mdnkids.com

mdnkids.com- This is a very nice site published by "Mandarin Daily News" that allows your child explore the individual ㄅㄆㄇ sounds with a simple click.  The audio has excellent quality.

Counting 101 iPad App

Counting101- A very basic app that teaches numbers (1-9) and counting.  However, I think this app could be more flexible- right now you hear the Chinese, but only the Arabic numbers are shown.

Chinese Number Trainer iPad App

Chinese Number Trainer- This is a fun, free app for adults learning Chinese as a second language.  This app is nice because it provides a guide, which gives an excellent overview of how to count in Chinese and includes a brief discussion of how to read a phone number.  The guide provides the pronunciation using pinyin.  

The app is designed like a game in which the learner is asked to find a particular number from a multiple choice set (you can change the setting so that you control the number range you are quizzed on (0-100, 0-1,000, 1,000-10,000, or 10,000-1,000,000).  There is a time limit, and you try to beat your best score.  The app is free, but will only allow you to play the game 5 times a day for free.  To play more often you must purchase the full version. 

GenkiChinese.com

GenkiChinese- written by Richard (sorry, no last name) this website posts songs and simple games that can be used to teach and reinforce simple vocabulary and sentence memorization.  Types of vocabulary include:  numbers, colors, body parts, names of fruits, the months of the year, directions, names of countries, and different types of drinks.  

There are two components to most every game on the site.  The first is the vocabulary introduction.  This is where the user can click around the screen and hear the vocabulary.  The simple characters and the pinyin pronunciation also flash up on the screen to help reinforce character recognition.  The second component is the game.  Typically the game asks the user to listen to a vocabulary word and then correctly identify it on the screen.  These games are easy and anyone with a mouse can play- even my five-year old!

I would suggest reviewing the fruits vocabulary with your child before having him/her play the game.  There are two reasons:

1. During the game, the picture for grape is a picture of one grape; however, during the review the picture is of a bunch of grapes.  This may be confusing to some students.
2. Some of the vocabulary is new/different.  Some children learn 菠蘿 (bōluó, ㄅㄛ ㄌㄨㄛˊ ) and some learn 鳳梨 (fènglí, ㄈㄥˋ ㄌㄧˊ ).  Depending on which word your student learned for pineapple, you may need to introduce the alternative.  Remind your student that English also has many words that mean the same thing.  For example: sofa & couch; road & street; child & kid; etc.

The site also has songs to help language learners remember sentences.  For example, he's produced a song called "你好吗?" (ㄋㄧˇ ㄏㄠˇ ㄇㄚ˙?, Nǐ hǎo ma?, How are you?).  It's a good representation of the types of songs he creates.  Be careful- the songs tend to stick in your head!

Please, preview the songs first before sharing with your children.  In the song called "请给我" (ㄑㄧㄥˇ ㄍㄟˇㄨㄛˇ, Qǐng gěi wǒ, Please give me) the word "beer" appears.