Pinyin is taught to the very very little ones. You'll even see grade one type books with pinyin written above all the characters. But it's phased out really quickly. I taught grade seven for quite a while, and when I came in after the Chinese teacher (meaning the one who teaches literature, writing skills, etc), there might be one or two pinyin words on the board, next to some really obscure characters, but by that time the kids know thousands of characters and rarely need it.

I work with little children in the lower grades.  Pinyin is taught initially as a means of acquiring the tones and of acquiring the base radicals.  The children are permitted to write in pinyan for only a very short time in Grade 1 and then they move directly into the proper characters, practicing each character one at a time.  This continues throughout the lower grades, at least in the school where I work.

Thanks.
Mattaya's spelling bee question had me wondering how they would even do a spelling bee for chinese students. I can't wrap my head around the concept of a spelling bee with characters.

Forgive me for my moment of weakness/curiousity. 

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