The poem
Ode to the Goose (咏鹅, Yǒng É) by Luo Binwang (骆宾王).
鹅鹅鹅é é éGoose, goose, goose,
曲项向天歌qū xiàng xiàng tiān gēCurving its neck, it sings to the sky.
白毛浮绿水bái máo fú lǜ shuǐWhite feathers float on green water,
红掌拨清波hóng zhǎng bō qīng bōRed feet paddle the clear waves.
What it means
Luo Binwang is said to have written this when he was seven, watching geese on a pond. It is often the very first poem Chinese children learn, and it is full of colours: white, green and red.
Characters to know
- 白 bái: white
- 绿 lǜ: green
- 红 hóng: red
- 水 shuǐ: water
How to practise it
Read the poem aloud together first, then write one line a day using the line buttons above the worksheet. By the end of the week your child can write the whole poem and knows what each line means. When it feels easy, set tracing to 0 and write it from memory.
More poems to print
- 静夜思 Quiet Night Thoughts
- 春晓 Spring Dawn
- 登鹳雀楼 On the Stork Tower
- 悯农 Pity the Farmers
- 江雪 River Snow
- 咏柳 Ode to the Willow
- 画 A Painting
- 草 Grass
- 鹿柴 Deer Park
- 寻隐者不遇 Looking for the Hermit
- 相思 Thinking of You
- 游子吟 Song of the Traveller
More worksheets
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