Sensitivity to speech sounds is important for learning to read Chinese for young children. Chinese characters map directly onto syllables, so young children who can manipulate syllables tend to be better readers. This skill can be exercised in a game. For example, what would “Big Bad Wolf” be without saying “Bad”? (Answer: Big Wolf). We can ask children to do these kinds of manipulations with sensible phrases such as Big Bad Wolf or nonsense phrases, such as book, can, leg.
Some examples of syllable deletion we have given children before include these:
Examples of sensible phrases of syllable deletion:
Examples of insensible phrases of syllable deletion:
