{"id":13360,"date":"2020-07-16T08:54:02","date_gmt":"2020-07-16T08:54:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/?p=13360"},"modified":"2022-05-23T07:29:57","modified_gmt":"2022-05-23T07:29:57","slug":"suggestions-children-learn-characters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/suggestions-children-learn-characters.html","title":{"rendered":"Not symbols, but Chinese Characters: Suggestions for Helping Children Learn Characters"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"are-chinese-charactersthat-difficult\">Are Chinese characters\nthat difficult?<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>Our brains often struggle when faced with things outside\nour own experience; a person who accustomed to the English alphabet may find it\nvery difficult to read the Chinese characters for the first time. That is why\nin some expressions, Chinese is used as a metaphor for difficult things.\nHowever, different does not mean difficult. Are Chinese characters that\ndifficult? The answer is no.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Where do characters come from? As a famous scholar once said, \u201cThe earliest character is not a well-invented invention, but a by-product of a strong awareness of private property.\u201d&nbsp; Ancient languages are hieroglyphs, so there is a strong likelihood that you can guess what they mean from their appearance. For example, the very first Chinese character, which meant \u201csheep,\u201d looked like this:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=index-463.html alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13366\" width=\"70\" height=\"70\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>It is like a sheep\u2019s head with a V-shaped face and curved horns. Nowadays it is written like this:    \u7f8a. You can still tell that it\u2019s a sheep\u2019s head. Let\u2019s see another example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=index-464.html alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13368\" width=\"70\" height=\"70\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>This is the earliest version of the Chinese character for \u201crain\u201d; it is like rain falling from the clouds above. The current version is like this: \u96e8. You can still see the original idea from the oldest version. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chinese characters simply describe and express things about our world and life in the most natural way. <\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-to-get-children-interested-in-chinese-characters\">How to get children interested in Chinese characters?<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>Usually, children are interested in the oldest\nversion of Chinese characters, which are called \u201c\u7532\u9aa8\u6587\uff08ji\u01ce g\u01d4 w\u00e9n\uff09\u201d, or Oracle bone script. Why? Maybe because \u201c\u7532\u9aa8\u6587\u201d are a kind of symbol between images and modern Chinese characters;\neach character is like a painting. The original idea in \u201c\u7532\u9aa8\u6587\u201d is quite clear, which matches up with children\u2019s cognitive thinking\nstyle. In addition, these ancient Chinese characters are formed with hard lines\nand have a special sense of beauty, which is close to young children\u2019s art\nstyle. It is pure and vivid. And the way children observe things may be very\nsimilar to the stage when our ancestors created \u201c\u7532\u9aa8\u6587\u201d, as children often do what comes naturally to\nthem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Therefore, we can show \u201c\u7532\u9aa8\u6587\u201d and the Chinese character\u2019s evolution to children because letting them\nsee the natural beauty of Chinese characters will make them more interested in characters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Take the character \u201c\u5c71(mountain)\u201d for example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=index-465.html alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13361\" width=\"1024\" height=\"307\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/shan-1024x307.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/shan-300x90.png 300w, https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/shan-768x230.png 768w, https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/shan.png 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Children can see where the characters come from\nand&nbsp; how they changed little by little\nfrom \u201c\u7532\u9aa8\u6587\u201d to modern characters, as if they are growing up. They\ncan easily understand, recognize and memorize characters with this method.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-to-practice-writingchinese-characters\">How to practice writing\nChinese characters?<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>For the first step of practicing writing Chinese characters, it is recommended to use an exercise book specifically for Chinese characters, called \u201c\u7530\u5b57\u683c( ti\u00e1n z\u00ecg\u00e9).\u201d It looks like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"288\" src=index-466.html alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13362\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/wo2-1024x288.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/wo2-300x84.png 300w, https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/wo2-768x216.png 768w, https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/wo2.png 1100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Because Chinese\ncharacters are made up of strokes instead of an alphabet, they are like\nbuildings. So when you write them, you need to keep the \u201cbuilding\u201d stable and\nbalanced, otherwise they\u2019re going to fall down. That is why at the beginning,\nwe need \u201c\u7530\u5b57\u683c\u201d to help us learn the structure of Chinese\ncharacters. For little kids, parents can also make a tracing book with the \u201c\u7530\u5b57\u683c\u201d format, so they can trace the characters before writing them on their\nown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Secondly, parents and teachers need to teach children to follow the correct stroke order when they write characters. Again, it is like building buildings, and the stroke order directly affects the final result. We should help children get used to always following the correct order from the very beginning. If a child forgets the order and there is no teacher around, parents can look it up on the internet for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Parents can also show their children good writing examples, let them see, practice and write more.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"what-other-things-canyou-do-with-chinese-characters\">What other things can\nyou do with Chinese characters?<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>Chinese characters are also an art. Chinese people say that a person\u2019s handwriting reflects their personality and attitude. \u201c\u4e66\u6cd5(sh\u016b f\u01ce)\u201d, or Chinese calligraphy, is an art form with a long and rich history.  Chinese calligraphy is written with Chinese ink and a writing brush. Calligraphy has also led to the development of many other art forms &nbsp;in China, including&nbsp;<a href=index-467.html>seal<\/a>&nbsp;carving, ornate paperweights, and&nbsp;<a href=index-468.html>ink stones<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"347\" src=index-469.html alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13363\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/calligraphy3.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/calligraphy3-300x130.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/calligraphy3-768x333.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption>A Chinese calligraphy of Yuan Dynasty<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>In order to let the children see Chinese characters as art, you can take them to museums or share books of calligraphy with them. It will show them &nbsp;the different penmanship, introduce them the distinct style of calligraphy, and introduce them to the story and &nbsp;history behind it. Also, they can learn about it and then try writing it by themselves. It will be an enriching experience for them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With these activities, I hope more and more children will be exposed to Chinese characters and know, love, write and enjoy them! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Are Chinese characters that difficult? Our brains often struggle when faced with things outside our own experience; a person who accustomed to the English alphabet may find it very difficult to read the Chinese characters for the first time. That is why in some expressions, Chinese is used as a metaphor for difficult things. However,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":148,"featured_media":13365,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[177,1],"tags":[86,4,89],"post_series":[],"class_list":["post-13360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kids-and-teens","category-learn-mandarin-online","tag-chinese-characters","tag-kids","tag-tips-and-suggestions","entry","has-media"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Not symbols, but Chinese Characters: Suggestions for Helping Children Learn Characters<\/title>\n
