'Pen friend' helps pupils pick up Putonghua

Ismael Benmoussa had trouble in his Putonghua class at Canadian International School of Hong Kong last year, but no more. His improvement isn't because of the Chinese tutor his parents hired, but because of a new audio pen his class has been trying out.

Now he says: "I love learning a new language and trying out new things, but sometimes it's bad because it's too hard."

Ismael, an eight-year-old in Year Three, turns to his "pen friend" whenever he faces challenges.

The pilot project using the Ting smartpen ( ting means "hear" in Putonghua) is the brainchild of Penny Pan Lixing, the school's director of Chinese studies. Experienced in teaching Chinese to non-natives, Pan believes audio pens could be the answer for students who can't get help from their parents.

Battery-powered audio pens aren't a recent invention, but these pens stand out because they're customisable and work with any teaching materials.

At Canadian International School, Chinese is taught using an approach called Teaching Proficiency Through Storytelling. Students improve their language skills by exchanging stories with teachers. So, old-fashioned audio pens - which may be pre-programmed with a certain publishing company's materials - won't work because teachers prepare their own materials. Ting director Ivan Owyan Loong-shui works closely with them to produce tailor-made notes and worksheets.