Happy Learning with Le Le Chinese 樂樂文化
“It completely surprised me (only a couple weeks in) when I overheard her reading a whole ‘essential’-grade book to herself!”
What is Le Le?
In short, Le Le is a leveled reading system that aims to teach children over a 1000 Chinese characters by the time they have finished the system. There are 300 booklets in total: 100 essential booklets of 8 pages each, 100 intermediate booklets of 8 pages each, and 100 advanced booklets of 12 pages each. This set is complemented by an electronic reading pen (sold separately) that allows children to point at individual words or whole sentences to be read out.
If you want to find out how to buy Le Le outside of Taiwan, you can skip to the end!
How I came to know of Le Le
I started looking for different reading systems after I realised I needed to increase my daughter’s exposure to Chinese books by allowing her to read for longer periods throughout the day without my assistance. My current situation was workable because I was on maternity leave and had the time to spare for reading in Chinese. But my greatest fear was that I’ll be too tired/brain-dead/busy when I return to my full-time job later this year… So, I did a little digging and found that technology had advanced so much in the children’s book industry - I started feeling a bit like a caveman! Le Le was one of the most recommended reading systems on the Internet and was covered in reviews by Chalk Academy, Lah Lah Banana, and Motherly Notes (all of which are great, so check them out if you’re interested).
Prior to actually buying the stuff, I remember doing a crazy amount of research…! It was madness, haha. At the time, my main concern was probably value for money. I watched every video under the sun on it, read all the blogs available, and compared reviews to see what was consistent among reviewers and what their usage differences were.
Finally, I just decided to take the leap. Yes, I bought 300 books and a reading pen. I kept telling myself it was an investment… But nothing could beat my nervousness when I first started using it. Would it be worth it? Gosh, if I didn’t using this, where do I keep 300 books? Will my daughter like it? Will the pen suddenly break down? The questions were endless but my determination to help her develop a love for language through books and activities was equally endless.
One month later… And wow!
I’ve been using Le Le with my daughter for over a month, now. The time we spend with it varies from day to day but it’s often for at least half an hour - and it’s mainly because she becomes so engrossed with them! Sometimes I read with her with/without the pen, other times she reads with my husband (who, by the way, can only say ‘rice’ 饭 because it sounds like ‘fun’ haha!), and other times she’ll spend ages just reading through the books herself. You can see the video below which shows how she was reading with me a couple days back!
At first, I was worried that the pen was becoming a distraction. I must admit that I even hid the pen from her on some occasions… But, after recommendations from other users from the official Le Le Chinese 樂樂文化 Learning Group on Facebook (by official, I mean it’s managed by Le Le), I just let her be.
It completely surprised me (only a couple weeks in) when I overheard her reading a whole ‘essential’-grade book to herself! Bearing in mind that my daughter is only two-and-a-half-years-old, I was dumbfounded by her progress. On top of reading a few of these books, she also recognises almost every book by its title and will say it when she picks it up! She’s likely reading from memory by recognising the pictures, but I am hopeful that this will set her up for learning the words in the future! Here’s a clip of one example (she has recently picked up and read other books like this, too):
It gets everyone engaged - even Dad!
She really loves the books (at least the majority of them)! Although there are some instances where the book doesn’t seem to engage her (only just a few of them), it’s so amusing to see how she chuckles or gasps at the end of some stories. Her great interest in it is matched by the usefulness of its content which generally talks about everyday things and events like seeds, fruit, brushing teeth, etc.. The content of the books means she can apply the words more often and learn them more quickly - which shows because she often learns the books about seeds and animals more quickly than she does the books about ice-skating and sport. (She spends a lot of time with Ah Gong in the garden!)
While she can read it herself, she loves the company. She’ll drag me over to read even if she has the pen and sometimes she’ll even drag her dad over a little session. (Sometimes, despite having the pen, he’ll still resort to making up stories in English - which she loves. It’s a little… Argh! Haha! Nevermind, it’s still very sweet.)
After-care pampering, too…
During my research, I found that, if you bought a set, Le Le came with so many wonderful goodies like free printables and flashcards from their website that complement their books perfectly. There are also English page-by-page translations (for all 300 books!) which are great for those who aren’t Mandarin-speakers themselves.
There’s also a free online resource called TINY Tap that you can access once you’ve purchased a set of Le Le books. It gives children the opportunity to interact and engage with Mandarin - which sounds great. (Note: I haven’t used it with her yet because I’m still waiting for a time when she knows how to manoeuvre digital platforms intelligibly…)
It’s especially uplifting to know that there is a whole community of users on the Facebook group managed by the Le Le Chinese company, and I often found some great ideas for activities and helpful, resourceful and encouraging users there! The Facebook group can be joined before you’ve even bought the set (it’s a private group, but they let anyone interested in!)
On top of all that, the customer service was wonderful both before and after my purchase. They were helpful and responsive and never left anything unanswered.
But we’re all different…
Nevertheless, one should always remember that, while this worked fantastically for me, others will get varied results. All of our needs and situations are different. What’s amazing is its potential and versatility.
I’m lazy. I didn’t want to source individual books and didn’t want to worry about my daughter boring of them too quickly. That’s why buying the whole set was the answer for me! For others, buying the books may be enough while others may want to buy a level at a time. Others may feel that this isn’t for them.
I recommend doing the research to find what suits you in your situation! That’s what worked for me, at least!
Disclaimer! (But they’re so good anyway!)
Though it may seem like it, I can confirm that I have absolutely no affiliations with Le Le. I simply just love their book set and pen, so much so that I thought a blog post to share my experience with it would be necessary! Le Le has just become part of my experience with teaching Chinese to my kids here in the UK so it has naturally become part of the blog.
UPDATE (14/07/2021 13:57): As of today, we have joined the Le Le Chinese Affiliate Program but please note that this review was written before the affiliate program ever existed! You can use our affiliate link below to get 5% off your order with Le Le when you use ‘LELEDEZIREMI’. Every purchase made with this link helps support this blog and the day-to-day running of the bookshop - so thank you in advance! And thank you to Le Le Chinese!
Link not working? Use this URL instead: https://www.lelechinese.com?sca_ref=926448.O5wzfZVszX
One day, I will write a follow-up detailed review on Le Le Chinese 樂樂文化 set and reading pen. So, hold on tight for more! You should visit our social media links (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) to stay updated with the latest posts and information, if you’re interested!
What do you think of technology used for reading? Do you find the Le Le Chinese 樂樂文化 as exciting as I do? Take a look at some of the activities and booklists that include Le Le Chinese books. Let me know in the comments. I’d love to have a chat!
Till soon!