Storyline:

Updated Draft_March2008 ****** Please input a note for correction (at the Comment line), or send a file via email to Dr. Lin Domizio, if you see any lesson pasted incorrectly. The Comment line is at this Magic Chinese’s Homepage for correction:

http://transculturation.org/Magic_Chinese

MAGIC CHINESE

TEXTBOOK (First Draft)

updated with Lin Yingzhu laoshi & Kwan’s new three lessons

We need Su-jane laoshi’s WORD document (not PDF) on Reivew ONE.

FOUNDATION ONE:

LEARNING “B P M F SONG” FROM PETER

Students Reading:

(Show Peter’s picture with Pinyin saying: Wǒ shì Peter.)

Hey, I’m Peter. I moved up here from Taipei, Taiwan with my parents when I was 8 years old. Mom and dad insist I use Chinese at home. Thanks to them, my Chinese is still fluent. My friend, Melissa, wants to learn Chinese from me. After giving it some thought, I believe I can teach her my learning secret. It makes the learning of pronunciation go faster and easier. Trust me! Once you’ve learned my two songs, you’ll be able to say anything in Chinese as long as it is spelled out in this phonic system. You may not be able to read Chinese characters or write them yet, but you can speak it.

Please listen to the songs first then follow me to sing. First, we’ll sing the song with ABC tunes. I call it the “b p m f song”. After you remember this one, then we’ll sing the song of “Compound vowels” in the melody of Little Spider song. After you remember both songs by heart, we’ll work on how to write down these sounds in Hanyu pinyin symbols.

(Wei-Yun’s note: It is important to let students sing first then look at the symbols. Singing the song without looking at the English letters lets students learn the sound without the influence of their English ability.)

b p m f song

b p m f d t n l

g k h j q x

z c s zh ch sh r

yi wu yü

a o e ẹ

ai ei ao ou

an en ang eng er

Women hui chang B P M F!

(We can sing B P M F!)

The second song you’re going to learn is all the compound vowels in Chinese language. These are the combination of individual vowels you’ve learned in the first song after simplifying the spelling. The two lines grouped together are identical in sound. The top one is used when the sound is in the ending position. The bottom one is the same sound used as is. Now let’s see if we can sing and write at the same time.

Compounded vowels song

ia ie iao iu ian in iang ing

ya ye yao you yan yin yang ying

ua uo ui uai uan un uang ong

wa wo wei wai wan wen wang weng

ue uan un iong

yue yuan yun yong

Women hui chang compounded vowels.

(We can sing compounded vowels.)

One thing we haven’t learned from these songs is the tonal system in Chinese language. The tones disappeared when we sing because of the music melody. However, when you speak Chinese language, you do need to say the sound in the correct tone otherwise people may misunderstand you.

Tones

Chinese language has five different tones. There are written as tonal symbols on top of the pinyin, such as: – ,ˊ,ˇ, maˋ, and˙. They tell you how the sound should be twisted. For example, the sound for mother is māmȧ, you say the first ma with a high and straight pitch for – symbol and the second ma with a softer lower voice. This symbol,ˊ, indicates the sound should go up. Of course, the ˇsymbol tells you the sound should go down first then up. Well, ˋ is going down for sure. If you have trouble hearing the tones, try listening with your eyes closed.

(Wei-yun’s note: Have students using their right arm to show different tones. Straight out to the right as first tone, raise up 45 degree for 2nd tone, bend the elbow to raise hand for third tone, drop down to 45 degree angle for 4th tone, and hold a fist for light tone. I prefer to use body gesture to show tones because it is more direct information associating the twisting of sound then thinking about the numbers. )

Extra tips for pinyin system.

1. When j, q, x, z, c, s, zh, ch, sh, and r are used in the initial sound add a silent i behind each one. It still sounds just like the original one in the song.

2. When yi and wu are used in the beginning position, only the first letter is written with an ending sound. When yü is used as an initial sound, yu is written down. If it is not in the beginning position, then only u is used. Notice that the dots disappeared on top of the sound. But do not worry, not too many words with this sound. Practice the examples in the following Table.

Pinyin

As initial sound

As ending sound

As partial ending sound

Yi

yā 鴨 duck

yǒu 有 to have

nǐ 你 you

bǐ 筆 pen

jiāo 教 to teach

jiào 叫 to call

Wu

wá 娃 doll

wǒ 我 I, me

Bù 不 no, not

zhū 豬 pig

hǔo 火 fire

hūa 花 flower

Yü

yùe 月 moon

yuán 圓 round,

circle

xǔ 許 to permit

qù 去 to go

xǔe 雪 snow

xúe 學 to learn

(Wei-yun’s note: We can keep this in the teacher’s resources instead in student’s book.)

TEACHER’S RESOURCES

1. Using CD and songs to practice basic pronunciation.

A. Sing b p m f song

Let students sing along with CD section by section but don’t let them look at the pinyin symbols. After the song has been memorized then practice the writing of symbols.

Little tricks to help students with problem:

To remember bpmf dtnl – Boy pours more flour down to new lamp

To remember gkh jqx – Girl kisses her jumping Chihuahua Xiong

Show student how you can make a Q from Ch

To remember zcs – Zack cuts silk

Remind student to say c as the ts sound in cuts

To remember zh ch sh r – Review how to say z, c, s, first, then teach student to curl the tongue and say z, c, s again. The h added in each one is to remind them to curl their tongue. The r sound is just the sound of air pushing through a curing tongue.

To remember the difference between e and ẹ - The e looks like an arm goes around someone’s neck. Ask students to make a chocking sound. The little dot under the e represents a little lam. Ask the student to make the animal sound for ẹ. Remind students the little lam may run away and disappear later in pinyin, but still using the lam sound for those words.

b. Sing Compounded vowel song

Make sure students master the first song before you teach this one.

You can teach this song with the pinyin symbols at the same time. Make sure students understand the two lines sound the same but the top one is as ending sound, while the bottom on is used as the initial sound. Lead students to repeat the song in different ways to reinforce memory.

2. Practice tones with gestures using right arm.

It is important to ask students to use right arm to practice because tones will be written down this way. Vietnamese students tend to write 2nd and 4th tones the opposite way because of Vietnamese language. It is easier for students to understand if you refer 1st tone as high flat tone, 2nd tone as up tone, 3rd tone as check mark tone and 4th tone as down tone. Make a fist to indicate the dot for the light tone.

3. Use TPR to practice pronunciation and learn verbs:

Start with 4 verbs as a group. Show students the pinyin and action. It is even better if you ask students to suggest the action. Be dramatic and fun! Practice the tones at the same time. Say verbs in slow motion with action. After mastery of one group then add on another group.

There are many ways you can do the practice in games. You can say student’s name and see if that person act correctly. Or do the reverse way, have the students do the action and you act. Purposely make mistake to have a laugh! Hangman will be good to practice spelling with pinyin and tones.

Extension activity: Teach students the sound of 不 with all the verbs. Even add the way to ask question by using verb 不 verb.

Verbs

b (比) p (跑) m (摸) f (分) d (打) t (聽) n (拿) l (來)

g (給) k (哭) h (喝) j (教) q (去) x (笑)

z (坐) c (猜) s (算) zh (站) ch (吃) sh (說) r (扔)

yi (要) wu (玩) yü (願)

a (爬) o (剝) e (咳) ẹ (捏)

ai (愛) ei (背) ao (叫) ou (有)

an (看) en (摁) ang (唱 ) eng (碰)

4. Use pinyin cards with picture or real objects to practice the following terms.

Practice a few people terms and a few object terms each day. Combine with the verb terms learned before to create simple sentences. Use family pictures to practice people terms. Only show students pinyin cards. This is not the time to show Chinese characters.

(Wei-yun’s note: Make cards for teachers and make a pinyin sheet of the following terms for student’s material.)

Rén hé dìfāng (People and places)

我 你 他 我們 你們 他們

爸爸 媽媽 哥哥 弟弟 姐姐 妹妹

家人 老師 校長 家 學校 教室

公園 遊樂場 飯廳 運動場 圖書館 禮堂

Dōngxī (Objects)

校車 汽車 鉛筆 色筆 紙 尺

粘膠 剪刀 橡皮 板擦 白板 鐘

書 書包 電話 電腦 電視 電燈

門 窗 桌子 椅子 功課 光碟

5. Extension activity:

a. 在! 不在! 在不在? 在嗎?

If students absorb places terms quickly, add these learning immediately.

b. 是! 不是! 是不是? 是嗎?

If students absorb people terms quickly, add these learning immediately.

c. 有! 沒有! 有沒有? 有嗎?

