My DIY resources for using 四五快读 (Book 1)

If you are reading this, chances are you are probably familiar with the 四五快读 series and are looking into whether to begin this with your child at home. Although I own another levelled readers SAGE 500, I very much prefer 四五快读 because:

• Each lesson teaches 5-10 characters instead of 1 character per lesson in SAGE
• The lesson is structured in a format which I like: CHARACTERS > PHRASES > SENTENCES / STORIES
• The passages in later books with the target characters are longer and more meaningful
• The child will not rely on pinyin to read the characters
• The set is 1/4 of the price of Sage and teaches more characters. Great value for money!

For those whose children are learning TRADITIONAL Chinese, please scroll all the way to the bottom to download the traditional text. Please note I received those copies from a friend and did not create them!

Hands-On Chinese Fun has written a comparison of Sage and 四五快读 that I am in perfect agreement with! (read here)

There are many great reviews written by other mommies that detailed the structure and effectiveness of the 四五快读 reading curriculum. These were where I have done my research before deciding to purchase the series:

• Chalkacademy (here)
• GrowingHeARTS123 (here)

LahLahBanana has also written a comprehensive review of her choice of the levelled readers available in Singapore (here)

If you live in Singapore, you can buy 四五快读 from My Story Treasury (here)

I began the journey of 四五快读 with Kai when he was around 4.5 years old. He is currently on Book 5. Kei who is 3 years and 8 months just started Book 1 last week. Prior to this series, both boys already knew well over 300 characters, and I felt that needed a more structured program to guide their learning.

This was Kei when he was around 3!

I taught both my boys Chinese characters, Japanese hiragana and katakana, and the English alphabet using the mnemonic method which I have wrote about extensively here. I continue applying this same method when using 四五快读 and created picture-cards for every unit.

Tips on making the cards:

I use 4×6 inches index card, fold it in half and cut it to create my cards.

I find this size works best as compared to other standard sizes index cards.

I will be sharing all of my cards for the first book here. The first book introduces Chinese characters, and phrases, with many pictures on the side for reference.

Here is how I teach each lesson in 四五快读:

1. Prepare flashcards with pictures drawn on the back that resemble the Chinese character

2. I talk about the more difficult cards, and make up a story for each card!

** IMPORTANT! Please watch!

3. I practice the flashcards in many different ways. Two quick activities are shown here:

4. I then have my son read the passage once he is familiar with the characters.

For us, learning those characters individually was the key in reading the passage later presented in the unit. Below are the cards that I drew, and for visual learners, the pictures are a really great way to learn each character. Please note that although most of these are my ideas, I’ve also referred to other people’s designs on the internet and cannot take credit for them.

四五快读 picture cards:

I have scanned a copy of all my cards for Book 1 if anyone is planning to start 四五快读 anytime soon. I am currently on Book 5 with Kai and will be updating my cards to be scanned as well. In total I think I created over 500 picture cards for 四五快读, if not more!

Please follow with me on Instagram @msclaudias_bento (here) and I will send you the PDF file of my scanned cards! Instagram is my main sharing platform. I will also be re-doing my Book 2-5 picture-cards so I can share them on Social Media.

I would love to connect with you to see where your 四五快读 journey takes you!

Click on the link to download the traditional versions of the books:

四五快讀 第一冊Download

四五快讀 第二冊Download

四五快讀 第三冊Download

四五快讀 第四冊Download

Here are other related posts:

• Helping my kids learn Chinese, English and Japanese through picture and sound associations
• My DIY resources for using 四五快读(Book 1) >> HERE
• My DIY resources for using 四五快读(Book 2) >> HERE
• My DIY resources for using 四五快读(Book 3) >> HERE
• My DIY resources for using 四五快读(Book 4) >> HERE
• My DIY resources for using 四五快读 (Book 5) >> HERE