Early Thoughts - Basic Chinese 500 Beginner Set (Sagebooks Hong Kong)

Two graded reader sets that I've ordered have just arrived! So I'm going to post some early thoughts I've had since having a look at both readers sets.

Basic Chinese 500 Beginner Set (by Sagebooks Hong Kong), Simplified Chinese Version
基础汉字500 启蒙级珍藏套裝

This seems like the most recommended option when searching online, especially from families home schooling their children. This set of graded readers uses the premise of teaching one unique character per lesson, then getting the children to read 3 sentences using words they have previously learnt and the new character.

The entire course is meant to teach a total 500 words, and this is divided into 5 book sets (Beginner, Budding, Building, Confident and Fluent Readers). I have just purchased the first set, the Beginner Reader Set. It teaches 100 words and this is again divided into 5 books (each book teaches 20 characters). Their suggestion is to teach one new lesson per day, and repeat up to 4 previous lessons prior to starting the new lesson. And if this plan is followed, then the course is supposed to finish in 18 months. 

This set is pretty pricey though, it cost me HKD$495 (£48), and I was lucky to have a friend pick it up directly in Hong Kong for me, so I didn't have to pay shipping costs. The only other way I found was to buy it from the Sagebooks website directly, which including shipping to the UK would have cost HKD$799.58 (£76).

It was also quite difficult to source the Simplified Chinese version of the book in Hong Kong, as obviously most retailers would focus on Traditional Chinese. My friend had to go directly to the Sagebooks head office to buy the set. 

We are about 1-2 weeks into the books now, and currently on lesson 5. My 3 year old has actually been responding really positively to the books. She is even wanting to read Chinese in favour of English - which I can understand, as blending is difficult! She is learning the words quickly through repetition and keeps wanting more lessons. I think I will make some flashcards for her to look at and play with the words throughout the day.

The other set I've purchased is Little Lamb Climbs The Mountain. I will post an early review of this set in my next post. 

YM