My Chinese Copybook: Elementary Class

This is a fantastic app for little kids, or even, beginner learners of Chinese. The app teaches the pronunciation and writing of ten very simple words in Cantonese and Mandarin. For those who are unfamiliar with these two Chinese languages, the characters look exactly the same but the words are pronounced differently.

The aim of the app is to master the art of handwriting with the Chinese characters. The correct stroke order is very important in mastering these languages so this app  focuses on drilling that into the learner’s mind. Writing the characters with the correct stroke order facilitates the learning of the spatial relationships and also works to remember character composition. According to the creators of the app, the process also improves the kinaesthetic memory required for systematical hand-writing.  This is very interesting because as you write, you can see that the characters are, in fact, based on pictoral formations that describe the word.

We worked our way through the ten words (Sun/day, noon, flower, wood, night...etc) and went through the 3 –step process that teaches the character formation and stroke-order. At each step you are given less and less clues so that you are relying on memory in order to complete the word.

Once you have completed the word, there is a section within the app that showcases your work. This is very good for parents/teachers who would like to see what their children have done and to find out how they are progressing with the app.

There is no time limit to working through the app however, we were filled with surprise when after working through 3 words, the app told us that “it was time to take a break”! What? Why!? We found this to be a very nice feature as the developers have incorporated away for children to measure their usage of the tablet and also so that they can share the tablet with other kids and members of the family.

Taking into consideration how important the Chinese language is becoming, this is a great little app that serves as an easy and engaging introduction to Chinese.