child can use Book 1 and a five-year old child can use Book 2.

If there is a 30-minute Chinese lesson every day, most children can finish one book in one academic year.

After completing “Easy Steps to Chinese for Preschool & Kindergarten” of this series, children can continue with “Easy Steps to Chinese for Kids” (2nd Edition).

Since the content of this series is continuous and ongoing, teachers can flexibly adjust the teaching pace according to children’s Chinese proficiency.