Chinese for Children, Vol. 3 (Chinese and English Edition)

I teach Chinese. I have chosen these books as text books for my students after making research in text books for teaching Chinese abroad. My students are from different age groups. Some are young, others adults. They are mainly from American families. I love these text books. The tapes are a plus in helping students pronounce Chinese words correctly after each lesson. They are very necessary. My students enjoy my lessons and they don't feel so difficult in learning Chinese with the text books. I recommend these text books to anyone who wants to learn Chinese seriously but in a fun way.

We have all 3 books plus the tapes, and we really like them. Book one mainly focusses on teaching the sounds of Chinese, plus the 4 basic tones, so there are not many Chinese characters, and it mainly uses Pinyin romanization. Book two introduces the Chinese chracters, but uses Pinyin for the reading selections. Book three switches to using Chinese characters for the readind exercises, and has more complicated sentences. The books are colourful, well illustrated, and feature sentences that our 3 children actually might want to say! The tapes are great since the female teacher says the sentences (giving me an adult woman to copy), and then her student repeats the sentences and words, giving our kids a "kid voice" to copy. We have other books and tapes, but these are far and above the rest in terms of our enjoyment!

We like it however it was a bit too fast for us. A lot packed in one book. We are absolute beginners so Wendy Lin's books was a bit more realistic for us. It may be more helpful for those who already speak Chinese at home with their parents and their parents can help them. Otherwise it was a bit over our heads. The books are in color. The tapes are all in Chinese except for some instructions. So you basically have to have the book in front of you to practice and learn. I like the sentences and phrases. They are all relevant to most children. THe tone exercises are helpful to learn pinyin. Basic listen and copy. Somehow I have missplaced the first book and now need to purchase that one separately which I don't think you can. Nice if they had a workbook or teacher's manual with it.

These books and tapes are well put together, the books are colourful and the text is well put together. My daughters have learned a great deal, and this item makes a valuable teaching tool. These books and tapes are great.