Easy Steps to Chinese for Kids is a series of Chinese textbooks specifically designed for kids from non-Chinese backgrounds. It covers four levels, each made up of Textbooks a and b (each with a CD), Workbooks a and b, a set of color picture flashcards (for students) and a set of word cards (for teachers). This series has four characters in it, namely Ding Yi, Tian Li, Jingjing and Lele, who are primary school students from China and abroad. Beautifully designed illustrations, simple sentences and dialogues and lovely songs among other means are adopted to develop the kids" interest in learning Chinese and help them lay a solid Chinese foundation by mastering such fundamental Chinese knowledge as numbers, basic strokes, families and daily expressions. In each volume, a cultural point is introduced through exquisite illustrations, concise words and interesting color stickers. This is Textbook 4a in the series, which is beautifully illustrated and printed in full color. It has altogether 7 lessons encompassing such topics as telephone number, languages, daily routine, means of transport, etc. This volume attaches more importance to the review of the pinyin learned previously, teaches three radicals in each lesson besides reviewing the simple characters learned before, provides more exercises on character and radical writing, sentence making and textual expression, and devotes an independent section to listening. Through these efforts, it helps improve students" integrated language skills.