Offering structured choice to encourage writing

What is structured choice Examples of structured choice in writing Providing structured choice for practicing spelling Providing structured choice through different writing genres Narratives/Recount How-to Writing Opinion Writing Reports Providing structured choice within a writing center Conclusion 1. What is structured choice? Structured choice is nothing new in terms of behavioral/parenting strategy. A structured choice

Maximizing 洪恩识字 to learn Chinese (7 tips and printables)

**iHuman has kindly reached out and offered a discounted bundle for my followers (here) on the apps and add-ons: 识字永久+识字子集永久+成语永久+拼音永久 Technology can be useful to support learning so I am not entirely opposed to apps as long as children use technology with the right intentions. I started looking into Chinese learning apps after Kai finished

Using “Touch and Tell, Touch and Say, Touch and Read” strategies to foster independence in writing

These are the 3 strategies that I teach in the classroom which I have recently introduced at home to help Kai and Kei with writing. I find that when children are encouraged to say things aloud, they often notice things that are often overlooked when they “think silently” to themselves. Encouraging children to use their

How we practice writing Chinese at home without using any worksheets

This is going to be a quick post to document what I’ve been doing with Kai and Kei to encourage writing Chinese. I am not particularly fond of worksheets, and try to come up with alternative ways to incorporate writing as part of our weekly Chinese homeschooling routines. Kai- Almost 6 years old 1. Morning

My DIY resources for using 四五快读 （Book 4）

And I finally completed this huge project… all 400+ cards from the five books of 四五快读 . Mneumonics is a very powerful technique that can help us remember a large amount of information. These cards, drawn to reflect the form and meaning of each character, have helped me teach my kids to read Chinese. I

Supporting your child to write stories with a clear Beginning, Middle and End- foldable trilingual template

Every story should have a beginning, middle and end (BME). One of the many literacy skills a child needs to learn early on is is BOTH to identify BME of any stories, and to write a story with a clear BME. The Picture Book Teacher (here) has a great blog post on the importance of

Our English and Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival resources 2021

This post will document the books that I purchased to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival this year and the links to where you could purchase Mid-Autumn Festival books in Singapore. I have also included a DIY book which your child can add illustrations to, if you don’t manage to buy books in time this year! 从前有个月饼村 Under

What we need to know about children’s stages of writing development

Many parents ask me: When does a child start writing?  It is difficult to answer this question since writing could be anything from “meaningful scribbles,” “letter formation” to “spelling accurately.”  Children as young as 2 years old begin making marks on paper to show their thoughts and ideas.  Children go through stages of writing development when

Using the Story Grammar Marker (SGM) to support reading, writing and speaking (Titanic Unit) and others

Children’s stories are more or less structured the same way. The structure, also called “story grammar” divides a story into smaller segments. Depending on what programs you use, the story grammar elements could be different, but character, setting, problem, events are usually standard. It is important that children learn to identify parts of a story

My DIY resource for using 四五快读 (Book 3)

Kei is 4 years and 3 months and it’s been a rewarding journey so far teaching him to read Chinese using 四五快读. I can’t believe we made it to Book 3! We continue using the same strategies to review the characters before reading the full passage. And Lesson 27 passage: Please refer to my other