Easy Steps to Chinese for Kids is a series of Chinese textbooks specifically designed for kids from non-Chinese backgrounds. It covers four levels, each made up of Textbooks a and b (each with a CD), Workbooks a and b, a set of colour picture flashcards (for students) and a set of word cards (for teachers).

This series has four characters in it, namely Ding Yi, Tian Li, Jingjing and Lele, who are primary school students from China and abroad. Beautifully designed illustrations, simple sentences and dialogues and lovely songs among other means are adopted to develop the kids’ interest in learning Chinese and help them lay a solid Chinese foundation by mastering such fundamental Chinese knowledge as numbers, basic strokes, families and daily expressions. In each volume, a cultural point is introduced through exquisite illustrations, concise words and interesting colour stickers.

This is Textbook 3b in the series, which is beautifully illustrated and printed in full colour. It has altogether 7 lessons encompassing such topics as stationery, school facilities, positions, hobbies, food & drink, and nature. In this volume, we’ll go on with the learning of initials and compound finals of Chinese syllables. Each lesson teaches two single characters and provides more exercises on character writing, sentence making and simple composition as well as specialized listening exercises to further improve students’ integrated language skills.