If students absorb object terms quickly, add these learning immediately.

6. Games with cards:

1. Matching of cards. (A set of cards with picture to match with the other set with pinyin.)

2. Bingo.

3. Snatching the cards. (Display all cards in front of students. Students take turns to say one sentence that contain different cards. For example: I have book. They need to say it out loud before taking the cards. Verb is not displayed. So it is good to review some verbs before doing this game. Assign different points to cards and have them add the total points at the end of the game to win a prize.)

FOUNDATION TWO:

THE BASICS OF CHINESE LANGUAGE

Students Reading:

(Show Peter’s picture with Pinyin saying: Shénmė shì zhōngwén? Hànyǚ? )

The Chinese language you are learning is Hànyǚ or Zhōngwén. It’s also called Pŭtōnghùa or Mandarin Chinese. How can it have 4 different names?

Hànyǚ means the language used by Han people, the majority of Chinese about 90% of the population. China is slightly smaller than U.S. in total area but close to 5 times of the U.S. population! There are total 56 ethnic groups. All ethnic groups have their own language. In order to communicate efficiently, Hànyǚ, the ethnic language of Han tribe, is the official Chinese language. Zhōnggúo is China in Chinese language. Therefore, Zhōngwén is the language spoken by the people. The term Pŭtōnghùa means a common language, while Mandarin Chinese is the Mandarin dialect spoken by northern and southwestern Chinese. Isn’t it amazing? All these 4 names apply to the Chinese language you are learning.

Who uses Chinese language in our world?

Currently, people outside of main land China also use Zhōngwén, such as people in Taiwan, Singapore, and China towns all over the world. In the ancient time, many nations in Asia used Chinese characters as written language, such as Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. Today Japanese still use kanji originated from Chinese characters in their writing. As for modern Korean and Vietnamese language, they’ve developed their own spelling systems and no longer using Chinese characters. According to The World Almanac, there is more people speaking Chinese than either Spanish or English on Earth. It’s also one of the six official language used by the United Nation along with Arabic, English, French, Russian, and Spanish. Based on the trend of language learning in schools around the world, there will be more people using this language when we grow up.

(Wei-yun’s note: Should we add a world map, marking areas with people speaking Chinese? And a bar graph comparing the amount of people speaking major languages in the world, adapted from the data in 2007 World Almanac? )

What are the major difference between Chinese language and English?

Are you curious about how Chinese language work? When I first came to the U.S., I had to learn English from the very beginning. That was really difficult for me because in my own language, Chinese, there is no gender, no tense, no singular nor plural form of nouns, and no need to conjugate verbs (changing verb according to people and tense). It took me sometime to get use to all these changes needed in English. My friend told me there are even more of these changes in Spanish. So, I think learning speaking Chinese probably will be easy for you especially after you mastered the pīnyīn and tones. But, Chinese language has no spelling. Pīnyīn is only a tool to teach you how to pronounce the sound. The written form of Chinese is roughly square-shaped graphic design called character (字 zì).

When did the written Chinese language started on history? How did it change through the years?

According to the legend, Chāng Jíe, an official recorder of the Yellow Emperor, created Chinese characters over five thousand years ago. Gradually, these characters evolved into symbols called Oracle Bone Script. They were carved on bones and tortoise shells around thirty-three hundred years ago. By 221 B.C., Qínshĭhuángdì, The First Emperor of China, unified all the kingdoms and ordered everyone to write Chinese characters in the same style. Starting then, written Chinese changed little in shape. However, new characters have been added on over the years. The first dictionary – Shūo Wén Jǐe Zì written during the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 A.D.) contains 9,000 characters. There are about 86,000 characters listed in a dictionary published in 1994!

How many characters do I need to learn to be able to read?

Actually, only about 3,500 characters are used in daily life. Some characters are used much more frequently than others. When learning Chinese, teacher always starts from teaching the most frequently used words to make learning efficient. A well-educated Chinese person masters about 6,000 to 7,000 characters. What about the others 80,000 characters? You will not see them unless you do research on ancient Chinese literatures.

How did Chinese people create so many characters?

There are 6 basic ways to create characters. The attached table shows you the name of these methods and examples of each.

Six types of characters

How were they created?

Examples

Notes

Fun with words

1. xiàng xíng zì

Draw the basic shape of things.

木, 人, 水, and 口

It is the oldest way of creating characters. Pictographs.

Can you match up examples with these meanings?

Mouth, people, water, and wood?

2. Zhǐ shì zì

Create pictograph with an indicative sign added

木 added a line to become 本,

人 added a line to become大

It’s created along the original pictographs.

Can you match本 and 大 with either origin or big?

3. Hùi yì zì

Combining existing characters to create new meaning.

日(sun) and月 (moon) together for 明; 小 (small) and 大 (big) for 尖

The sound of the created words are not the same as either of the original words

Can you match明 and 尖 with either tip or bright?

4. Xíng shēng zì

Combining existing characters to create new meaning still keep the sound of one of the part.

父 (dad) with 巴 (symbol with ba sound) for 爸;

女(female) with 馬 (symbol with ma sound) for 媽

Over 90% of Chinese characters are in this category.

Which word is mother? Which word is father?

How do you say mother and father?

5. Zhuǎn zhù zì

Change parts of character to create new meaning.

考 (test, kǎo) changed to 老 (old, lǎo);

開 (open, kāi) changed to 關 (close down, guān)

This is more frequent than Jĭa jìe zì.

Both 開 and 關 have a common part 門 (mén). What do you think 門 looks like?

6. Jĭa jìe zì

Borrowing a word for another meaning and sound.

還 (still, hái) is borrowed for 還 (return, huán)

Very seldom to see words in this group.

What sound do you think 環 will have?

Hái or huán?

How to use various characters to make vocabulary?

Every single Chinese character has only one syllable. A very unique situation about Chinese characters is that many different characters may sound exactly the same. There fore it is necessary to combine characters into a term to make the meaning clear.

For example: The sound diàn can be 店 (store). There fore, shāngdiàn (商店) is a general store and shūdiàn (書店) is a book store.

The sound diàn can also be 電 (electricity). Diànhùa (電話) is telephone and diànshi (電玩) is video game.

When you learn Chinese characters you’ll see your vocabulary increases quickly because of the different ways of combining them into terms.

How do you make sentences in Chinese?

I always think Chinese characters are similar to individual Lego pieces, when you link them together, you can build many things. So when you link the Chinese characters together, in the right order of course, you can make sentences or questions.

a. To use STPVO general structure:

The right order means arranging the English sentence “I study Chinese in school this year.” as “I this year in school study Chinese.” The time (T) and place (P) need to be placed before the action (V for verb). S indicates subject, and O indicates object.

b. To make negative statement:

If you want to say no or not, add bù sound before the V.

For example: Learn (xúe) changed to not learn (bù xúe).

Good (hǎo) changed to not good (bù hǎo).

c. To make questions:

There are two ways to ask “Do you learn Chinese?” One is to add a mȧ sound at the end of a straight statement of “You study Chinese”. The other is to use a positive negative combination of verb.

1. Nĭ xúe Zhōngwén. -------( Nĭ xúe Zhōngwén mȧ?

2. Nĭ xúe Zhōngwén.--------( Nĭ xúe bù xúe Zhōngwén?

d. To change from I to you, he, she and it:

Wǒ

(I)

Nǐ

(you)

Tā

(he or she)

Tā

(it)

shì

(am, is, are)

Wǒ shì

(I’m)

Nǐ shì

(you’re)

Tā shì

(he’s or she’s)

Tā shì

(It’s)

mén

(plural)

Wǒ mén

(we, us)

Nǐ mén

(you all)

Tā mén

(they, them)

Tā mén

(they, them)

dē

(possessive)

Wǒ dē

(my, mine)

Nǐ dē

(your, yours)

Tā dē

(his, hers)

Tā dē

(its)

e. To specify past or future:

A sound gùo or lē is added after the action word to indicate it has happened.

I learned Chinese. Wǒ xúe gùo Zhōngwén.

Wǒ xúe lē Zhōngwén.

Wǒ xúe gùo Zhōngwén lē.

A sound of yào or hùi is added before the action word for future tense.

I want to learn Chinese. Wǒ yào xúe Zhōngwén.

I’ll learn Chinese. Wǒ hùi xúe Zhōngwén.

Now, you are ready to go into the adventure of MAGIC CHINESE with us. Let the fun begin!

