In teaching a Putonghua lesson of the Chinese as a Second Language programme in Australia, I used the activity of folding an "Origami boat" that initiated students’ interest in learning origami. Similarly, in teaching Chinese to ethnic minorities in Hong Kong, origami is also the most popular activity. It is definitely a learning catalyt and stimulant. There was a student who described writing Chinese characters is as difficult as "alien culture", but in marking students’ work, it was found that many students can write Chinese characters correctly and neatly. Thus is there any relevancy between origami and writing Chinese characters? Chinese characters are square and the majority of origami projects uses square papers. The origami steps follow the basic form, with basic folds and symbols, according to a certain logical sequence to fold and combine. It will use the quadrilateral, triangle, rhombus, trapezoid, polygon, and other forms. Are there any similarities in the radicals, components and strokes of Chinese characters? This is what we need scholars to explore in depth.

在澳大利亞教授中文作為第二語言的其中一節課，用上了「折紙船」活動，引發了學生學習折紙的興趣。同樣在香港教少數族裔學生中文，折紙活動亦是最受歡迎，絕對是學習的催化及興奮劑。曾有學生形容書寫漢字就像「外星文」般困難，而在批改學生作業時發覺很多學生都能寫正字。那麼，折紙與書寫漢字有沒有相關的地方？漢字是圖象意味的方塊字與折紙大部份用上正方形紙，折紙步驟根據基本型，用基本的折疊及折紙符號，按一定的邏輯順序去進行折疊和組合，更會運用到四邊形、三角形、菱形、梯形、多邊形等各種圖形，而與漢字的部首、部件、筆畫概念是否有相似之處？就這一個的問題，就需要學者們深入的探討了。

• 李潔芳(香港大學) | Lee Kit Fong