Children Learn Chinese on Cellphones

Children Learn Chinese on Cellphones

– With the evolution of technology and the reduction in costs portable electronics are finding their way into the hands of younger  and younger people with often positive results. Recently the Chinese Academy of Sciences announced that they are designing a new type of software that will help children learn Chinese characters through cell phone games.

“We’re now waiting for the mobile software and mobile phone partners,” Tian Feng, an associate professor with the Institute of Software at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in Beijing, told the Global Times Wednesday.

In 2001, the literacy rate in China was 90.9 percent, according to UNESCO’s 2006 EFA Global Monitoring report. However, illiteracy rates in rural areas are five times higher than affluent regions in China, according to the UNDP. Many schools in rural areas lack adequate teachers and advanced Educational Equipment due to insufficient funding.

“They just need one cell phone with a big screen,” Tian said.

In the multimedia word game, children will be asked to recognize and write strokes from a specific character sent to a cell phone provided by the school. Tian’s research team conducted several experiments in Henan Province and in Beijing last year.

One CAS team came to Beijing’s Yu Cai School for migrant children in May to conduct an experiment.