Situation #4.6: My child can read most of the books in Chinese school. I wonder what other books I can find to help her more.Reality: Many of the required books in a Chinese curriculum are readers, which contain words that are at the children’s appropriate reading levels. They are constructed based on a set of vocabulary words that the children have just learned. While this is desirable so that they can gain the confidence in reading Chinese books right away, they should be encouraged to read great books that are standalone literary works by real writers, which offer better value and meaning to their lives.

If you have already searched for these great works, you will probably notice that compared to books in English, there is a considerable lack of children’s Chinese books that exist in the world that are written for enjoyment alone, without any didactic messages that are all too common in most storylines. You may want to try Taiwanese publications and translated materials from Western books at libraries and internet stores. Wholesome comic books and children’s magazines can be wonderful alternatives.

Everyone may have a different opinion about what a great book is, but you need to be aware that not all books are equally effective. Learning Chinese is just like learning any other language. It is a by-product of wanting to use it for some meaningful purpose. In order to learn effectively, the best route would be to make the meaningful purpose substantially desirable, so much that your child would want to learn the words without any motivation other than the interest alone.

Therefore, the books (or any media like videos) need to spark an utmost interest in the child, especially concerning those that are in Chinese, where the selection is already limited. You may look for those that are of artistic pictures, not cookie-cut-outs (all people have the same face or smile; outlined figures with even fill-in colors; computer-generated 3-D characters and sceneries; recurrent pictures on different pages). The language should not be didactic (obviously teaching a moral lesson), but rather full of expression from the language itself. The story line should be dramatic and lively, and it should speak to your child in a personal way, even if the topic is foreign to her. Every child is different in personality and need, and every family has different values and beliefs, but these are some guidelines in the selection of Chinese books for your child.

Situation #4.5: The stroke order of a Chinese character seems very important, but I am not sure how much we should press my child to memorize it.Reality: Stroke order is intended to maximize the ease of reading and writing, and to improve the overall look of the character (i.e. a box-like shape). Once one learns certain rules, he can mostly infer how most other characters are to be written (e.g. left before right, top before bottom). Of course there are some exceptions. But it should not cause much inconveniences in everyday writing. The stroke order becomes extremely important, however, in Chinese calligraphy, where the beauty of the character is revealed more distinctly from the brush stroke.

It is more difficult to revert to the correct way once a habit has been established. In light of priority, however, it is not quite as important, considering the little amount of time and the opposing forces about your child in learning Chinese in an English-dominant society. It is very beneficial, however, to enforce the basic rules in the beginning of character writing. The child will in turn figure out the rest, and if not, ask you about it. The worst to do is to impose stroke order when the child is in a position of reluctance and frustration in learning Chinese. As long as he is interested, you can teach him this interesting phenomenon.