ZENG RUNIU, from Bao an District, has come up with a novel way of helping his 11-year-old daughter improve her English: playing mahjong.
Zeng had racked his brain for ideas for English learning after finding his daughter s English scores lagged far behind her Grade 5 classmates at a primary school in Fuyong.
His daughter started learning English in her third year at primary school in her hometown in Muchuan County, Sichuan Province. But Shenzhen students begin learning English in Grade 1.
Although he knows little English himself, Zeng knew his daughter should start English with spelling.
He knew that the 26 letters of the alphabet could be grouped into thousands of words. He then realized that mahjong, with 136 tiles, could represent at least five whole alphabets. He printed out the letters and glued them to the tiles.
His daughter immediately loved the new game, placing the tiles in different order to make different words much more interesting than reading a book.
After two months playing the game, Zeng said his daughter was no longer afraid of English and had improved enormously in her English tests.
To let children study in an interesting environment is the best way for them to enjoy learning, Zeng said.
(Lemon Li, Han Ximin)