Pre-Lesson 2: The Basics of Chinese Language (2-17-08)

Students Reading:

(Show Peter’s picture with Pinyin saying: Shénmė shì zhōngwén? Hànyǚ? )

The Chinese language you are learning is Hànyǚ or Zhōngwén. It’s also called Pŭtōnghùa or Mandarin Chinese. How can it have 4 different names?

Hànyǚ means the language used by Han people, the majority of Chinese about 90% of the population. China is slightly smaller than U.S. in total area but close to 5 times of the U.S. population! There are total 56 ethnic groups. All ethnic groups have their own language. In order to communicate efficiently, Hànyǚ, the ethnic language of Han tribe, is the official Chinese language. Zhōnggúo is China in Chinese language. Therefore, Zhōngwén is the language spoken by the people. The term Pŭtōnghùa means a common language, while Mandarin Chinese is the Mandarin dialect spoken by northern and southwestern Chinese. Isn’t it amazing? All these 4 names apply to the Chinese language you are learning.

Who uses Chinese language in our world?

Currently, people outside of main land China also use Zhōngwén, such as people in Taiwan, Singapore, and China towns all over the world. In the ancient time, many nations in Asia used Chinese characters as written language, such as Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. Today Japanese still use kanji originated from Chinese characters in their writing. As for modern Korean and Vietnamese language, they’ve developed their own spelling systems and no longer using Chinese characters. According to The World Almanac, there is more people speaking Chinese than either Spanish or English on Earth. It’s also one of the six official language used by the United Nation along with Arabic, English, French, Russian, and Spanish. Based on the trend of language learning in schools around the world, there will be more people using this language when we grow up.

(Wei-yun’s note: Should we add a world map, marking areas with people speaking Chinese? And a bar graph comparing the amount of people speaking major languages in the world, adapted from the data in 2007 World Almanac? )

What are the major difference between Chinese language and English?

Are you curious about how Chinese language work? When I first came to the U.S., I had to learn English from the very beginning. That was really difficult for me because in my own language, Chinese, there is no gender, no tense, no singular nor plural form of nouns, and no need to conjugate verbs (changing verb according to people and tense). It took me sometime to get use to all these changes needed in English. My friend told me there are even more of these changes in Spanish. So, I think learning speaking Chinese probably will be easy for you especially after you mastered the pīnyīn and tones. But, Chinese language has no spelling. Pīnyīn is only a tool to teach you how to pronounce the sound. The written form of Chinese is roughly square-shaped graphic design called character (字 zì).

When did the written Chinese language started on history? How did it change through the years?

According to the legend, Chāng Jíe, an official recorder of the Yellow Emperor, created Chinese characters over five thousand years ago. Gradually, these characters evolved into symbols called Oracle Bone Script. They were carved on bones and tortoise shells around thirty-three hundred years ago. By 221 B.C., Qínshĭhuángdì, The First Emperor of China, unified all the kingdoms and ordered everyone to write Chinese characters in the same style. Starting then, written Chinese changed little in shape. However, new characters have been added on over the years. The first dictionary – Shūo Wén Jǐe Zì written during the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 A.D.) contains 9,000 characters. There are about 86,000 characters listed in a dictionary published in 1994!

How many characters do I need to learn to be able to read?

Actually, only about 3,500 characters are used in daily life. Some characters are used much more frequently than others. When learning Chinese, teacher always starts from teaching the most frequently used words to make learning efficient. A well-educated Chinese person masters about 6,000 to 7,000 characters. What about the others 80,000 characters? You will not see them unless you do research on ancient Chinese literatures.

How did Chinese people create so many characters?

There are 6 basic ways to create characters. The attached table shows you the name of these methods and examples of each.

Six types of characters

How were they created?

Examples

Notes

Fun with words

1. xiàng xíng zì

Draw the basic shape of things.

木, 人, 水, and 口

It is the oldest way of creating characters. Pictographs.

Can you match up examples with these meanings?

Mouth, people, water, and wood?

2. Zhǐ shì zì

Create pictograph with an indicative sign added

木 added a line to become 本,

人 added a line to become大

It’s created along the original pictographs.

Can you match本 and 大 with either origin or big?

3. Hùi yì zì

Combining existing characters to create new meaning.

日(sun) and月 (moon) together for 明; 小 (small) and 大 (big) for 尖

The sound of the created words are not the same as either of the original words

Can you match明 and 尖 with either tip or bright?

4. Xíng shēng zì

Combining existing characters to create new meaning still keep the sound of one of the part.

父 (dad) with 巴 (symbol with ba sound) for 爸;

女(female) with 馬 (symbol with ma sound) for 媽

Over 90% of Chinese characters are in this category.

Which word is mother? Which word is father?

How do you say mother and father?

5. Zhuǎn zhù zì

Change parts of character to create new meaning.

考 (test, kǎo) changed to 老 (old, lǎo);

開 (open, kāi) changed to 關 (close down, guān)

This is more frequent than Jĭa jìe zì.

Both 開 and 關 have a common part 門 (mén). What do you think 門 looks like?

6. Jĭa jìe zì

Borrowing a word for another meaning and sound.

還 (still, hái) is borrowed for 還 (return, huán)

Very seldom to see words in this group.

What sound do you think 環 will have?

Hái or huán?

How to use various characters to make vocabulary?

Every single Chinese character has only one syllable. A very unique situation about Chinese characters is that many different characters may sound exactly the same. There fore it is necessary to combine characters into a term to make the meaning clear.

For example: The sound diàn can be 店 (store). There fore, shāngdiàn (商店) is a general store and shūdiàn (書店) is a book store.

The sound diàn can also be 電 (electricity). Diànhùa (電話) is telephone and diànshi (電玩) is video game.

When you learn Chinese characters you’ll see your vocabulary increases quickly because of the different ways of combining them into terms.

How do you make sentences in Chinese?

I always think Chinese characters are similar to individual Lego pieces, when you link them together, you can build many things. So when you link the Chinese characters together, in the right order of course, you can make sentences or questions.

a. To use STPVO general structure:

The right order means arranging the English sentence “I study Chinese in school this year.” as “I this year in school study Chinese.” The time (T) and place (P) need to be placed before the action (V for verb). S indicates subject, and O indicates object.

b. To make negative statement:

If you want to say no or not, add bù sound before the V.

For example: Learn (xúe) changed to not learn (bù xúe).

Good (hǎo) changed to not good (bù hǎo).

c. To make questions:

There are two ways to ask “Do you learn Chinese?” One is to add a mȧ sound at the end of a straight statement of “You study Chinese”. The other is to use a positive negative combination of verb.

1. Nĭ xúe Zhōngwén. -------( Nĭ xúe Zhōngwén mȧ?

2. Nĭ xúe Zhōngwén.--------( Nĭ xúe bù xúe Zhōngwén?

d. To change from I to you, he, she and it:

Wǒ

(I)

Nǐ

(you)

Tā

(he or she)

Tā

(it)

shì

(am, is, are)

Wǒ shì

(I’m)

Nǐ shì

(you’re)

Tā shì

(he’s or she’s)

Tā shì

(It’s)

mén

(plural)

Wǒ mén

(we, us)

Nǐ mén

(you all)

Tā mén

(they, them)

Tā mén

(they, them)

dē

(possessive)

Wǒ dē

(my, mine)

Nǐ dē

(your, yours)

Tā dē

(his, hers)

Tā dē

(its)

e. To specify past or future:

A sound gùo or lē is added after the action word to indicate it has happened.

I learned Chinese. Wǒ xúe gùo Zhōngwén.

Wǒ xúe lē Zhōngwén.

Wǒ xúe gùo Zhōngwén lē.

A sound of yào or hùi is added before the action word for future tense.

I want to learn Chinese. Wǒ yào xúe Zhōngwén.

I’ll learn Chinese. Wǒ hùi xúe Zhōngwén.

Now, you are ready to go into the adventure of MAGIC CHINESE with us. Let the fun begin!

LESSON 1: NUMBERS

The story…

The ‘Magic Chinese’ journey starts when Melissa and her family go to a flea market and buy what they think is a compass. It is old and rusty, with many dials and buttons that seem more like decorations than anything else. Beautiful designs are carved into the lid. Even though the compass doesn’t seem to work very well, Melissa still loves it. What she doesn’t realize is that the compass is going to change her life and that of her friends.

On the day after she buys the compass, Melissa, as always, gets together with her four good friends in Peter’s garage.  Excitedly, Melissa shows everyone the compass. Peter immediately declares that he knows how to make it work, but Tom barges his way in, snatching the compass and wildly pressing all of the buttons and turning all of the dials. Suddenly, strange, glowing words appear as if by magic in the air. Tom drops the compass out of surprise, but the words remain. Everyone is astonished by them.

