Wednesday 1 June 2016

Sing Chu Children's Collection - Chinese Story books

It's quite unusual to come across Chinese storybooks written and published locally, so when we came across a series of them, I got extremely curious. After having a child stepping into Primary 1, learning Chinese got even more exciting for me.

I count it our blessing to be in a bilingual school system.  

These books, Sing Chu Children's Collection (星衢童书)is a series of 4 books that encompasses stories on Animals, Life, Family and Exercise with good morals and learning points. Each book consists of 4 short stories and are of perfect read for our lower primary children. Its content has been appraised by the educational specialists in the Singapore Centre for Chinese Language (SCCL).


Being thin and light, these softcover books are perfect to go into bags for silent reading in school.

They adhere closely to our Chinese Language Primary Syllabus, and the engaging stories are effectively pitched at the appropriate level. Each story is accompanied by an explanation of the keywords in English towards the end of the book. There's also a note to parents, to guide the young readers to read independently while encouraging parent-child interactions. 
  
Another love about these books is that, words familiar to a lower primary child are not accompanied by Hanyu Pinyu. The unfamiliar words are appropriately capped with Hanyu Pinyin, to encourage confident and independent reading. Which is one good way to spark that interest and love for reading Chinese books.





In one of the short story, I discovered the thoughtful use of hanyu pinyin for the word '好'. A sure word that most primary kids would know, and pronounce it as hǎo. But it was capped to identify the unique pronunciation in the different use of context, 好hào吃懒做 requires the 4th accent and not the usual. It then went to back to cap 好 as the 3rd accent on the next page. Just so little readers can notice and identify the correct reading.

I do hope we can find more of these books in our stores or libraries. And yes, we need to extend our search and target more Chinese books this holiday.


Loving her read

And if you've got an age appropriate book right, you need not worry about the constant bugging of, "Mummy, what is this word?" Independent reading is always most ideal.

This Sing Chu Children's collection can be found in popular book stores.

Chou Sing Chu Foundation (CSCF)
A non-profit organisation to promote the Chinese culture, education and language in Singapore. They aim to create a platform for all to appreciate the beauty of Chinese language and culture. They are also a proud sponsor of the entire Chinese children's book collection in the upcoming Tampines Regional Library opening in 2017. Wow! I'm gonna divert my library trips next year. 

Storytelling Sessions
Since September 2015, CSCF has been organising a series of Chinese storytelling sessions in public libraries around the island. Their aim is to enable children to learn Chinese through listening to interesting and engaging stories, and at the same time, ignite their imagination and instill good values.

To date, the response has been overwhelming. Most of their storytellers are volunteers, and amongst them are student volunteers who have undergone training in storytelling for children. Remember to show them appreciation if you're there.

The stories used in these sessions are taken from the CSCF’s educational repository and are suitable for children between the ages of 4 to 10.

Below is a schedule for their upcoming storytelling sessions.

Storytelling schedule


Cheng San Public Library
Activity room (Hougang mall, L3)
Dates: 12 June, 10 Jul, 14 Aug (Sundays)
Time: 2.30pm to 3pm

Tampines Regional Library
Children's playhouse (L1)
Dates: 18 June, 16 Jul, 20 Aug (Saturdays)
Time: 11:30am to 12pm

Woodlands Regional Library
Everest room, children's section (L4)
Dates: 04 June, 02 Jul, 06 Aug (Saturdays)
Time: 4pm to 4.30pm

And if your child loves colouring, CSCF is currently organizing a colouring contest. Complete the contest form with colours and email or mail it in to win books vouchers. You may download the form and read here for more details.

Storytelling, Colouring and Reading fun this June holiday sounds too perfect!


GIVEAWAY
Despite being a non-profit organization, CSCF is generously sponsoring a set of this children's collection to ONE lucky reader of Mum's calling. All you had need to do is:

1. Like Mum's calling on Facebook
2. Like Chou Sing Chu Foundation on Facebook
3. Tag 3 friends on this Facebook post, whom you think will be keen in this giveaway

Giveaway ends on 10 June, 2359 hrs. Feel free to share or regram this post so that more people can hear of these lovely books.

Best of luck!

This giveaway has ended. Congrats Jen L!

Terms and Conditions:
  • This giveaway ends on 10 June 16, 2359 hrs
  • Winners will be picked by random.org 
  • Winner will have to collect the prize from sponsor's office
  • Winners will be announced on Facebook and this blog post
  • Winners will have 24 hours to respond, failing which a new winner will be drawn
  • All incomplete entries will be disqualified. 
  • All entries will be verified before the winners are announced.   
  • Giveaway is no way sponsored, endorsed, administered or associated with Facebook.  

Disclaimer: Books are provided for the purpose of this review. No monetary compensation involved.

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