It has been my usual practice while I was teaching in school to come up with my own wordlists for the class kids. Since I’ve been consolidating my teaching resources and my niece will be attending P1 pretty soon, I decided to create a wordlist with all the Primary 1 Chinese words for her as a gift.
Done already might as well help more people, right?
So let me share my kid-friendly Primary 1 wordlist with all of you too.
Where are these Primary 1 Chinese words from?
This list covers all the basic Chinese vocabulary words that the Primary 1 kids need to know in Singapore. I’ve created it with the required words that the kids need to recognise and write according to the Singapore MOE Primary 1 Chinese syllabus. This is slightly different from the version that is in their huan le huo ban 欢乐伙伴 Primary 1 Chinese textbook
Do note that I only did this for the standard P1 Chinese textbook and not the higher Chinese one.
How should you use this Primary 1 Chinese wordlist?
Let me explain.
This list is divided into two parts – 识读字 and 识写字.
Chinese words you need to know how to read
识读字 are Chinese words that the P1 kids are supposed to recognise. A good test will be to get your child to read the characters. They can then cross out the ones that they know and circle those that they have difficulty with.
Here, it is important to test them orally and not make them write the hanyu pinyin for the words because that increases the complexity unneccessarily.
Knowing how to read the Chinese characters correctly is one thing, but more importantly, your kid will need to understand what they are reading. Don’t forget to ask them to tell you the meaning of each Chinese word or draw a picture beside it as they read.
Chinese words you need to know how to read and write
识写字, on the other hand, are Chinese words that you need to know how to read and write.
After testing your P1 kid on reading the Chinese characters, get them to cover the words and re-write the Chinese characters on the left column. Unlike xi zi, they don’t have to keep re-writing the words. I’ve put 3 columns for 3 tries, but your kid can stop if they manage to get it right on the first try, This also helps them prepare for their ting xie Chinese spelling in school.
Building a good pool of Chinese words in Primary 1 lays a solid Chinese foundation
Although there is no formal Chinese exam in Primary 1, there will be holistic tests to track your child’s Chinese learning progress in school.
A good way to prepare your P1 child for such formative assessments is to help them master and understand all the basic 识读字 and 识写字 in their Chinese textbook. This will ensure that they know just enough Chinese characters to be able to read Chinese stories on their own and express themselves in the language.
I hope you and your child enjoy using this Primary 1 Chinese wordlist to learn all the Primary 1 Chinese words for revision. Feel free to share this with your child’s Chinese tuition teacher if you outsource your kid’s Chinese learning.