They ask Peter at once what these words mean. Peter explains that they are times and dates in Chinese, but he doesn’t know why they are there or how they have appeared. Melissa exclaims that it doesn’t matter. She thinks that everything that has occurred so far is extremely exciting and just like what is told in fantasy stories. Maybe the compass will take them to a magical world! However, something strange happens. When Reggie pushes the upper left key, the compass screen promptly displays English on what looks like a computer screen. It seems to have turned into a translator. 

I. 故事發展 (Narration)

Melissa is showing this curious-looking compass to her friends. While everyone is watching intently, Peter declares that he knows how to use it. Tom barges in immediately and begins to press all the buttons and dials. Suddenly, strange, glowing words appears as if by magic in the air. Tom drops the compass out of surprise, but the words remain. Everyone is astonished by them.

II. 課文對話 (Dialogue)

Tom

Look! What’s this? Hey, there are some amazing symbols. I wonder what language this is.

Peter

I know. I know. That’s Chinese. They are the numbers 1-10. “一,二,三,四,五,六,七,八,九十.”

Linda

What? (mimicking)….yi, er, san, si, wu, ………..

Wow! That’s really cool. I want to learn it.

Peter

Look! Here’s today’s date. “二零零七年十月二十六日.”

Melissa

(Looking at the time machine) What about this?

Peter

That’s the time. “下午三點二十六 分.”

Tom

Look at this! I think this button sounds it out. Listen!

Time Machine (pronouncing :)

一,二,三,四,五,六,七,八,九十.

二零零七年十月二十六日.

下午三點二十六分.

III. 詞彙 Vocabulary

零

zero

一

one

二

two

三

three

四

four

五

five

六

six

七

seven

八

eight

九

nine

十

ten

年

year

月

month/moon

日

date/sun

分

minute

上 午

morning, AM

下 午 afternoon, PM

百

hundred

天

sky, day(s)

是

to be, am, are, is

有

to have, there is, there are

點

o’clock

分

minute

四字表Four-word phrases

SHAPE \* MERGEFORMAT

IV. 語法與句型 Grammar Points, Sentence Patterns

1. To state a telephone number in Chinese just say each digit in order. Remember numbers are keys words in a sentence; you need to pronounce each number clearly and correctly.

415-833-9706 四一五-八三三-九七零六

Now, ask some of your classmate to state their home phone numbers in Chinese, and write them down below:

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

2. How do you say year, month and date in Chinese?

In Chinese, the character 月(yue4) “The moon” stands for month; while 日(ri4) “The sun” stands for the day or date. For example, the eighteenth day of September is written 九月十八日. In speaking, however, the word “號” (hao4=number) replaces “日”. Thus, 九月十八號 is how you say September 18th.

From January to December, you can just go by the order of the numbers from the first month to the twelfth:

January 一月,

February 二月, March三月,

April 四月,

May 五月,

June 六月,

July 七月,

August 八月,

September 九月, October 十月, November 十一月, December 十二月

Now, what are these dates? Give the English translation for each of the following:

四月九日　＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿　　十一月二十號　＿＿＿＿＿＿＿

七月六號　＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿八月三十一日　＿＿＿＿＿＿＿

九月八日　＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿十二月十八號　＿＿＿＿＿＿＿

For the year, you will say the four digit number just like you say the telephone numbers, and end the phrase with 年 (nian2, the word for “year”). For example:

1990, 一九九零年

1865, 一八六五年

2002, 二零零二年

2008, 二零零八年

2012, 二零一二年

Now, to give information on year, month and date, simply use this order: from large to small (year+month+date):

For example; September 30th, 2008- 二零零八年九月三十日

Please give the English translation for each of the following dates:

一七八五四月六日

______________________

一八九三年十月十五日______________________

一九九六年八月二十九日______________________

二零零九年 三月十六日______________________

Now give the date of birth of some your family members or your friends:

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________

3. What is today’s date? 今天是幾月幾號? “幾” is a question word, which literally means “how many” or “how much”. Whenever a question regarding a number is asked, 幾is used.

今天 (是) 幾月幾號?

明天

你的生日

六月

有 幾天?

十月

今年二月

你的電話

幾號?

4. Note the difference between一月and 一個月. The word “個” is a generic measure word. So while 一個月means one month,一月means January. For example;

一個月 有三十天 as opposed to 一月有三十一天

今年二月有二十九天

明年二月 二十八天

九月

三十

5. To state the time of the day:

上午 九點 十 分

下午 三點 二十分

Now, write down the following times in Chinese:

6:00 AM ___________________

8:30 PM ______________________

11:15 AM __________________

6:35 PM ______________________

2:36 PM ___________________

7:50 AM ______________________

6.Please note when counting the number of years, ‘年’, does not take a measure word. Thus, ‘a year’ is ‘一年’ rather than‘一個年’For example: “ There are 365 days in a year” is “一年 有 三百六十五 天.” (A year has 365 days.)

The word for week “星期” on the other hand, takes measure word “個” as a counter. For example: There are 21 days in three weeks.三個星期有二十一天.(Three weeks has 21 days.)

Now, can you translate the following into English?

There are 366 days in the year 2008. (The year 2008 has 366 days.)

____________________________________________________

There are 29 days in February this year _______________________________

There are four weeks in a month._____________________________________

There are 52 weeks in a year. ________________________________________

補充詞彙Words to help.

今天

有

星期

今 年

電 話

點

生日

是

個

快樂

幾

你

的

明天

明年

VI. 動腦活動 Class Activities

A. 唱歌: 用 One little, two little, three little Indians 曲調

(以後五線譜要畫在這裡, 淑真,你真不得了, 你的五線譜是怎麼弄的?).

一個, 兩個, 三個小孩; 四個, 五個, 六個 小孩; 七個,八個, 九個 小孩 十個小孩通通來.

B. 連連看 Dot to Dot (做一個連接 點到點的圖畫,讓學生從一連到一百.)

C. 畫一隻長長的蜈蚣,讓學生猜猜看一共有多少隻腳?

D. 部首: Radical/Writing: 人 口

人 person

The origin of ‘人’。

人 "person" as a radical is normally written at the left side of a character (the standing person : 你, 他, )

口 mouth

The origin of ‘口’。

‘口’ is usually written on the left side of a character. ( 叫)

Some of the following characters belong to radical ‘person’; some belongs to ‘mouth’. Copy them down on the space provided below.

吹 to blow

眼eye

進 to enter

吠to bark

像 image

見 to see

俊 handsome

都 all

美 beautiful

字 word

伴 companion

吃 to eat

伯 uncle

明 bright

味 taste

有 to have

唱 to sing

吵 noisy

喝 to drink

体body

人/ : _____________________________________

口： ____________________________________

VII. 文化知識 Culture Notes

A. Chinese believe that some numbers are more auspicious than others. Six and Eight represent good fortune for Chinese, much as the number seven is considered a lucky number for Westerners. Westerners consider thirteen to be an unlucky number while for Chinese number 4 is considered unlucky. The pronunciation of number 4 is homophonic (that is it sounds the same) with the word for “death”, and is therefore often avoided.

B. 在這裡畫出中國人如何用手語來表達數字 1-10.

LESSON 2: INTRODUCTION (介紹姓名)

一. 故事情節(Narration)

After the previous experience, Peter’s garage becomes the fixed place where they amuse themselves with the compass. One day, Melissa unintentionally keys in her date of birth: “Here! Look! It’s my birthday.” Tom grabs the compass and turns the outermost circle of the compass to the left. Peter nervously yells: “Wait! Wait!” Suddenly, the screen emits a blinding light that none of them can keep their eyes open. They are so surprised to find that Peter’s garage has vanished after they open their eyes. Instead, the surrounding looks like a middle school sports ground. The students around them are all Easterners look rather like Peter and Linda. With a confused look on their faces, they come up to ask who they are and where do they come from. Peter knows none of his friends understand Chinese language, so he begins to introduce himself. To his amazement, they all can speak Chinese fluently although none of them understand why. Reggie is quite nervous about this adventure and keeps thinking about how will they go home. Peter finally figures out the reverse process. In a blink of an eye, they are back in Peter’s garage save and sound! Now they realize what a treasure this compass is. They pledge to keep this secret among themselves.

二. 課文對話(Dialogue)

瑞奇:「 哇! 我在哪裡?」

玲達: 「彼得! 這是哪裡? 」

彼得: 「 我不知道! …是個中學! 」

湯姆: 「 哇! 這太好玩了! 」

學 生 甲: 「 咦? 你們是誰? 怎麼來的? 」

學 生 乙: 「 嗨! 你們叫什麼名字? 是哪裡人? 」

彼得: 「你們好! 我叫彼得。 他們是湯姆, 麗莎, 瑞奇和玲達。」

麗莎: 「 我們是美國人。這裡是哪裡? 」

學 生 乙: 「這裡是台北中山中學。」

彼得: 「 咦! 麗莎! 你說中文嗎!? 」

瑞奇: 「我們怎麼回家啊? 」

Finally, Peter figures out how to reverse the process. Everyone happily says goodbye to the students in Taipei (台北), Taiwan (台灣).

大家: 「再見! 再見! 我們回家了! 」

三. 課文詞彙與延展練習(VOCABULARY)

A. 寫字練習

我 你 他 們 是 不 好 在 哪 裡 叫 什 麼 名 美 國 人 說 中 文 嗎

B. 課文詞彙

我們 你們 他們

在哪裡? 這是哪裡? 是哪裡人?

你是誰? 叫什麼名字? 我叫

怎麼來的? 怎麼回家?

美國 台灣 台北 中山中學

美國人 大家

不知道 說中文嗎?

嗨! 哇! 咦! 啊! 太好玩了! 再見!

C. 研展練習

Besides the following examples, you can also practice with the terms you’ve learned in Pre-lesson I.

a. 在哪裡? 在這裡 在家裡 在中學裡

在中國 在台北 在美國

he

b. 和 我和你 我們和你們 中國人和美國人

中文和英文 英國人和美國人 上學和回家

c. 嗎? 他是好人。 他是好人嗎?

你說英文。 你說英文嗎?

這裡是中學。 這裡是中學嗎?

d. 不 是 不是 是不是? (是嗎?)

好 不好 好不好? (好嗎?)

說 不說 說不說? (說嗎?)

叫 不叫 叫不叫? (叫嗎?)

在 不在 在不在? (在嗎?)

四: 語法註解 (GRAMMAR NOTES)

1. Asking questions using “嗎?”:

Change a straight sentence into a questions simply add嗎 at the end.

Example: You are American. Are you American?

Ni shi meiguoren. Ni shi meiguoren ma?

He speaks Chinese. Does he speak Chinese?

Ta shuo Zhongwen. Ta shuo Zhongwen ma?

This is fun. Is this fun?

Zhe hao wan. Zhe hao wan ma?

2. Asking questions using “什麼?”, “誰?”, and “哪裡?”:

a. Do not add 嗎 at the end of the questions.

b. Chinese questions follow the same pattern as the answer. All you have to do is

to take out the answer term and put in the questions term.

Examples: What is this? This is a Chinese book.

Zhe shi sheme? Zhe shi Zhongwen shu.

Who is this? This is my mother.

Zhe shi shei? Zhe shi wode mama.

Where is this? This is middle school.

Zhe shi nali? Zhe shi zhongxue.

What is Chinese language?

Zhongwen shi sheme?

Who speak English?

Shei shuo yingwen?

3. Asking questions using “怎麼?”:

a. Do not add 嗎 at the end of the questions.

b. Always use a verb or action word after怎麼 to make a how to type of question.

Examples: How to say this? Zhe zenme shuo?

How to play this? Zhe zenme wan?

How to learn this? Zhe zenme xue?

How to ___verb___? Zenme ___verb___?

c. Learn how to say “What is _____ in Chinese language?”

How to say panda in Chinese? Panda zhongwen zenme shuo?

How to say France in Chinese? France zhongwen zenme shuo?

How to say Japan in Chinese? Japan zhongwen zenme shuo?

4. When to use 是 and when not to use 是:

Think “shi” is an equal sign. When the two sides of shi are the same type of words you can use shi, otherwise, don’t use it.

Example: That is good. That person is a good person.

Na hao. Na ren shi hao ren.

America is fun. Americans are fun people.

Meiguo haowan. Meiguoren shi haowande ren.

五. 延伸練習 (EXPANSION)

a. Nationality, people and language

中國 中國人 中文

美國 美國人 英文

英國 英國人 英文

法國 Faguo 法國人 法文

德國 Deguo 德國人 德文

日本 Riben 日本人 日文

西班牙 Xibanya 西班牙人 西班牙文

墨西哥 Moxige 墨西哥人 西班牙文

台灣 台灣人 台灣話 Taiwanhua

b. Describing people

好人 中國的好人 天人 好美的天人 美人 英國的美人 名人 天下的名人

美國人 學中文的美國人 中國人 說英文的中國人

c. Describing location

哪裡? 哪裡好玩?

這裡 這裡好玩。

那裡nali 那裡不好玩。

家裡 家裡好玩。。

中學裡 中學裡太好玩。

六. 交際活動 (TASKS PERFORMANCE)

Activity 1: Conversation circle. (對話圈)

Divide students into two groups with equal numbers. Have them standing in two concentric circles facing each other. The students will ask each other the following questions. Then move the outside circle clockwise to switch to a new partner. You may give them a card with questions printed on it to begin the activity. After a while you can remove all the cards and have them continue on the questioning without cards. This will help students to speak naturally.

1. 你是誰? 你叫什麼名字?

我是________________________

我叫________________________

2. 你是哪裡人? 你是哪國人?

我是________________________

我不是______________________

3. 你說什麼文? 你說中文嗎?

Ying diandian

我說英文。 我說一點點中文。

Activity 2: Chinese Shulaibao! (Chinese wrap 中文數來寶)

Explain the ancient art of 數來寶. Demonstrate the 說中文- 數來寶 using CD and the pinyin transparency. Explain the meaning and lead students to say it slowly section by section. After several times, increase the speed but still keeps the tempo. Start to cover up some portion of the words while continuing the practice until the whole thing disappears. Then use the Chinese word transparency sheet to practice again. This is to help student internalize the learning. Using hand gestures at the same time can help students remember the meaning. Point out several new grammar points at the end to confirm their understanding.

說中文- 數來寶

說中文! 說中文! 我會說中文!

你也說, 我也說, 人人說中文!

昨天說, 今天說, 明天還要說!

天天說, 天天學, 中文說得好!

Shuo zhongwen! Shuo zhongwen! Wo hui shuo zhongwen!

Ni ye shuo, wo ye shuo, renren shuo zhongwen!

Zuotian shuo, jintian shuo, mingtian haiyao shuo!

Tiantian shuo, tiantian xue, zhongwen shuo de hao!

Activity 3: Introducing a friend to class. (介紹同學)

Let students find a partner in class. Interview each other with the questions listed on the cards. Using Pre-lesson I to do question 4 and 5. Have them memorize the answer for each question and introduce each other in front of the whole class. When they finish introducing each other praise them “Shuo de hao!” Reward each student a piece of fortune cookie or candy. Make them practice saying Xiexie.

1.他是誰? 他叫什麼名字?

sui

2.他幾歲?

3.他是哪國人? 他是哪裡人?

Xi huan

4.他喜歡什麼?

5.他不喜歡什麼? (Using Pre-lesson I to do question 4 and 5)

Activity 4. Recognizing Radicals (部首練習)

Can you tell the identical part of the following words? There are two radicals in the following words. Please group them into the two categories. One of the radical was originated from person, 人 (ren). Notice that when written on the left hand side of the word, it looks a little different. The other one originated from the meaning of mouth, 口 (kou).

你 you

叫 call

他 he

吃 eat

們 plural

for people

啊 !

人 person

伯 uncle

喝 drink

仔 kid

呀 !

休 rest

哪 which

和 and

個 individual,

measuring word

Words with radical人 (ren): ________________________________________________

Words with radical口 (kou): ________________________________________________

七. 文化知識 (CULTURE UNDERSTANDING)

中文名字 Chinese name

Chinese name always have their family name before their own name. Family name usually composed of one single character, occasionally we can see two characters for family name, such as 歐陽 (Ouyang). The attached list shows you some common Chinese family name (Chart 1).

Unlike the first name in English, there is a book of name for parents to choose from, Chinese name is created by parents. The parents will choose either one or two characters that can describe their kids or expectations for their kids. Sometimes the first word is a chosen word according to the generation sequence from a set of characters determined by their ancestor. In this case, people can tell which generation this person is just from looking at his or her name. One can also tell whether they are siblings from the same family based on that chosen word. There are some examples of Chinese names for boys and girls (Chart 2). Can you tell which is more likely for girls? Of course, sometimes we can’t tell the gender simply by looking at a name. A name like 明 (ming, bright or smart) can be either a boy or a girl.

