The Three-Character Poem 三字經

The "Three-Character Poem" or "Three-Character Classic," known in Chinese as the 三字經 (san dz jing) has been around for hundreds of years.  It is part epic poem, part primer.  

The Wikipedia entry on this topic is about the version of this poem studied in China, and does not mention the revisions and additions made after the founding of the Republic of China in 1911.  This later, modified version is what children study in Taiwan.

Any foreigner with a year or more of Chinese study under their belt should be able to study the Three-Character Poem.  It is available everywhere, and most versions include the phonetic renderings of the Chinese characters.  I have never seen a pinyin version in Taiwan.

The translation below is a loose one.  I referred to the edition of this poem published by 世一 for young children.  This version includes explanations of the more difficult/unfamiliar words, and also features stories related to particular "episodes" within the text.  This is the first 12th of the Three-Character Poem.  Later sections are more historical, cosmological, or even alchemical in nature.

人之初

When people are born,

性本善

Their personalities are good.

性相近

Their personalities are similar,

習相遠

And only diverge through study [or the lack thereof].

苟不教

If you do not teach them,

性乃遷

These personalities change.

教之道

[But] the method of education,

貴以專

Can improve one's heart and mind.

惜孟母

Before, when the mother of Mencius,

擇鄰處

Selected a neighborhood.

子不學

The child [Mencius] did not study,

斷機杼

[So his mother] cut the cloth [which represented tradition].

竇燕山

Dou Yan Shan,

有義方

Had a good method [of teaching].

教五子

He taught his five children,

名俱揚

And their names live on through posterity.

養不教

If one raises [a child] without teaching it,

父之過

It is the parents' fault.

教不嚴

If they do not teach up to their responsibility, 

師之惰

The teachers are lazy.

子不學

If the child does not study,

非所宜

This is not what should happen.

幼不學

The youths who do not study,

老何為

What can they become in later years?

玉不琢

The jade that is not polished,

不成器

Cannot become a useful object.

人不學

Those people who do not study,

不之義

Do not acquire wisdom.

為人子

To be a human being,

方少時

You must exercise your youth.

親師友

Family, teachers, and friends,

習禮儀 

Must study the ways of propriety.