Using tones to distinguish lexical and grammatical meaning is not always an easy task for native speakers of non-tonal languages. When I taught Chinese many years ago, the tones were the biggest headache for my students. As adults, my students were good at learning vocabulary and grammar (adults learn these differently from children who acquire Chinese as their first language, but that’s a whole different topic), but almost all of them struggled more or less with the tones. At the time, I had always wished there was a tool that could show the students the Pinyin of the characters and pronounce it for them, so that my students could get help whenever they practice. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find anything at the time, but such tools exist now and are available at Reed.
Tag: Chinese
Learn Chinese with images
All about Chinese is unique. It is so special that I found myself scrolling through the pages, looking at the pictures and the words as if it had taken me back to my own college days. It has its innocence, simplicity, quietness, romance, cuteness, sweetness, and beauty. If you are also interested in painting and photography, I’m sure you will adore this site as much as I do. Below are some examples. (all images from allaboutchinese.tumblr.com) Continue reading “Learn Chinese with images”
Knowmia
Knowmia.com has a collection of over 8,000 videos. It is designed mostly for high school teaching and learning, but I do find the Chinese language collection to be beneficial to our students. The reason I recommend the Chinese…
Knowmia has a collection of over 8,000 videos. It is designed mostly for high school teaching and learning, but I do find the Chinese language collection to be beneficial to our students. The reason I recommend the Chinese class collection to our students but not necessarily the French and Spanish collections, is that the lessons in French and Spanish collections tend to cover grammar and vocabulary that professors usually cover in classes. It might be helpful for students who are learning the language on their own, but probably less so if they are already taking the language classes. In the collection of the Chinese lessons, although there are also lessons on the basic vocabulary and grammar, there are also many lessons focused on stories and culture, focusing on food, transportation, family lives and festivals.
Ai Chinese
Aichinese.com is a resource that Chinese instructors and students should not miss out. This is a great resource for listening and speaking exercise, and it also provides great content learning information. With a free account, you will be surprised…
Aichinese.com is a resource that Chinese instructors and students should not miss. This is a great resource for listening and speaking exercises, and it also provides excellent content learning information. With a free account, you will be surprised how many materials are provided. Even as a native speaker, it will take me quite some time to go through all the materials. The registration process is very quick and easy.