EdTalk | 3 simple suggestions for brush stroke success in writing Chinese characters
Teaching children to write Chinese characters can be daunting. But a few simple steps can help youngsters overcome difficulties and perfect their skills as calligraphists
Understanding daily conversations, check. Basic conversations (at least try to), check. Starting to read entry-level book, check. Then it comes to writing in Chinese, a milestone most parents find hard to reach, myself included. Writing with the correct stroke order seems to be the Mount Everest to many, even those whose mother tongue is Chinese.
Unlike languages such as English or Spanish, writing in Chinese requires more than memorising a few dozen alphabets or symbols. The Chinese writing system can be daunting, thanks to its rich, beautiful and challenging mix of pictograms, ideograms and phonetic loan characters, and the confusion gets even more serious if your child needs to write traditional characters.
Tongue-twisting writing systems contribute to the seemingly chaotic and endless journey in grasping the skill in written Chinese. So what is the problem? And more importantly, how can we help our children start writing Chinese characters?
Before we begin, I hear that some parents have concerns as to when is the “suitable age” to start their children writing? Some parents put a pencil on their little one’s hand as young as 24 months, while others put off any sort of writing until their child reaches primary school.
My theory is that as soon as you see your child expressing an interest in learning about Chinese characters’ structures you can introduce them to the skills involved, as simple at the beginning as using their fingertips or using a twig to “write” on sand. Remember, the more time and effort you put in at the beginning to help them negotiate the bridge to writing mode, the less “pain” you will find in them when you get them to start actual writing.
Below are some common issues parents come across, as well as suggestions that you can try:
