To be honest, I used to ask students to copy the same Chinese character line by line, dot by dot, 10 times over. This method was effective for me when I was learning to write Chinese at the age of 6. Actually, I copied the same Chinese character at least for 20 times. However, did my students enjoy it? Most did not. Was it effective for them? Not for the majority. While a few students with exceptional memorization abilities may have retained the characters by copying them a few times, and could recognize them in readings, this approach did not work well for the majority of my students.
I started to ponder a fundamental question: What’s the true purpose behind teaching students to write Chinese characters? Is it to facilitate meaningful writing that students will apply in their everyday lives, both now and in the future? Is it to appreciate the beauty of this unique non-alphabetic writing system? Or perhaps it’s simply to enhance their ability to recognize characters in reading materials? Could it even be just for the sheer joy of it? Each question calls for a unique strategy.
In light of this, I’ve devised a few enjoyable activities where students can “write” Chinese characters for pure fun.
