Animated Graphics- Chinese characters

I prefer animated graphics over static images when I teach Chinese characters.  Each Chinese character consists of different strokes and it looks like a drawing for nonnative people.

Some difficulties for students learning to write Chinese characters are: 

1) They don’t know where to start

2) They are not sure about the stroke order

3) Some strokes are hard to count

Animated graphics show students how to write Chinese characters with correct stroke order and number of strokes. I found this very useful and save a lot of my instruction time on characters.  Instead of teaching strokes order in class, I can do other more interactive games with students.

Another benefit is that animated graphics can show radicals, part of the characters, in different color.  Radicals are the foundation of characters and categorize Chinese characters.  Knowing radicals can help students’ comprehension ability to decode new Chinese characters they encounter. 

Week 8 - Interesting video on Chinese Characters

Mario Bros is one the most well-known video games around the globe. Despite different languages and cultures, people can easily identify and recognize this game and its component in the game.  Given that pictograph is one formation of Chinese characters, the authors of this video uses the storyline of Mario Bros to introduce the evolution of the Chinese characters such as turtles, fish, flowers, and cloud.

Users know what to expect in the game and each component repeats itself for several times in this 2 minutes video. At the end of the video, it shows the pictures of  all the components in the game, its old writing styles, and its current Chinese characters.

This is a very interesting and educational video because users can explore the subject matters. It introduces origins of Chinese characters in a fun and unconventional way which can motivate students to learn Chinese characters.