Chinese Teaching Materials

There are 387 Confucius Institutes and about 500 Confucius classrooms around the world. Besides the Chinese teachers, there are quite a lot of foreign teachers who are teaching Chinese together with their Chinese colleagues, and the local foreign teachers will be the main force of teaching staff in the future. As this demand exists, more and more foreigners are studying Chinese and looking for a job as Chinese teachers in their own country. So this article will recommend three teaching materials that can help you prepare for Chinese lessons.

1. A Practical Chinese Grammar for Foreigners (Revised edition, Beijing Language and Culture University Press)

Grammar is an inescapable part of learning a language. Foreigners learning modern Chinese must have a good understanding of the characteristics of its grammar in addition to the command of pronunciation, Chinese characters (the written symbols of Chinese) and vocabulary before they can acquire a mastery of the rules of sentence structure and word usage.

A Practical Chinese Grammar for Foreigners is a Chinese-English bilingual primer of modern Chinese grammar. In compiling this work, the authors have drawn upon their years of experience in both teaching Chinese as foreign language textbooks.[This doesn’t quite make sense. The sentence is set up to talk about two things. One is “teaching Chinese as a foreign language.” What is the other? Is it writing textbooks? There is the word “tetbooks” at the end of the sentence but it does not make sense as written. ] Fundamental grammar rules are explained in a concise and comprehensible way. Numerous sample sentences and tables are provided to highlight the classification and functions of words, phrases and sentences. Exercises in diverse forms and an answer key is provided at the end of the book to facilitate self-study.

A key characteristic of this book is that it selects a number of grammatical points which may be obstacles for non-native speakers, and specific notes are given about the usage of these grammatical points. This book will serve as a valuable and handy reference for both students and teachers of Chinese at home and abroad.

2. 1700 Groups of Frequently Used Chinese Synonyms (Beijing Language and Culture University Press)

This book is intended to clean up confusion for students and to provide solutions for teachers. Rather than an academic work, 1700 Groups of Frequently Used Chinese Synonyms serves as a useful tool to students and teachers of Chinese as a foreign language and can solve their problems in their learning and teaching effectively.

Since teachers are often asked by students about Chinese synonyms, it is important to have a book showing an analysis of the similarities and differences between synonyms and near synonyms. There are 1718 pairs (among which there are 80 groups of 3 words) of commonly used Chinese words and expressions that foreign students often misuse, such as ‘办法-方法’, ‘向-对’, ‘过-了’, ‘突然-忽然’, ‘会-能’, ‘正，在-正在’, etc(Can you include pinyin and a translation of what these words mean?). Chinese people do not have problems with these words and expressions but foreigners are often confused and frustrated by them. Only after they understand the similarities and differences between these words and expressions do learners see a road ahead.

3. Chinese Characters: A Systematic Approach (Sinolingua, Beijing)

Chinese characters are a difficult yet integral part of learning Chinese. The teaching of characters is relatively weak in the present system of Chinese language training and is urgently in need of strengthening, especially in the intermediate and upper levels of study. Presently, the best method is to offer character classes at different levels, using a systematic and planned approach to teaching students how to learn Chinese characters. This book is written specifically for this purpose.

Chinese Characters: A Systematic Approach gives an essential introduction to the formation of characters, their history, structure and unique qualities. This deepens the student’s understanding of the world of Chinese characters, helping them to master the correct method of study. Still feel it is too hard to learn Chinese by yourself? Register and book a free trial now and let our teachers help you now!