Creative Announces PlayChinese Pedagogy System
Creative Announces Innovative PlayChinese Pedagogy System with the New ZiiO Shenbi Tablet and Content Applications that Make Mastering the Chinese Language Fun and Easy
Creative today announced the PlayChinese Pedagogy System, featuring the new ZiiO Shenbi tablet and content applications that make mastering the Chinese language a fun and easy experience. The Chief Architect of the PlayChinese Pedagogy System is Sim Wong Hoo, CEO of Creative. He leads the way in pioneering a new pedagogy that will revolutionise the way people approach the Chinese language, helping to eliminate fear of the language and enabling people to master Chinese through fun and play.
The PlayChinese Pedagogy System is the direct result of Creative’s cutting-edge digital technologies combined with its vast knowledge in the field of Chinese language education. Sim, who was English-educated, discovered long ago that the greatest obstacle to mastering Chinese is the fear of the language. The PlayChinese Pedagogy System is designed to help eliminate this fear and unlock the ability to master Chinese through these four key pillars:
- ZiiO Shenbi tablet - all-new handwriting enabled Android-based tablet pre-installed with Sim’s revolutionary PlayChinese software and a whole host of Magicware applications, together with fanciful colour MagicPens
- iFlashbook online learning portal
- WaWaYaYa children’s educational content
- ZiiBoook - the online library with access to over 1 million books, plus 3D flipping software and unique collaborative sharing technologies
HansVision, a Chinese productivity software, is the super-pillar that enables anyone to enhance their proficiency level in Chinese with minimal effort. Other features of the PlayChinese Pedagogy System include the PlayChinese 14-book series in hardcopies, the PlayChinese Magic Cards and other Magicware.
The PlayChinese Pedagogy System promises a “no tests, no stress” approach to mastering the language. Anyone, regardless of proficiency level, can master the Chinese language through this fun and easy system. A PlayChinese Marathon Contest will be launched at the inaugural Creative PlayChinese Expo where Sim will offer up to S$2 million in cash out of his own pocket as prize money, and participants can win up to a total of S$3 million in cash and prizes. Contest terms and conditions apply.
The PlayChinese Pedagogy System will be on showcase at the Creative PlayChinese Expo during the period of 11 – 20 March 2011, from 12noon – 9pm, at Creative Resource in International Business Park. The Creative PlayChinese Expo is a 10-day long festival of innovative technologies, dynamic content and exciting showcases that are the culmination of years of research in innovative technologies.
When I read this in today's Saturday's papers in the Straits Times, I was reading it intentively.So I went online to look for more information on the tablet. I have not tried it myself, but if I have the opportunity to do so, I will. We are facing dire situation where many students here either hate the language or fear it. Most do not favour the traditional way of rote learning that is fraught with plenty of memorization of idions, phrases, proverbs and poetry. Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew had also mentioned the boredom of 'Ting Xie' (Listen and Write -- aka Spelling); and Mo Xie (Memorize and Write -- aka dictation) which dull the entire learning process further.Hence I do think that play learning has a unique place in teaching . What I do realise in the current teaching style that we appear to have at present in schools tend to keep to the old Chinese style, though there are some teachers who do try to design better lesson plans where games are inftroduced.We are seeing a declining number of local trrained Chinese teachers teaching the Chinese language, as the general local population itself has a heavier tendency to turn to the English language at work and even at home. Hence many Chinese teachers here actually come from PR China, ROC Taiwan and Malaysia. This actually poses another problem where students do not find comfort when listening to lessons that carry an accent that they are unused to.
To be really critical about the entire Chinese language standard, I earnestly feel it is way too low. Even the current Higer Chinese level doesn't seem to live up to the old Chinese level at First langauge levels back in the 70s and 80s. (which is already below par from what the older generation had learnt). Play learning can certainly help improve the dislike for the Chinese langauge, but I think another really strong way to push it forward is to pay a far more serious attention to the quality of Chinese language by bringing back some of the learning literature that is lost for the last 40 years or so. We may be overseas Chinese whose success lies in the fact that we learnt English as a first language since independence, but culturally speaking Chinese is still the mother tongue of ethnic Chinese here. Whenever I talk to the Mainlanders and the Taiwanese, they often point out the low quality of the Chinese language here. It is almost pathetic.
Hopefully a change in policy and a change of teaching style will rectify this looming problem. -- Karen Fu
reference:
1. MM Lee wants learning to be fun on AsiaOne Education
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