英文名字 translated into Chinese.

When English name is translated into Chinese, the sound of each syllable is matched with a sound in Chinese character. The Chinese words are chosen in the way that doesn’t carry any special meaning to avoid sounding funny. You can see some American names in Chart 2.

Do you like to create a Chinese name for yourself? Write down two or three key words that you would like to have in your characters, in English of course. Your teacher may be able to help you create an authentic Chinese name for you.

Chart 1. 百家姓

Chart 2. 誰是誰?

What is the family name? Can you tell a boy’s name from a girl’s name?

名字: 李國強 Li guoqiang (country and strong) 林美 Lin mei

王百俊 Wang baijun (hundred and handsom) 張慧玲 Zhang hui ling (wisdom and delicate)

Chart 3. 美國名人

Qiaozhi huashengdun niudun ai yin si tan

僑 治 華 盛 頓 牛頓 艾因司坦

LESSON 3: FAMILY 我的家人

I. Narration 故事情节

From the previous ‘teleporting’ experience, the friends realized that the compass had special powers.

The following day they gathered in Tom’s garage again. When Tom picked up the compass and turned the outer dial to the right, the light reappeared. Everyone had become used to it, so they closed their eyes waiting for the rays of light to go out. Opening their eyes, they found that they had been transported to Melissa’s garage. Disappointed they hadn’t been transported somewhere more exciting, they went into Melissa’s living room to talk about the compass. Since they hadn’t told their families about the compass yet, Tom asked Melissa if her parents were at home. Melissa gestured at a photo on the wall and said that they were out today. Tom asked if it was an old photo, since he didn’t recognize Melissa’s parents.

II. Dialogue课文对话

湯姆：Melissa, 他們是誰啊？

Melissa pointed at the people in the photo one by one. 這是我爺爺，這是我奶奶，那是我爸爸和媽媽，這是我哥哥和弟弟，那是我妹妹。我爺爺奶奶都是墨西哥人。

湯姆：你會說西班牙話嗎？

彼得：当然，她说得很好。

瑞奇：你哥哥和弟弟都像你爸爸。

琳達：有兄弟姐妹真好 。

麗莎：我們都是好朋友，像兄弟姐妹。

湯姆：誰要我的姐姐？

琳達：甚麼？！你不要你的姐姐。

湯姆：不！不！不！我是開玩笑的。

III. Vocabulary

课文詞彙 ：

谁who

這是 this is 那是 that is

爸爸

媽媽

哥哥

姐姐

弟弟

妹妹

爺爺

奶奶

兄弟姐妹 brothers and sisters

都是 all are

墨西哥人 Mexican

会 know how to

说～话 to speak

西班牙 Spain

当然 of course

说得很好 speak well

像 looks alike

真 truly

朋友 friend(s)

要 want

什么 What

是～的 emphasize the action in between

开玩笑 joking

四字表

家、人、爸、妈、哥、姐、弟、妹、朋、友、没、很、得、好、会、这、那、 都、是、要

IV. Grammar Notes:

語法注解：

1. How to ask question in Chinese?

In Chinese, if you want to ask a question, you can simply add MA in the end of the sentence.

你是墨西哥人吗？

你是西班牙人吗？

你像你爸爸吗？

Or you can use a question word.

几：你几岁？

什么：你叫什么名字？

哪里：我们在哪里？

谁：他是谁？你像谁？

Or you can simply use positive + negative to make a choice-type question.

不 is negative, so 是不是 is “are you or are you not”

你是不是墨西哥人？

你是不是西班牙人？

你是不是美国人？

会不会：can you or can’t you?

你会不会说西班牙话？

你会不会说中文？

你会不会说英文？

像不像？look alike or not?

你像不像你妈妈？

你像不像你爸爸？

Important note:

The negative form for 有 is 没有，

有没有：have or not have

你有没有哥哥？

你有没有姐姐？

你有没有兄弟姐妹？

2. To compliment someone when they do something very well

你说中文，说得很好。

你说英文，说得很好。

3. 都 “all”---- can only be placed before a verb.

我们都是美国人。 All of us are American. / We are all American.

我们都是好朋友。 We are all good friends.

我们都会说中文。 We all can speak Chinese.

都不 means all not; 不都 means not all

我们都不是中国人。None of us are Chinese.

我们都不会说中文。None of us can speak Chinese.

我们不都是美国人。 We are not all American.

我们不都会说英文。 Not all of us can speak English.

V. Expansion延伸练习：

我爸爸41歲，他是美國人，他的爸爸和媽媽都是墨西哥人。我爸爸有兩個姐姐，她們都像我奶奶。（ Melissa’s picture)

我媽媽39歲， 她是美國人，她的爺爺和奶奶都是英國人。她沒有兄弟姐妹，她像她爸爸，不像她媽媽。（Tom’s picture)

我12歲， 我是美國人，我爸爸是香港人，我媽媽是台北人。我有一個弟弟，他像媽媽，我像爸爸。（Peter’s picture)

我媽媽35歲，她有一個妹妹，我媽媽像我外公，她妹妹像我外婆。我不像我媽媽，我像我爺爺。

Vocabulary for the Expansion 延伸练习詞彙:

英國

香港

台北

外公

外婆

两

个

VI. Tasks Performance

1. Warm up

Listen to the recording and write down the number for each person. The first one is an example. ‘1.哥哥今年十六歲。’（An arrow with a box pointed at 哥哥in the picture, like this

A photo of family, with grandparents, parents, brothers and sisters. With an arrow and a box for each person.

(The rest of the recording is the following. This part won’t be in the book.)

妹妹今年七歲。

媽媽今年三十九歲。

爺爺今年七十歳。

弟弟今年五歲。

奶奶今年六十八歲。

姐姐今年十四歳。

爸爸今年四十二歳。

2. Role Play

Bring in a picture of your family, or find a picture of a family in a magazine, and talk about their relationship, age, nationality and what language they speak.

3. Radical/Writing

女 female

learnchinese.elanguageschool.net/images/=25E5...

640 x 280 - 12k

Image may be scaled down and subject to copyright.

彳 strode, path

(The origin will be added later.)

Some of the following characters belong to the radical ‘female’; some belong to ‘path’. Copy them down on the space provided below.

往 towards

媽mother

他 he

後 back

姑 aunt

住 to live

很 very

婆

elderly lady

你 you

說 to speak

姐 elder sister

從 from

爸 father

踢 to kick

國 country

會 be able to

她 she

姆 nanny

得 to gain

妹

younger sister

女: _____________________________________

彳：____________________________________

· Writing: Use the list of the words to write sentences. The following is an example.

像， 說，要， 是

不，真，很

會

甚麽，誰

我哥哥不像我爸爸。

4. Games:

Distribute the ‘Bingo Form’ to everyone. The pupils will each choose 10 words from the vocabulary list (either pinyin or characters). The teacher should put all of the vocabulary words onto separate cards and put them all into a bag/box. The teacher will pick one card at a time and read it out to the class. Anyone who has the word should circle it. The first one to complete all 10 words is the winner.

5. Arts and Crafts:

Draw your family tree. Don’t forget to tell us their names and ages.

Culture Understanding:文化知识

兄弟姐妹不直接叫名字。中国人的孝道。

A Chinese family is hierarchically organized. Traditionally, no two members of a Chinese family were equal in authority. The senior generation held greater authority than the junior generation, older people held greater authority than younger ones, and men held greater authority than women. Although men and women are far more equal nowadays, it is still true in many families that younger family members are taught to respect their elders. However, elders are also responsible for taking care of those younger than them.

For example, you have 4 siblings – two brothers aged 20 and 16, two sisters aged 18 and 14 and yourself, 12 years old. You would address them according to their rank and not their first name. Thus, you would call them 大哥 (big brother)，大姐 (big sister)，二哥 (second brother)，and 二姐 (second sister), but they can simply address you by your name.

Familial respect is a core value of Chinese culture that is represented by the concept of xiào 孝 (colloquial: xiàoshùn 孝顺 [孝順]), which is usually translated "filial piety.” In the past, when wills clashed, it was expected (and legally enforced) that the will of a family superior should prevail over the will of a family subordinate. Traditional law held a child's insubordination to a parent was a capital offense, and a daughter-in-law's insubordination to her parents-in-law was grounds for divorce. Of course, much has changed over the years, and such hierarchy is no longer so strictly enforced. However, the ideas of filial piety are still upheld in many Chinese families and also in popular culture. Heroic sacrifice to support one's parents is a commonly recurring theme in Chinese literature.

