Practical Chinese Course.1

Author: Liu Xun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-09-01
Features: Practical Chinese Course, a two-volume set with fifty lessons, is a basic-level textbook designed for foreign students learning modern Chinese, as well as for self-study purposes. The primary goal of this series is to cultivate students' ability to use Chinese for communication in real-life situations and to lay a solid foundation for further Chinese language study. This textbook strives to take into account the unique characteristics of the Chinese language while incorporating the strengths of various foreign language teaching methods. Through comprehensive training such as sentence pattern substitution, functional item practice, and grammar analysis, it aims to achieve this objective.
The writing principles of Practical Chinese Course are as follows:
1. This book is based on the standard, authentic modern Chinese commonly used by Chinese people. It first introduces essential and practical language materials that beginners need to master in social interactions.
2. The book not only helps readers acquire a certain number of common language forms but also equips them with the ability to apply these forms in specific contexts. The entire series presents language contexts through the stories of two foreign students, Palanka and Gubo, as they study Chinese in their home country and later interact with Chinese friends in China. The scenes of the characters in the first volume do not take place in China—we hope readers can practice Chinese in their own living environments.
3. Adults learning a foreign language can achieve better results by mastering the necessary phonetic and grammatical rules and applying them to their own language practice. This book introduces basic phonetic and grammatical knowledge while emphasizing language practice.
4. To learn Chinese well, it is essential to understand Chinese culture, history, and current realities. This book (especially from the second volume onward) integrates language and culture as much as possible, allowing students to learn Chinese through topics related to Chinese society, history, famous scenic spots, customs, and traditions.
5. Each lesson includes vocabulary, sentence patterns, extensions, grammar, texts, reading passages, and exercises, all of which are designed to work together to reinforce vocabulary and sentence patterns. Since students have different needs, teachers can use this textbook flexibly based on their teaching objectives. Teachers may use all or part of the provided materials and determine the sequence of teaching activities.
The format of Practical Chinese Course:
Most of the texts are in dialogue form to emphasize listening and speaking training while meeting the comprehensive requirements of listening, speaking, reading, and writing at the basic level. Vocabulary includes must-know words and supplementary words for students to learn at their own pace. Notes explain difficult sentences in the text and the usage of certain words; supplementary sections elaborate on learned grammar points and provide necessary background knowledge. Some new grammar points introduced in difficult sentences will be covered in detail later, and students are only expected to understand the meaning in this lesson.
Phonetic exercises (Lesson 12) and intonation training (Lessons 1–12) focus on difficult sounds and tones while practicing conversations and sentence patterns, aiming to build a strong phonetic foundation. After Lesson 12, in addition to reinforcing pronunciation and tones, intonation exercises are added.
Conversation exercises (Lessons 1–12) and substitution and expansion activities further develop students' ability to flexibly use learned sentence patterns after mastering basic patterns through mechanical substitution.
Phonetics (Lessons 1–12) and grammar introductions cover the main phonetic or grammatical points of the lesson, focusing on the difficulties faced by foreign learners and the characteristics of the Chinese language. The grammar summaries in the unit review lessons help readers summarize the key grammar points they have learned.
Reading passages review learned vocabulary and sentence patterns, strengthen reading practice, and gradually develop the ability to express ideas in paragraphs both orally and in writing.
Exercises use various activities to reinforce key grammar points (including some word usage introduced in the notes). Readers are encouraged to make full use of the illustrations in this book for contextualized conversation practice.
Characters Each lesson includes a stroke order table for Chinese characters. The character workbook analyzes the components, origins, and structures of characters and uses effective methods such as description and copying to help readers learn Chinese characters.
Practical Chinese Course, both volumes, benefited greatly from the contributions of Chinese language teachers at Beijing Language and Culture University. We welcome feedback from teachers and readers around the world to further revise these volumes and continue developing the next stage of the series.