1. What are Basic Chinese Characters? 
Basic Chinese Characters are single characters. Most of them are pictograph and can be used as radicals. Basic characters are not necessarily commonly used characters.
Back to Top

2. What are Commonly Used Characters?
Commonly Used Chinese characters are the characters that frequently appear in Chinese speaking, reading and writing. They are not necessarily Basic Characters.
Back to Top

3. Do students have to learn Basic Chinese Characters first?
Yes or no. It depends. If students do not have any Chinese background, they will benefit a lot from learning basic characters first.  Basic characters will help students understand the structure of Chinese characters and make learning new characters easy. If students already speak Chinese and want to focus on reading, they may start with Commonly Used Characters, and then move on to read our leveled reading materials.  However, our Free reading material at each level includes some basic characters.
Back to Top

4. Why do I need to use flashcards to teach/learn Chinese?
Because unlike English, Chinese is not a phonetic language.  Students can’t just learn the letters and then sound out words.  They need to memorize characters and review them one by one.  Well-designed flashcards are a powerful tool to help students learn and review characters effectively. 
Back to Top

5. What are some of the benefits of using your Commonly Used Flashcards?
Characters:  We include only the commonly used characters that students will see in almost every piece of Chinese reading.
Separations:   We separate English and Chinese, characters and pictures on our flashcards, so that students can truly focus on recognizing the characters without relying on English or pictures.
Levels:  We divide these commonly used characters by levels .  This allows students to study one level at a time and not feel overwhelmed.  Parents can also keep track how many characters students have mastered and what characters they still need to work on.
Sentences:  We incorporate the characters into meaningful sentences.  These sentences not only reinforce the characters but also strengthen students' skills of listening, speaking, and reading.
Back to Top

6.What if some of the characters on your flashcards are not in our textbooks?
Nomatter what textbook your students use, these are the essential characters that they should know. Knowing these essential characters is far more important than knowing a lot of uncommonly used characters.
Back to Top

7. Should my students learn these commonly used characters in the level sequence?
Yes, they should. Because the lower the level is, the more frequently the characters are used.
Back to Top

8. Within a level, do students need to learn the characters in order?
A:  No. It doesn’t' matter which character students should learn first within a level.
Back to Top

9. What if students know some of the characters from each level, but not all?
Students may pull out the flashcards that they don’t know from each level, then work on them. They don’t need to worry about mixing up the flashcards, because the serial numbers on the cards allow them to reorganize the cards easily.  
Back to Top

10. Is there any character that students don’t know in the sentences?
After studying the characters in that level, students should be able to recognize all the characters in all the sentences, because the sentences are composed of only the characters in that level and the levels before. For example, the sentences in Level 1 contain only the characters in Level 1; the sentences in Level 2 contain only the characters in Level 1 and 2.
Back to Top

11. Why is so important to read the sentences on the back of flashcards?
Because reading these sentences fluently can prepare students for further reading.  They will feel much comfortable to read a paragraph or more later on, since a paragraph in reading is made of sentences.
Back to Top

12. What kind of flashcard game can I play with students?
We introduce some of Flashcard Games in Chinese on our website.  And also you and your students may come up with your own flashcard games.
Back to Top

13. I’m also interested in Chinese Bingo, but how do I play the game?
Bingo game is a very popular game among students.  You may ask your students to teach you how to play or read Bingo Directions on our website.
Back to Top

14. Are the characters in Bingo matched with the characters in Flashcards?
Yes. The characters in Bingos are matched level by level with the characters in Flashcards.
Back to Top

15. Why do I need to use posters to teach?
Educational posters are visual tools for instruction.  At times,  pictures are worth a lot more than words. The pictures and symbols on our posters can make Chinese teaching and learning more effective. Both teacher and students can refer to the posters when it is necessary.
 Back to Top

16. I live in another country and want to order your products, what should I do?
Since shipping charges depend on weight, destination and merchandise total, you may e-mail us at sales@chicool.com and tell us what you want to order and your address in that country. We will find out how long it will take and the exact shipping cost for you.
Back to Top