Click for a clear view of one of the many Pinyin charts above online. LINK
Click on the sound files of any of the letters on the first line. b p m f d t n etc.
This is how many teachers in China and Taiwan teach kids to read in Pinyin. Like kids who are taught English letters with extraneous sounds the intelligent kids who cannot make sense of how ‘bwo-ai’ combines to make bai; ‘mwo- an’ combines to make man; ‘fwo-ang’ combines to become fang; ‘lur-ei’ combines to make lei, shut down/disengage from learning to read.
Here are emails to Purple Culture. My first email was replied to but I have not heard from them since I wrote my second email.
This culture of not replying to emails when one does not have an answer is a major problem in improving the teaching of Pinyin in China. Unfortunately many of the intelligent kids are the ones who shut down/ disengage from learning when things do not make sense to them.
Here is my email to Purple Culture dated 30.7.24.
On Tue, Jul 30, 2024 at 6:45 PM Luqman Michel <luqmanmichel52@yahoo.com> wrote:
Dear Sir,
I have some questions based on your Pinyin chart.
I would be grateful for a response so that I may ask my questions, please.
Thank you and kind regards,
Luqman Michel
Here is their immediate response:
Davis Lee
From:purple@purpleculture.net
To:Luqman Michel
Tue, 30 Jul at 19:57
Dear Luqman
Thanks for your email.
May I know if there is anything we can help?
Best
Davis LEE
Customer Service
Purple Culture
Here is my email in reply:
Luqman Michel
From:luqmanmichel52@yahoo.com
To:Davis Lee
Wed, 31 Jul at 05:40
Dear Davis Lee,
Thank you for your prompt response.
I learned my Mandarin using Yale translation and then switched to Pinyin
as most of the reading material available was in Pinyin.
I worked in the accounting field until the age of 52 when I was requested to teach a kid to learn to read in English. He was an intelligent kid who despite having gone to school for 2 years could not read a single sentence.
I was curious and decided to research why an intelligent kid like him could not read. I quit working and taught more than 80 similar kids on a one-on-one basis. I learned why these kids shut down/disengage from learning to read when confused. Once their confusion is cleared they excel in their studies.
In 2018 I wrote a book
detailing why kids disengage from learning to read. This book has not been
questioned. You may read the book reviews here.
Recently, I tried helping a 12-year-old kid in China to read and found that he could not read in Pinyin or English at grade level.
I then had many discussions with teachers in China and realise it is because pinyin is taught wrongly by many teachers in China.
Your pinyin chart will be detrimental to the intelligent kids who shut down.
Your consonants are taught with extraneous sounds which will confuse many kids who then shut down from learning to read. These kids will then be wrongly classified as dyslexics.
Let us look at some examples:
The sound file for b says bo/bwo. Why is the sound file for bo the same?
The sound file for m says mo/mwo. How do you reconcile this with the sound file for mai?
The sound file for f is fo/fwo. How do you reconcile this with the sound file for fei?
The above applies to all other consonants sounded out with extraneous sounds.
China did away with zhuyin fuhao (bopomofo) and introduced pinyin. Pinyin is not to be taught using the sounds as in bopomofo. The sounds of consonants should be taught without extraneous sounds. Your sound files say 'as in English' but the sounds are as in Bopomofo.
You may refer to my YouTube videos for the sounds of consonants as in English. LINK
I look forward to your response.
Thank you and kind regards,
Luqman Michel
Purple Culture has its headquarter in Hong Kong and another office in Beijing.
(for administrative purpose only)
Purple Culture
20 B, Tak Fat Building,
Finnie Street, HongKong Island,
Hong Kong
Telephone: 86-10-8375 1637 (GMT+08:00 9:00 A.M.- 10:00 P.M. 5 days a week)
Email: purple@purpleculture.net
Address: Room 806, Building 2, Xiaozhuang Jiayuan,
Huangzhuang Rd. 19, Chaoyang, Beijing, P.R.C
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