Lesson 4

一封信

小明:

你好! 我的名字叫彼得(Peter)，今年十三歲，我和爸爸媽媽在美國，爺爺奶奶在中國，外公外婆在台灣。他們都會說中文，我也會說中文。

我是學生，我上六年級，我的學校很大有很多同學，我有四個好朋友，我們一起玩，天天都很快樂。你也上六年級嗎? 你幾歲? 你在中國，天天都說中文，你的中文很好吧! 我很喜歡中文，我也很喜歡爺爺的毛筆字，真好看。

昨天，六月八日，是爺爺的生日，奶奶爸爸媽媽和我唱”生日快樂”歌。爺爺笑哈哈，我們也笑哈哈。

祝你

快樂

彼得 敬上

二O O八年六月九日

Vocabulary

信

letter

會

to be able to

學生student

年級grade

學校school

同學classmate

幾

how many

毛筆字Chinese calligraphy characters

真

very/really

笑哈哈laugh (a lot)

問題: Discuss the following questions.

1. 寫信的人叫什麼名字?

2. 他在哪裡?

3. 他有幾個好朋友?

4. 他今年幾歲?

5. 他上幾年級?

6. 他爺爺的生日是幾月幾號?

7. 你會寫中文信嗎?

Cultural Differences:

Addresses in Chinese are written from the least specific information to the most specific information. American addresses are written from the most specific information to the least specific information. Traditionally, envelopes are usually vertical, with the address written from top to bottom. The receiver’s name is in the upper right hand corner, and their address is written in the center. The sender’s name and address is in the lower left hand corner. Sometimes, you may use western envelopes, where the envelopes are oriented horizontally.

(Note: This is not in the book. Please insert some pictures of Chinese envelopes and addresses.)

Activity:

Write a Chinese letter to a pen pal, friend, or family member. Also make a Chinese envelope.

讀一讀，說一說

詞彙語法句型

Practice these basic sentence structures using the examples below. Repeat as many times as necessary! You may also find a partner to help you.

1. Greetings

你好!

你好!

老師好!

同學們好!

Lâoshi

tóngxúemen

2. Saying good-bye

再見!

再見!

明天見!

明天見!

3. Introducing oneself

你叫什麼名字?

我叫王大中。

我是…

4. Inquiring others

你是學生嗎?

是(的)，我是學生。

她是學生嗎?

不是(的)，她是老師。

5. Asking the age

A. 你幾歲?

我十一歲。

你弟弟幾歲?

我弟弟七歲。

B. 你多大?

我十一歲。

你媽媽多大?

我媽媽四十五歲。

6. Asking what grade someone is in

你上幾年級?

我上五年級。

小莉上幾年級?

小莉上五年級。

7. Asking what language can someone speak?

你(會)說中文嗎?

是的，我會說中文。

我會說一點中文。

8. Asking where someone lives?

你爺爺在哪裡?

我爺爺在台北。

9. How do you say ____ in Chinese?

Friend 中文怎麼說?

朋友。

10. Asking about someone’s family

你家有幾個人?

我家有四個人。

你有哥哥，弟弟嗎?

是的，我有哥哥。

姊姊，妹妹

不，我沒有哥哥，弟弟。

爺爺，奶奶

11. Asking the day of the week

今天星期幾?

今天星期五。

12. Asking the date?

明天幾月幾日?星期幾?

明天九月二日星期六。

13. Asking about someone’s birthday

你的生日幾月幾日?

我的生日是九月一日。

他的生日幾月幾日?

他的生日是…

14. Asking someone’s telephone number

你的電話幾號?

我的電話是(356) 987-2338。

Radicals:

Look at the words in the chart below. Put them next to their appropriate radicals!

朋 friend

媽 mother

從 from

明 bright

期 day

住 to live

很 very

婆 old lady

是 to be

朝 dynasty

姐sister

喝 drink

服 clothes

星 star

晶 bright

舂 spring

她 she

姆 nanny

得 to gain

旦 dawn

你 you

叫 call

他 he

人 person

們 peoples

妹sister

吃 eat

月 moon

他 he

有 to have

早 early

休 rest

旨 meaning

和 and

個 single

日 (sun) ____________________________________________________

月 (moon) __________________________________________________

女 (girl) ____________________________________________________

彳 (pace) ___________________________________________________

人 (person) _________________________________________________

口 (mouth) _________________________________________________

交際活動: 唱一唱

This is a very famous Chinese song that many kids sing in the classroom. Have fun singing!

我 的 朋 友 在 哪 裡

Wo de peng you zai na li

一 二 三 四 五 六 七 ， 我 的 朋 友 在 哪 裡 ?

在 哪 裡 在 哪 裡 我 的 朋 友 在 這 裡。

在 北 京 在 上 海

Yi er san si wu liu qi,

One two three four five six seven,

Wo de pengyou zai nail? Where are my friends?

Zai na li, zai na li,

Where, where?

Zai Beijing, zai shanghai,

In Beijing, in shanghai.

Wo de pengyou zai zheli. My friends are here.

LESSON 4: FRUITS & COLORS

(I am thirsty) –

I. Narration 故事情节

A week had passed and they were back to Peter’s garage, keen to experiment more with the compass. Tom twisted the outer dial even further this time, and it emitted the blinding light once more. This time, when they opened their eyes, they knew they weren’t someplace near home. They were in a barren desert of grey and black sand and pebbles. It was very hot and dry, and there weren’t any plants – not even cactus. Peter said that it looked like pictures of the Gobi Desert that he had seen when studying geography. He proposed that they look around – maybe they were near the town of Tunhuang on the Silk Road! He pointed towards a range of hills that didn’t look that far away, and they agreed to hike up to the top of it. It took longer than they expected, and several hours later they were exhausted and thirsty at the top of a barren hill.

II. Dialogue课文对话

湯姆：這裡真不好玩，我又累又渴。

琳達：我也好渴，誰有水？

彼得：我們都沒有水了，怎麼辦？

瑞奇：你們看，你們看，那是甚麼？

“哇！紅色的蘋果和草莓“

湯姆：草莓太酸了！ 給我蘋果！

琳達：我也要蘋果！

Reggie pressed the yellow quadrant, and bananas appeared.

湯姆：太好玩了！ 我很餓，我要吃香蕉。

麗莎：我不喜歡吃香蕉，我想吃西瓜，西瓜很甜。

Then they pressed the green quadrant, a watermelon appeared in front of them. After they finished the watermelon, they felt much better. Tom looked at the blue panel and wondered: “甚麼水果是藍色的？誰知道？

III. Vocabulary

课文詞彙 ：

水果、蘋果、草莓、香蕉、西瓜、

顏色、紅色 、

不好玩no fun

又累又渴both tired and thirsty

水

怎么办What should I do!

看

look

酸、甜sour / sweet

也

also

餓

hungry

給

to give

喜歡

like

吃 eat

太～ 了 extremely

想 am thinking of; would like to

水、果、香、西、瓜、紅、色、又、累、又、渴、餓、給、吃、喜、歡、太、了、想、甜

Grammar Notes:

語法注解：

1. What is a stative verb (SV)?

In Chinese, sometimes an adjective functions as a verb. For example, “I am fine.” Translated to Chinese will be “我很好。” This kind of adjective we call a Stative Verb (SV).

我很累。

我很渴。

我很餓。

2. Want to describe you are both tired and thirsty.

Ｕse the sentence pattern: 又＋SV,又＋SV

我又累又渴。

我又渴又餓。

3. How about you want to emphasize that you like to do both A and B?

我又想 (Shall we introduce this sentence pattern in lesson 5?)

4.給： to give someone something

給我蘋果。

請給我香蕉。

請給我西瓜。

5. Measure Word (MW)

If you count something in Chinese, you need to use a certain measure word to go with a number, similar to English: a cup of flour, one spoon of sugar; or like a school of fish, a flock of birds…

However in Chinese almost everything has its own measure word.

給我一個蘋果。 (an apple)

請給我一根香蕉。 (a banana)

請給我一片西瓜。 (a slice of watermelon)

我要兩個西瓜。 (two watermelons)

Rule of counting 2 (just 2 not 12, not 22):

If just simply count the number from 1-10, you pronounce 2 (er4).

But if 2 goes with a measure word, then you have to use 兩 (liang 3)

兩歲，兩個蘋果，兩個西瓜，兩個姐姐，兩個弟弟，兩個朋友。

12歲，22個蘋果，24個西瓜 （in teens and twenties you still pronounce 2) 200 is 兩百， 2,000 is 兩千。

6. 太～ 了 to describe degree of something is extremely…

這個蘋果太酸了。

這些葡萄太酸了。

7. 是～ （色）的 is used to identify the color of an object.

