An app for Chinese homework — when you can’t read a word of it
The homework comes home in characters you can’t read. Zen Reader is an app for Chinese homework that does the reading, the marking and the explaining — and then tells you in English how it went.
Not a syllabus, not a course, and not a substitute for anyone: it works on the actual books, worksheets, character lists and 听写 lists your child’s teachers set this week. You add them; your child works through them; the app handles the Chinese in between.
What it does with a week’s homework
Worksheets
Photograph a Chinese worksheet and an AI tutor guides your child through it — hints rather than answers, and you decide how much it may reveal: hints only, hints then the answer, or explain the underlying idea. It supports the learning instead of finishing the sheet for them.
Reading homework
The nightly read-aloud is checked character by character, tones included, and comes back as a score and a plain-English report. There is a whole page on how the listening works.
Spelling and 听写
Scan the school’s spelling sheet and it becomes the week’s list. Your child practises by writing, saying or taking a dictation test, and AI marks a photo of their handwriting — naming the component they got wrong, not just the word. See the spelling page.
Character and vocabulary lists
Any list becomes flash cards, a card game with a family leaderboard, and a test that listens to each word. See the flash cards page.
What you get to see
- Every result, per child: reading scores, tone notes, spelling marks, test results.
- The reading level of every book — HSK, plus the Singapore MOE syllabus level for the stream and 欢乐伙伴 edition your child is actually on.
- Trends over weeks, badges, and a running count of the characters they can genuinely read, built from every reading they have done.
- A notification when they finish something, taking you straight to the report.
An app for mother tongue homework, in whatever words you searched
Some parents look for an app for mother tongue homework, some for an app for language homework, some for Chinese homework help. It is the same problem — work coming home in a language the parent cannot check — and Zen Reader answers it the same way. Today that means Chinese and English; Malay and Tamil are not supported yet, which the mother tongue page sets out in full.
Where it stops, deliberately
Zen Reader doesn’t write the syllabus and doesn’t teach the class. Teachers set the work; you choose what goes into the app; your child does it. With your permission a school or tuition teacher can be linked to one child and see that child’s reading reports between lessons — nothing else, and you can remove the access at any time.
The rest of the homework, too
Zen Reader is one app. Whichever part of the week brought you here, the others are in the same place, on the same family library.
- Reading aloud, checkedAn app that listens to your child read and marks every character.
- Spelling and 听写The week’s list practised, tested, and their handwriting marked.
- Flash cardsCharacters and sight words as cards, a card game, then a test that listens.
- Mother tongue and language helpHow all of it works for mother tongue homework, and which languages it covers.
Questions about homework
Will it just do my child’s homework for them?
No, and it is built not to. The worksheet tutor offers hints rather than answers, and you set how far it may go — hints only, hints then reveal, or explain the concept. The reading and spelling work is your child doing the work and the app marking it.
Does it work on my child’s actual homework, or its own material?
Your child’s actual homework. You import the book as a PDF or photograph a paper one, and scan or type the week’s word and spelling lists. Zen Reader adds the pinyin and translation itself.
Does it work for mother tongue homework generally, or only Chinese?
The homework help works in Chinese and English today. That covers Chinese-stream mother tongue homework and English spelling and reading; Malay and Tamil are not supported yet.
Can my child’s teacher see any of this?
Only if you link them, and only for one child. A linked school or tuition teacher sees that child’s reading reports and nothing else — not your other children, not your library, not your account — and you can remove their access at any time.
How much of it do I have to be present for?
The setting up: choosing the book and the lists, and deciding how much the worksheet tutor may reveal. After that your child can work on their own, and you read the report afterwards on your phone.
Which devices does it run on?
Windows, Android, iPhone, iPad and Mac, with one family library synced between them, so the homework can happen on whatever device is to hand.
Take tonight’s homework off your hands
Windows, Android, iPhone, iPad and Mac — one family library, synced. Every plan starts with a free 14-day trial.