Heads from Children's Fun Publishing pose with experts attending the workshop at the 25th Beijing International Book Fair. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

On Wednesday, Children's Fun Publishing held an expert workshop on Disney English graded reading, as part of activities during the ongoing 25th Beijing International Book Fair.

Experts mainly discussed a number of issues, including the grading standard of children's English reading, puzzles in Chinese children's English learning, and the role of parent-child reading in English enlightenment for children. The workshop also introduced the Disney English graded reading series on a preparatory level, which will be released in September.

The new series, which contains 77 original Disney stories, blends the three learning steps of preview, learning and review. Expansion games are also attached to the stories and shadow reading is available when children listen to recordings of stories read aloud. So far, the Children's Fun Publishing has published the Disney English graded reading series on elementary level and fluency level, which has been popular with parents and children.

Margaret Commellato, a head in charge of global licensing and publishing at The Walt Disney Company, delivers a speech at the workshop. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Chu Chaohui, a researcher from the National Institute of Education Sciences, spoke highly of the parent-child reading design of the Disney English-graded reading series. He said that parent-child reading stands out as an important method of early education.

The Disney English graded reading series, based on Disney stories in pure English, aims to help readers expand their vocabulary, develop English language sense and transition from reading picture books to books of pure text. Combining English course standards of China's compulsory education with US mainstream English graded reading materials, the series can fuel English learning in the classroom. Graded reading also enables children to choose suitable books according to age and English level.

Children's Fun Publishing, a joint venture of Egmont Media Group of Denmark and Posts & Telecom Press of China, is a longtime collaborator with The Walt Disney Company. Disney licensed the learning products in 2015 to Children's Fun Publishing, which released its Disney Chinese language graded reading series in 2016.