Basic Chinese 40 Lessons (Lower Volume)

Author: Chen Suining, Editor-in-Chief
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-02-01
Features: With the increasing international status of China, the number of foreigners learning Chinese has been growing year by year, and the field of teaching Chinese to foreigners has also made significant progress. Our previously compiled textbook, "25 Lessons in Basic Chinese," has become less suitable for the needs of the times. Therefore, with strong support from all sides, we revised "40 Lessons in Basic Chinese" based on the framework of "25 Lessons in Basic Chinese," focusing on situational and structural elements while also considering cultural and functional aspects, further expanding the vocabulary. The entire textbook is divided into two volumes, each containing 20 lessons. The first five lessons of the first volume are dedicated to phonetics. Students mainly learn Pinyin while also covering some simple daily conversations and classroom language, with a total of 128 words. The remaining 15 lessons each include short passages and dialogues. Through the study of passages, students grasp some basic Chinese grammar, with approximately 56 grammar points. The dialogue sections basically do not introduce new grammar points but focus on mastering basic conversational patterns and language functions. Vocabulary learning, in addition to the vocabulary list, also includes reading and writing of word groups, with a total of 791 words across 15 lessons. Additionally, each lesson has an appendix that introduces common objects by category, accompanied by pictures to enhance interest. The second volume of 20 lessons focuses on reading. Each lesson includes two short passages, one for intensive reading and one for extensive reading. The intensive reading section introduces new grammar points, while the extensive reading section mainly introduces cultural knowledge of China. The second volume contains 1,270 words and 38 grammar points. To master the vocabulary and grammar and to strengthen listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills, there are a variety of practice materials after each lesson. These include comprehension of the lesson content, exercises on words and sentence patterns, as well as comprehensive training to encourage students' initiative and creativity. Finally, some difficult grammar points and words are annotated to aid understanding.