Even after over 40 years of teaching Mandarin in London, I'm still discovering new things to teach, new ways of looking at the language to help students get a firmer grasp as they're constantly grappling with it, especially the written script.
I started to look at Chinese characters, for presenting to the students, as being in a batch of logically related context, rather than "just learn by rote" which is the traditional way for Chinese children in Chinese-speaking countries. (Even if that wasn't the original principle behind those characters having a common perspective, it's still useful as a mnemonic. Like the placebo effect: who cares even if it's really just a placebo effect? If it works, why not go along with it?)
Here's the first that has inspired this series.
票 piào: (N) voucher –> therefore, float from place to place [change hands] –> I'm using the word "float" as the link for this batch.
(票 piào / voucher has the 示 shì radical. 示 shì means to show, therefore used for "voucher" – being shown for a transaction. It is used for things like "ticket", "invoice / receipt", "cheque". A lot, if not all, of the students I've inherited from other courses only think of it as "ticket", which is not right because a cheque or an invoice or receipt isn't called a ticket, so confusion can arise. One needs to go further back, and to a more general umbrella term, and adjust the English accordingly.)
漂 piāo (water radical 氵): (V) to float (on water)
飄 / 飘 piāo (wind radical 風 /风 fēng): (V) to float (in the air/wind)
瓢 piáo (gourd radical 瓜 guā): (N) gourd ladle (light, therefore float)
嫖 piáo (woman radical 女 nǚ): (V) to visit prostitutes (float from woman to woman)
瞟 piǎo (eye radical 目 mù): (V) cast sidelong glance at (a floating look)
