Learn with Miaomiao: Chinese – Fun Preschool Language-Learning App

Learn with Miaomiao: Chinese is a Chinese language-learning app for children. It features interactive animations and two characters from the Miaomiao TV show, a young girl named Miaomiao (pronounced Meow-meow) and her pet dog Doudou (pronounced Doh-Doh). Learn with Miaomiao builds on the pictorial origin of many Chinese characters (the written form of the words). Users tap the words to see Chinese characters change into animated objects that look much like the words they represent. Users have two options for engaging Learn with Miaomiao.  The first option is the “Explore” mode, in which users can interact with 30 Chinese characters that have to do with nature, people, and animals. The “Write” mode allows users to follow cute critters while tracing a Chinese character to learn the proper stroke order. With Miamiao, users learn the meanings, pronunciation, and written forms of Chinese characters.

Instructional Ideas

1. Learn with Miaomiao: Chinese can be used in the classroom during Asian Heritage Month, Chinese New Year, or at another time to support a unit about Chinese culture. Teachers can instruct students to practice writing in “Write” mode individually or in stations, and then come up to the whiteboard to try writing a character by memory. Using apps such as Paper by Fifty Three or Bamboo Paper, students can practice writing these letters, and then also decorate the page with the character’s meaning. For example, the character for water can be colored blue and have fish or swimmers on the page.
2. Teachers can have students pick their favorite Chinese character within the “Explore” mode of Miaomiao, and draw a picture of the real-life item that it resembles to emphasize their learning.
3. After students have become familiar with several Chinese characters, teachers can have students create and play  a memory game. To do so, the characters and pictures of where they originated could be printed, cut out, and laminated in order to make the game pieces. Upon completion, students are then instructed to play either in small groups or with a partner. Engaging in this game will allow students to match characters with their meaning and reinforce learning.
4. Teachers can assign a student a word to find in one of the three categories within the “Explore” mode of Miaomiao. As students find the word, they can copy the character, listen to how it is pronounced, and then practice repeating the pronunciation. This activity can be modified by having students pronounce the character and explain its meaning to a partner.

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