Chinese can be a scary subject to many children these days. Unlike English words which phonics could help in pronunciations, those “dots”, “strokes” and “angles” which form a Chinese character makes it unreadable to a child. From road signs to notice boards, children in Singapore are more exposed to English rather than Chinese.
Back in Kayden’s school, he would spend an hour of Chinese lesson per day. For the rest of the day, English will be the main communicated language use. When Kayden reached the age of 5, we are impressed by his English. He would score full marks for his English spelling in school and he enjoys learning new English words. As for Chinese, he has no interest at all. When we tried to teach Chinese to him, he would question, “Why do I need to learn Chinese? It’s so difficult.”
As a parent, I felt worried. My wife and I decided to send him for Chinese enrichment class, hoping that he would have an interest in Chinese. After hearing some positive reviews from friends, we decided to send Kayden to Berries World.
Why Berries World Impressed Us
After 6 months of learning Chinese in Berries World, Kayden is able to read simple Chinese characters and communicate with the family in simple Chinese. In Berries World, the Chinese words taught at Kayden’s age are common sight words. Therefore, it is much easier to relate those Chinese words into his daily life. Of course, there is homework for us to practice Chinese with Kayden. What happens there is a Chinese character we don’t know how to read?
Here’s Why We Love Berries Reader Pen
Simply say, our $60 Berries Reader Pen reads Berries World’s textbooks! Powered by 2 AAA batteries, this electronic stylus has a built-in speaker with volume control and power button. By tapping the tip of the pen onto a specific sentence on a page, the Berries Reader Pen reads out the sentence. It even plays music too! This makes learning Chinese fun, interactive and addictive.
How Did The Berries Reader Pen work?
In order for this electronic stylus to read out loud, audiobooks are first downloaded into the memory chip inside it. Specifically, to work with Berries World’s textbooks, the Berries Reader Pen works on the principle of scanning dots. Invisible to our human eyes, there are a different pattern of dots on specific words, sentences or paragraphs on each page.
When the Berries Reader Pen touches a specific location on a page, the stylus will analyse the printed dot pattern and its exact location. After which, the stylus will play the correct audio file for that location in the Berries World’s textbook. This position recognition technology is patented by Anoto, a Swedish company which develops digital pens. How cool doesn’t it?