蘋果是綠（色）的

草莓是紅（色）的

橙子是橙（色）的 or 橘子是橘（色）的

If I want to say I like green apples, the sentence will be:

我喜歡綠（色）的蘋果。

我喜歡吃紫色的葡萄。

8. 想 (Shall we add a grammar note about this word in this lesson?)

Let’s review the sentence pattern of asking questions with choice type (introduced in Lesson 4).

渴不渴／餓不餓／好（吃）不好吃／喜（歡）不喜歡

你渴不渴？

你餓不餓 ？

這個蘋果好不好吃？

你喜不喜歡吃葡萄？

你喜不喜歡綠色的葡萄？

V. 延伸阅读练习：

Use a picture of Panda to show black and white colors.

Picture of a Mexican piñata to show (紅色、綠色、黃色、藍色、紫色、橙色)

我是甚麼？

Match the picture with the correct description

Picture of a strawberry

Picture of grapes

Picture of an orange

我家有很多人

我有很多兄弟姐妹

我們都很像爸爸、媽媽

我很紅

我有點酸，有點甜

我有（一頂綠色的小帽子：use a picture of a green hat)

我的名字也是我的顏色的名字。我是小朋友最愛的水果。我住在美國的Florida.

Expansion

延伸练习:

綠、黃、藍、紫、橙（橘）、黑、白、葡萄

怎麼辦

知道

VI. Tasks Performance

3. Warm up

（6 picture cards of fruits.）

Apple/s

strawberries

Banana/s

watermelon

grapes

organes

Listen to the recording and write down the number under of each fruits. The first one is an example. ‘1.我餓了，我要吃葡萄。’(The rest of the recording is the following. This part won’t be in the book.)

我餓了，我要吃香蕉。

我餓了，我要吃橘子。

我餓了，我要吃西瓜。

我餓了，我要吃草莓。

我餓了，我要吃蘋果。

4. Role Play （See the attached file for the ‘Miss Milk is getting married’ play.）

5. Radical/Writing:

水/氵 water

The origin of ‘水’。

水 "water" is normally written with three dots as part of the character (three drops of water 氵: 渴)

草／艹 grass

The origin of ‘艹’。

艹usually is on the top of a character.

Some of the following characters belong to radical ‘water’, some belongs to ‘grass’. Copy them down on the space provided below.

吃 to eat

莓berries

酸 sour

渴 thirsty

沒 not

太 too

河 river

瓜 melon

喜 happy

給 to give

甜 sweet

西 west

海 sea

色 color/s

草 grass

花 flower/s

想 would like

累 tired

喝 to drink

菜vegetable/s

水/氵: _____________________________________

艹：____________________________________

· Writing: Use the list of the words to write the reasons you like/dislike/want/don’t want certain fruits. The following is an example.

不/喜歡，不/要，甜，酸，大，小，餓，渴

我喜歡西瓜，西瓜很甜。

6. Games

Divide the class into groups of 4. Each group receives 6 fruit-picture cards with a number on each card. Everyone takes turn to throw the dice. If it is ‘1’, the person takes the No. 1 fruit-picture card, pretending to eat, and say ‘我餓/渴了，我要吃蘋果。’The card then will be turned over face down. If someone throws the dice and gets ‘1’ later, the person must say ‘我不餓/渴，我不要吃蘋果。’

VII. Culture Understanding:文化知识

Color symbolism in Chinese Culture

Red: Happiness, marriage, prosperity

During the Chinese New Year, people put money in a red envelope to give to children and older people to symbolize prosperity for the coming new year. Most people will wear red clothes during this period, wishing to have a prosperous and happy year ahead of them.

Golden Yellow, purple: Royal, noble

During the imperial period, it was forbidden for common people to use these colors.

White: death, mourning

Chinese people wear red clothes when attending a wedding and white clothes when attending a funeral. A bride will wear red on her wedding day.

Gold: Strength, wealth

Black: evil influences

LESSON 5: CHINESE NEW YEAR 中國新年

(1-22-08)

一. 故事情節(Narration)

Melissa is amazed at all these red decorations in Peter’s house. It creates such a warm and happy atmosphere for this cold California winter. It’s almost at the end of January now. What is going on in Peter’s house? Among the decorations there are 12 unique beanny babies. They are so adorable! Linda really likes that little golden dragon. None of them have seen the dragon beanny baby before. It’s so cool!

二. 課文對話(Dialogue)

Long ke ai

玲達: 啊! 小龍! 好可愛! 彼得，哪裡來的?

ni xiao ju

彼得: 要過中國新年了。我爺爺寄給我的。妳看! 所有的十二生肖玩具。

Wa shu hu tu long she hou ji zhu

麗莎: 哇! 鼠、牛、虎、兔、龍、蛇、馬、羊、猴、雞、狗、豬，

dongwu

十二個動物。

Xiao dongwu

玲達: 今年的生肖是什麼動物?

湯姆: 我知道! 今年是牛年! 彼得，你家也過中國新年嗎?

Dangran defang

彼得: 當然啊! 有中國人的地方都過中國新年。

瑞奇: 過中國新年有什麼好玩的?

彼得: 很多啊! 有好吃的，好玩的，最好玩的是紅包。

瑞奇: 紅包裡有什麼?

Dui dui

玲達: 我知道! 紅包裡有錢! 對不對?

湯姆: 我們來你家過年好嗎?

麗莎: 湯姆! 你想要彼得的爸爸媽媽給你紅包嗎?

Ha ha guanxi

彼得: 哈哈! 沒有關係! 我爸媽要给你們的。

wa

大家都說: 哇! 太好了!

三. 課文詞彙與延展練習(VOCABULARY)

A. 寫字練習

快 過 來 看 寄 最 多 錢 所 牛 馬 羊 狗 知 道 地 方 包 生 對

B. 課文詞彙

ju dongwu

過新年 牛年 紅包 錢 玩具 動物

xiao shu hu tu long she hou ji

十二生肖 鼠 牛 虎 兔 龍 蛇 馬 羊 猴 雞 狗 豬

dangran

當然 地方 好吃的 好玩的 最好玩的

寄給我的 要給你們的 所有的

對不對? 好嗎? 快要 想要

guanxi

沒有關係! 太好了!

C. 研展練習

dongwu

a. 什麼動物?

Lao nai lao zi

老鼠 水牛 奶牛 老虎 兔子 白蛇 黑馬

shan zi shan gong mu

山羊 猴子 山雞 大狗 小豬 公豬 母豬

nan nan nu nu

男人 男生 女人 女生

b. Celebrate something using 過:

jie shengdanjie gan en jie

過生日 過年 過節 過聖誕節 過感恩節

四: 語法註解 (GRAMMAR NOTES)

a. How to express present, future or past?

Follow the STPVO (subject, time, place, verb or action, object) pattern for general sentence structure. Simply specify the time when things happened. Examples:

I give you toy today. 我今天給你玩具。

I’ll give you toy tomorrow. 我明天給你玩具。

I gave you toy yesterday. 我昨天給你玩具。

I call you today. 我今天打電話給你。

I call you tomorrow. 我明天打電話給你。

I called you yesterday. 我昨天打電話給你。

I’ll call you everyday. 我天天打電話給你。

b. How to say mailing something to someone, or someone mailed something to you?

I mail something to someone. 我寄 _玩具_ 給 _你_。

I mail toy to you. 我給 _你_ 寄_玩具_。

He mailed toy to me yesterday. 他昨天寄玩具給我。

他昨天給我寄玩具。

c. How to use 所有的 and 都:

Both mean all. Use 所有的 in front of nouns, such as people, animals and objects. But, 都 is used in front of verbs (action words) or adjectives (words describing something).

Example: Part 1. 所有的水果 所有的錢

所有的小狗 所有的同學

所有的朋友 所有的家人

所有的地方 所有的國家

Part 2. 都要 都有

都是 都來

都好 都好玩

都喜歡 都甜

Can you create meaningful sentences by combining the part 1 and 2 together?

Example: All the fruits are sweet. 所有的水果都甜。

How do you say the following sentences in Chinese?

1. All the countries all have tasty fruits.

______________ 國家 ____ 有好吃的水果。

2. All the classmates are nice.

3. All the places are fun.

d. How to use 最 to show preference:

1. 最 can be used in front of adjective word.

Example: 最好的朋友 最大的狗

最小的弟弟 最好玩得地方

最新的錢包 最有名的美國人

最多的錢 最美