<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=index-470.html \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Not symbols, but Chinese Characters: Suggestions for Helping Children Learn Characters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Are Chinese characters that difficult? Our brains often struggle when faced with things outside our own experience; a person who accustomed to the English alphabet may find it very difficult to read the Chinese characters for the first time. That is why in some expressions, Chinese is used as a metaphor for difficult things. However,&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/suggestions-children-learn-characters.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-07-16T08:54:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-05-23T07:29:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/chinese-characters-for-kids.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1268\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Susie Cao\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@digmandarin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@digmandarin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Susie Cao\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/suggestions-children-learn-characters.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/suggestions-children-learn-characters.html\",\"name\":\"Not symbols, but Chinese Characters: Suggestions for Helping Children Learn Characters\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/suggestions-children-learn-characters.html#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/suggestions-children-learn-characters.html#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/chinese-characters-for-kids.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-07-16T08:54:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-05-23T07:29:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/#\/schema\/person\/286d209397ffc232fae6cb34b7fdc4d6\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/suggestions-children-learn-characters.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/suggestions-children-learn-characters.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/suggestions-children-learn-characters.html#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/chinese-characters-for-kids.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/chinese-characters-for-kids.jpg\",\"width\":1268,\"height\":675},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/suggestions-children-learn-characters.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Not symbols, but Chinese Characters: Suggestions for Helping Children Learn Characters\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/\",\"name\":\"\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/#\/schema\/person\/286d209397ffc232fae6cb34b7fdc4d6\",\"name\":\"Susie Cao\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/susie_cao.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/susie_cao.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Susie Cao\"},\"description\":\"Susie Cao (Cao Yi) is a teacher who lives in Spain with six years of experience in the education field. She has a bachelor'sdegree in Education and a master's degree in Cultural Studies and Management. Now she is working at TouchChinese.com as an online Chinese language teacher.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/author\/susiecao\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Not symbols, but Chinese Characters: Suggestions for Helping Children Learn Characters","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/suggestions-children-learn-characters.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Not symbols, but Chinese Characters: Suggestions for Helping Children Learn Characters","og_description":"Are Chinese characters that difficult? Our brains often struggle when faced with things outside our own experience; a person who accustomed to the English alphabet may find it very difficult to read the Chinese characters for the first time. That is why in some expressions, Chinese is used as a metaphor for difficult things. However,&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/suggestions-children-learn-characters.html","article_published_time":"2020-07-16T08:54:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-05-23T07:29:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1268,"height":675,"url":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/chinese-characters-for-kids.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Susie Cao","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@digmandarin","twitter_site":"@digmandarin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Susie Cao","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/suggestions-children-learn-characters.html","url":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/suggestions-children-learn-characters.html","name":"Not symbols, but Chinese Characters: Suggestions for Helping Children Learn Characters","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/suggestions-children-learn-characters.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/suggestions-children-learn-characters.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/chinese-characters-for-kids.jpg","datePublished":"2020-07-16T08:54:02+00:00","dateModified":"2022-05-23T07:29:57+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/#\/schema\/person\/286d209397ffc232fae6cb34b7fdc4d6"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/suggestions-children-learn-characters.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/suggestions-children-learn-characters.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/suggestions-children-learn-characters.html#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/chinese-characters-for-kids.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/chinese-characters-for-kids.jpg","width":1268,"height":675},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/suggestions-children-learn-characters.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Not symbols, but Chinese Characters: Suggestions for Helping Children Learn Characters"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/","name":"","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/#\/schema\/person\/286d209397ffc232fae6cb34b7fdc4d6","name":"Susie Cao","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/susie_cao.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/susie_cao.jpg","caption":"Susie Cao"},"description":"Susie Cao (Cao Yi) is a teacher who lives in Spain with six years of experience in the education field. She has a bachelor'sdegree in Education and a master's degree in Cultural Studies and Management. Now she is working at TouchChinese.com as an online Chinese language teacher.","url":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/author\/susiecao"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/148"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13360"},{"taxonomy":"post_series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_series?post=13360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}