One method of teaching the months in Chinese is to have your students invent their own mnemonics for each month. This can be thought of as a dual exercise for getting students to remember the numbers as well as the months. Invent a mnemonic by coming up with a memorable series of words that share a starting letter with the words you are trying to learn. Remember, in Mandarin, the phonetic sounds are not necessarily the same as the words as they appear when written. For example, the numbers one, two and seven, although spelt with a "y," "è" and "q" respectively, are pronounced as "e," "a" and "ch." Ask students to come up with a sentence or a rhyme that start with all of the same sounds. After the numbers one to 12, add the word "yuè" (pronounced "yweh"), which means month.
Teach the students the numbers in Mandarin. The words for the numbers are logical in a similar way to the months. For example, the number 12 is the equivalent of saying "ten two," which means that all you need to learn is the numbers one to 10. Sit students in a circle and get them to count to 12 in Mandarin. After they can do this, roll a dice in the center of the circle. Whichever number it lands on will be replaced by the nonsense word "zut." Get the children to count around in a circle again, replacing the number the dice landed on with the word "zut," even in double-digit numbers. Once the children can count to 12, adding the word "yuè" means they can say the months in Mandarin.
Write out cards with the names of the months in Mandarin written on them. Give each child three or four different month cards. Give them a minute to familiarize themselves with the words, and then get their attention. Write out cards with a description of each of the months on it and read them out. As you read out the description, for example, "This month is when we celebrate Halloween," the children will have to guess the name of the month in Mandarin.
This game encourages quick thinking, and can be used as a game to recite the months. Stand students in a circle and give one of them a ball. Tell them that the ball is a hot potato, and they have to say the name of one of the months in Mandarin and then throw the ball to another student. Continue in this way until the 12 months of the year have been said.
