Greenfield Chinese Books for Learning Mandarin and Cantonese

What Chinese books should your child read after Sagebooks? The 我自己会读 Greenfield I Can Read Chinese Books is a Chinese leveled reading program with workbooks, flashcards, and Mandarin and Cantonese audio CDs. If you’re looking for a curriculum to build reading confidence and fluency, the Greenfield Chinese books can help.

What are the Greenfield I Can Read Chinese Books 我自己会读?

青田教育中心 Greenfield is an educational publishing company in Hong Kong that creates Chinese leveled reading series for children, including:

1. 我自己会读 I Can Read (Ages 3-9)
2. 我爱读 I Love to Read (Ages 4-9)
3. 魔术盒 Magic Box (Ages 5-9)

Since we have plenty of other Chinese children’s books at home, my children and I decided to try the Greenfield 我自己会读 I Can Read Chinese Books for extra reading practice.

The Greenfield series is divided into eight levels organized in rainbow order: 红,橙,黄,绿,青,蓝,紫,彩虹 (red, orange, yellow, green, light green, blue, purple, rainbow).

Related: Top Chinese Teaching Tips from Educator Cathy Ju Yao

Benefits of the Greenfield I Can Read Chinese Books

• Whole language approach:  Words are introduced through repetitive sentences with appropriate Chinese grammar.

• Relatable, simple, cute stories: 
  • The mini stories are about daily life, including siblings/friendship, bath/bedtime, school, zoo, playground, shopping, and seasons.
  • Because the stories are relevant, kids may be more motivated to read and retain new words.

• Short length:
  • Since each story takes only 1 to 2 minutes to read, the ability to finish a book quickly can help children feel a sense of accomplishment.
  • Each book has only 1 line of Chinese characters per page. This is perfect for children who are not ready for full paragraphs and pages of text.

• Big font:  The Chinese characters are large and easy to read.

Try this: How Kids And Parents Can Learn Chinese From Audiobooks

• Beautiful illustrations: 
  • Most of the stories are realistic and Montessori-friendly.
  • The attractive pictures serve as contextual prompts for new Chinese words. Children can link new Chinese words to relatable pictures of people, animals, and items. In contrast, although cartoons can be cute, they can be abstract and confusing for young learners to decipher.

Related: How to Find a Foreign Language Teacher for Your Child

Downsides of the Greenfield I Can Read Chinese Books

• Cost: The full series costs several hundred US dollars.

• Phonetic translations:
  • In the Simplified Chinese edition, the Pinyin above each Chinese character can be helpful for non-fluent families to sound out each word. On the other hand, for fluent English readers, Pinyin can be a distracting obstacle to memorizing Chinese characters. This problem can be mitigated by covering it up with a ruler or washi tape.
  • In the Traditional Chinese edition, no Zhuyin is provided for Mandarin speakers, and no Jyutping is provided for Cantonese speakers. The silver lining is that children get to focus on the Chinese characters without relying on phonetic support.

Related: Which is Better: Simplified and Traditional Chinese?

• Lack of repetition: Compared to Sagebooks, there is not as much repetition of each new Chinese character. To learn new words, most children will likely need to practice re-reading each booklet.

• No paragraphs: Because only 1 to 2 sentences of text are featured on each page, even in the most “advanced” books, children cannot practice reading longer passages. Instead, a curriculum like 四五快读 SiWuKuaiDu would prepare children to read chapter books like the Little Bear books by Else Minarik.

• Supplemental materials: If you’re using the Greenfield Chinese books for reading practice, the flashcards and workbooks might not be necessary. Because my family is learning Chinese as a second language at home, we want to make it extra fun. Flashcards are not fun for my kids, and writing Chinese is not a priority. Since my family used only the first few pages of one workbook and never used the flashcards, I wish we could have purchased the book separately at a lower cost.

Difference between Greenfield 我自己会读 Levels

Through these photos, you can see a side-by-side comparison of the different Greenfield I Can Read Chinese levels and how the series progresses.

Do you have to be fluent to use the Greenfield Chinese books?

Generally, before learning to read, the focus should be on speaking Chinese. Perfect fluency is not necessary, however. Non-native, non-literate parents with conversational proficiency can use Greenfield’s audio CDs to learn Chinese reading with their children.

Since none of the books have English translations, this curriculum would not be ideal for families with no Chinese language experience.

When I first used the Greenfield I Can Read Chinese Series with my children, my proficiency was limited, and I used Chinese Dictionary apps to translate unfamiliar Chinese words into English.

Try this: 15 Ways to Encourage Your Child to Read

Video of 我自己会读 books

Wondering how the audio CDs sound? This video features a Mandarin Chinese audio CD and a peek inside the Greenfield books and flashcards.

Here is a sample recording of the Greenfield Cantonese audio CD.

Who should consider Greenfield 我自己会读 Chinese Books?

With so many Chinese reading programs available for children, it can be hard to know which curriculum is worth the investment.

The Greenfield I Can Read Chinese Books 我自己会读 is a great option for reading practice after Sagebooks, especially for families who speak both Mandarin and Cantonese. The corresponding workbooks are included for children learning how to write Chinese.

Where to buy 我自己会读 books

• China Sprout (USA, each level sold separately):
  • Red
  • Orange
  • Yellow
  • Green
  • Light Green
  • Blue
  • Purple
  • Rainbow
• Gloria’s Bookstore (USA)
• Little Kozzi (Canada)

What did you think of Greenfield 我自己会读 Chinese Books?

If you used this Chinese reading curriculum, I’d love to hear your thoughts! What did you think of the Chinese stories, flashcards, and workbooks? Please share your experience in the comments below.

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