On Literacy
By systematic progression, it is possible in about one hour to master the use of the Fidel as a support for words and for sentences. The latter can be as complex as one wishes and will be custom-tailored for the various age groups one meets. In considering the morphological approach to reading Chinese, we provide on wall charts a number of characters which we select according to our principle. Chart 1 displays 40 of the characters that we consider the simplest. Some of them are used as strokes only. They are colored as suggested on the Fidel so that sounds are associated with these signs, allowing students to count only on themselves to sort them out. Not only can students see the colors and the tones marked on the charts and, therefore, retain them through practice rather than memorization, they can also produce sentences with some of them. Our choice of characters may not permit students (particularly young ones) to produce very exciting statements but, because they have to be creative, whatever they produce will serve them well. In the primers accompanying the charts, a number of examples in black and white can be used to provide guidance. The successive charts contain characters which make explicit one morphological principle after another. For example, “addition� of one or two more basic strokes to a set of previously met characters, with, if 36