Textbook for a year-long Beginning Chinese course. Chapters are available in word and pdf files.
This podcast series consists of simple dialogue exchanges. The listening materials are suitable for beginners and help them take the first step toward becoming proficient listeners. The contents of these 72 dialogues are completely based on the beginning level Chinese curriculum; they are creative yet realistic scenarios on topics that listeners can relate to, such as the social, family and school aspects of one’s life. Full transcripts transcripts in both traditional and simplified characters as well as English translations are provided as downloadable PDF documents. The podcast format enables a generation of increasingly ‘mobile’ learners to study the material ‘on-the-go’.
Practice vocabulary on the go! The original idea conceived by a fellow Chinese language student, this flashcard exercise is an engaging and effective way to review vocabulary terms from the convenience of your mobile device.
A collection of video lessons on grammar topics for beginning Mandarin Chinese, available as a YouTube playlist.
Welcome to the Chinese wikibook, a free Chinese textbook on the Standard Mandarin dialect. This page links to lessons using simplified characters (used in mainland China, Singapore and Malaysia). There is also a Traditional Character Version available (used in Taiwan, Macau, and Hong Kong).
The authors of Chinese Rhetoric and Writing offer a response to the argument that Chinese students' academic writing in English is influenced by "culturally nuanced rhetorical baggage that is uniquely Chinese and hard to eradicate." Noting that this argument draws from "an essentially monolingual and Anglo-centric view of writing," they point out that the rapid growth in the use of English worldwide calls for "a radical reassessment of what English is in today's world." The result is a book that provides teachers of writing, and in particular those involved in the teaching of English academic writing to Chinese students, an introduction to key stages in the development of Chinese rhetoric, a wide-ranging field with a history of several thousand years. Understanding this important rhetorical tradition provides a strong foundation for assessing and responding to the writing of this growing group of students.
Chinese Take-In provides an interactive environment where first-year Chinese learners can practice listening outside the classroom according to individual needs and paces while receiving immediate feedback.
Created by student request, this set of basic word-order exercises will help beginners practice the foundational skills of how to use the language in the right order.
This open textbook is designed for those who are learning Chinese as a second/foreign language in their first semester. It has eight chapters, covering topics including a brief introduction about the Chinese language, greetings, and self-introduction, hobbies, nationalities, family members and occupations, inviting friends to dinner, talking about food and beverage, making phone calls, and talking about classes and exams.
This open textbook is designed for those who are learning Chinese as a second/foreign language in their second semester. It has six chapters, covering topics including describing school life, shopping in stores and online, transportation means, reporting weather and climates, ordering foods, and asking and giving directions.
In this activity students will respond to discussion questions about dating and dating experiences. Discussion questions will not only cover student’s experiences, but also their opinions about the best places to go on dates in their city.
In this activity students will learn about various natural disasters. Students will begin by watching a few news videos about natural disasters in Taiwan, then go through scenario cards discussing how they would handle certain disaster situations.
The Smith College Chinese Character Literacy Project site is part of the Chinese Character Literacy Project which has been funded by the Five College Blended Learning for Humanities and Humanistic Social Sciences and supported by the Five College Deans and a multi-year grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. This site serves as an online character learning platform which showcases the character videos made by students and instructors in the beginning Chinese courses (CHI110 and CHI111) at Smith College (and with the hope to collaborate with other institutions in the future).