Reading long Chinese novels by 7 years old

My boy, now 6 years 9 months old, has finished reading this book by the famous author Yang Hong Ying.

There are a total of 141 pages in the book. Here are 2 pages from the book. I firmly believe that the best way for kids to learn Chinese, is to read books without Hanyu Pinyin. So I cut out slots in a piece of paper to make sort of a paper filter, to cover up the Hanyu Pinyin, as shown in the following photo. Click on the photo to view the larger image.

The paper filter looks like this. It is just a piece of paper with slots cut out from it. I had the idea and my hubby made it for me. He measured the height of the words on the pages, cut out the slots, then laminated it for me.


My boy reads every word out loud to me, and I help him with words that he does not know. I am very happy that he is able to read more than 95% of the words in this book. He is able to learn many new words as he reads, since some of the common words appear frequently throughout the book. By covering up the Hanyu Pinyin, he is able to focus on the Chinese characters, and the speed of learning new words is so much faster.

He is now reading this book, also by Yang Hong Ying. I also use a paper filter to cover up all the Hanyu Pinyin as he reads.

My girl, who is one year older than my boy, has been reading the 笑猫日记 series of novels (each novel is about 160 pages long) since she was in P1. Here are the pages from one of the books. Click on the photo to read the words.

She enjoys reading the books very much. She is able to read the books independently.

Many P5/P6 kids have difficulty read these books independently, because there are many words that are not in the MOE syllabus.

I have to thank the wonderful 四五快读 series of books : Teaching Chinese at home

I know that many parents complain that the 四五快读 books are boring. The fact is that if you used the correct methods to teach using these books, as described in the first 30 pages of book 1, then learning to read Chinese using these books should never be boring. In fact, my kids enjoyed learning from these books, all I have to do is to spend less than 30 mins a day teaching them. My older girl took about 3 months to finish learning 6 of the 四五快读 books, my boy took about 1 year. After that, I continue to read other Chinese story books (without hanyu pinyin) with them. I do not read to them, instead, I make them read every word out loud to me, helping them with words that they do not know. Within 1 year, both are able to read long Chinese novels confidently.

I firmly believe that the best way to learn Chinese, is by encouraging kids to read as many interesting Chinese story books as possible. Many parents think that the way to read Chinese is to make their kids practice writing many Chinese words, or memorizing model compositions, or make them do tons of assessment books. The fact is that all these methods are not only inefficient, they will only make the kids hate learning Chinese.

When kids are able to read long Chinese novels confidently, Chinese becomes very easy for them. When we find interesting and fun Chinese books for them to read, they will develop a life-long love for the language. I want my kids to learn Chinese not only to do well in exams, I want them to continue to love to use the language long after they stop taking Chinese exams.

Both my kids have been reading long English novels before they turned 5 years old, check out my phonics blog :

Reading confidently at a very young age

The importance of reading books

My boy is of average ability, had an attention span of less than 5 minutes when he was 3 to 4 years old. He is able to read very well in both English and Chinese before he turned 7 years old. I don't even need to spend many hours to teach him everyday. I am a full time working mother, and I can only afford to spend half an hour to one hour a day teaching him at home on weekdays.

I believe that if parents use the correct methods, any child of average and above ability, can learn to be very good in both English and Chinese by 7 years old.

Kids have an amazing ability to learn languages between the ages of 3 to 6. I advise all parents to read this excellent article : Balancing the debate on mother tongue

Before the age of 6, instead of making kids practice writing English and Chinese everyday, or make them do tons of assessment books, parents should focus on teaching them how to read very well in both English and Chinese.

Read this page for more information :

How to raise a bilingual child