数字一到十
Shùzì yī dào shí — Numbers 1–10
Counting to ten is the highest-value twenty minutes in the Kindergarten year. These ten words come back in age, dates, time, prices and phone numbers — and in Grade 1 they become the first ten characters students ever write.
Unit objectives
By the end of this unit, students will be able to:
- Count from 一 to 十 out loud, unaided
- Count a small group of objects in Chinese
- Show numbers 1–10 on one hand, the Chinese way
- Answer 几个？ Jǐ ge? — “How many?”
Key vocabulary
Ten numbers plus the counting question — practised with flashcards, clapping and audio.
一 二 三 四 五 六 七 八 九 十 几个
Counting with hands and feet
One to ten
The counting chant with claps and stomps, then counting real things — fingers, chairs, crayons, classmates.
Start Lesson 1One-hand numbers
The Chinese hand signs for 6 through 10 — a genuinely useful trick that lets you show any number to a shopkeeper with one hand.
Start Lesson 2Count something daily
Stairs, grapes, socks, trucks out the window. Anything countable, counted in Chinese, once a day.
Lucky eight, unlucky four
Numbers carry feelings in Chinese because of what they sound like. 八 bā (eight) sounds close to the word for prosperity, so it turns up in phone numbers, addresses and wedding dates. 四 sì (four) sounds close to the word for death, so some buildings skip the fourth floor the way Western ones sometimes skip the thirteenth. Children find this fascinating, and it’s a memorable first taste of how much Chinese plays with sound.
Unit 4 progress check
A light, no-pressure way to see what’s sticking:
- Can your child count to ten without stopping?
- Can they count five objects in Chinese, touching each one?
- Do they remember at least one of the one-hand signs?
Counting to ten reliably is the one thing worth staying on until it’s solid — everything numeric for the next eight years sits on top of it.