04 August 2017 by Suyen Hu
There is a saying in the teaching profession - 'You teach much, you learn more'. It means that, ideally, both student and teacher learn from the teaching/learning experience.
As a teacher of English based in the UK, teaching Chinese children in China using the internet, I have found that using Snowflake titles the saying has particular relevance
Snowflake Books use Chinese myths and legends as the sources for their stories. Chinese children already have some knowledge of the stories. In the books, the stories are told in English and Mandarin, often with a Pinyin version, which is valuable if the teacher is not familiar with Chinese characters. The Chinese student of English benefits because they can see the English and Mandarin versions side-by-side. Moreover, the stories are sensitively translated into English with regard to the original and the vivid illustrations complement the text perfectly. But how does the teacher benefit? This teacher has learnt about the legends, myths and wisdom from China's long history.
So far, I have used 'The Dragon Princess', 'How Mouse gave his Name to the First Year' and 'Wan-Nian's Calendar', which have been well received by my students. I certainly intend to use more titles in the future.
