Revolutionizing Chinese Language Education: Jennifer Huang Introduces hihilulu’s Unique Dualism Pedagogy and Snowballing Method

In today’s globalized world, communication has become more important than ever, and communicating in multiple languages is valuable. Chinese, in particular, has become increasingly popular due to China’s economic rise and global influence. Nevertheless, mastering Chinese can be difficult, particularly if it is not your parents’ native tongue. 

Conventional language learning techniques may not be effective, and it can take many years to achieve fluency. However, the emergence of hihilulu, an innovative Chinese language education platform led by its CEO Jennifer Huang, is transforming the way children learn Chinese.

hihilulu is an online education platform that uses immersive learning to teach Chinese to children ages 3-12. Jennifer Huang founded hihilulu to help her children learn Chinese. She observed that many children struggled due to incorrect methodologies, causing them to become discouraged and give up. Jennifer was determined to find the right approach to make Chinese learning enjoyable. 

As a pictographic language, she believed that children could use their strong visual memory and unique ability to use both the left and right brain to understand this tonal language. Thus,  By combining Dualism pedagogy, the snowballing method, and immersive language learning, Jennifer and her team at hihilulu are revolutionizing how children learn Chinese.

Dualism Pedagogy

hihilulu utilizes the Dualism pedagogy to teach young children the Chinese language. Promoted by Professor Joel Bellassen, a world-renowned sinologist and academic advisor for hihilulu, the Dualism pedagogy recognizes and treats spoken and written Chinese units separately – and optimizes learning by reducing the cognitive burden for Chinese learners.

hihilulu’s approach to early Chinese immersive education also emphasizes the importance of high-frequency characters and words in establishing a solid foundation for language acquisition. The approach selects high-frequency components and a family of extended characters and interprets them based on children’s age and cognitive ability.

The integration of the Dualism pedagogy and hihilulu’s theme-based immersion acquisition aims to develop daily oral communication skills, then achieve logical and stable progress in reading comprehension and writing. Overall, hihilulu’s use of Dualism pedagogy can provide a more efficient and effective way of learning Chinese for young children.

Snowballing Method

One of the unique features of this platform is the method it employs, called the Snowballing Method, which Professor Joel Bellassen developed. The Snowballing Method is the most economical way to learn Chinese characters. It begins by teaching the most basic components of Chinese characters, known as radicals. Radicals are essentially building blocks combined in different ways to create thousands of different characters. By learning the most common radicals, learners can begin to recognize and understand more complex characters, even if they have not seen them before.

The Snowballing Method then takes a logical and systematic approach to build on this foundation. As learners become more familiar with the basic radicals, they can begin to combine them to form more complex characters. So this method carries two meanings, one is high-frequency components to form high-frequency words, and the second is the high-frequency words to form compound words and texts. This approach simplifies the learning process and makes it more efficient and effective for learners, especially non-native speakers who may find Chinese challenging to learn.

hihilulu utilizes a set of 125 components that were identified by Professor Bellassen and approved by the French Education Ministry as fundamental elements for helping children learn up to 1000 characters. Recent research indicates that knowing the most frequently used 1000 characters allows one to comprehend almost 90 percent of modern Chinese.

Immersive Learning

One of the most innovative features of hihilulu is its use of immersive learning through several methods. Firstly, the platform provides audio-visual content, such as cartoons and videos, focused on the Chinese language and environment. These engaging materials create a fun and immersive learning experience for children.

hihilulu utilizes voice technology to offer speech training, even for children who don’t have anyone around them who speaks Chinese. This technology allows children to practice their pronunciation from the comfort of their own homes, and the platform provides feedback to help them improve.

hihilulu incorporates gamification as a fundamental pedagogy to make learning more interactive and engaging for children. The platform offers various games and challenges that help children practice their Chinese language skills and earn rewards.

hihilulu plans to take immersive learning to the next level by using voice and AI technology to embed keywords and vocabulary into the cartoons. This will allow the cartoons to become a learning context where children can learn by following the dialogue and practicing the vocabulary. In addition, interactive modes will enable children to dialogue with the cartoon characters and practice speaking Chinese.

There is no doubt that learning Chinese can be a challenging task, especially if it is not your first language. Traditional language learning methods can be ineffective and take years to become proficient. However, hihilulu and its CEO, Jennifer Huang, are revolutionizing Chinese language education by combining the Dualism theory and the snowballing method with immersive learning. With hihilulu, learning Chinese is no longer a daunting task but an enjoyable and rewarding experience. To learn more, visit www.hihilulu.com.