Fun with idioms

Chinese idioms, also known as “chéngy?” (??), are interesting phrases that help to spice up stories and often, also offer little gems of wisdom.

But these four-character idioms are sometimes a challenge for students to learn. Besides recognising and understanding the individual characters, one must go beyond the literal translation to uncover the meaning behind each expression.

To enliven the learning of Chinese idioms, teachers at Pasir Ris Secondary School developed “The Ultimate Winner”, a set of game cards to teach 120 Chinese idioms, after a survey of their students showed that while the majority understood the importance of learning Chinese idioms, many found the process too tedious.

With ten levels of difficulty and four ways of playing, the game caught on as a useful and fun teaching resource. In the easier stages, students are required to articulate the idiom, its meaning and how it would be used in a sentence, and teachers will gauge the effectiveness of the students’ learning and their level of proficiency.

As students become more familiar with the idioms, they are divided into groups for some friendly competition. Through the games, students also learn to be independent, self-directed learners.

“I am more motivated to learn the idioms so that I can play the game well. The lessons were fun and I was amazed at how many idioms I can still remember even after a period of time,” said Zhang Xiaozhou, a secondary one student.

Observing the excitement in the classroom and the better learning retention rate of students, the teachers are glad that the project had successfully transformed the way their students learnt Chinese idioms. 

To find out more about Pasir Ris Secondary School, visit their website!