I like it when users talk about the content of Learning-Chinese textbooks. I learn about how easy or difficult it is to use. Students usually have great comments on what works or don't in using the book.
I am amused however, when users actually talk about the storyline of a textbook. I have noticed this a year or so ago, but ignored it until I recently joined a Chinese forum.
Now, we were taught gossiping is not a good thing, but if for example, I find my teenage son gossiping about a textbook character, then I think I would be all for it.
This means the textbook is very interesting for the target user. For New Practical Chinese Reader, that would be teen-agers, so it's understandable.
As a parent, I would prefer it that way, because this means my teen-ager will willingly use the higher levels of a learning-Chinese textbook. I think it's a mean feat for a language textbook to attract the attention of a user this way.
I think it was also mentioned in that forum thread that the story line stopped for level 4. The focus of Book 5 was more on classic Chinese materials that the students would need. Yes, I sensed disappointment and somebody mentioned the boyfriend issue should be resolved in Level 6.
I heard Level 6 is out, and ChildBook will surely have it when available, so let's see if it will be resolved.
It's nice that people are using the New Practical Chinese Reader books, and their cameras to practice their own versions of the new Practical Chinese Reader storyline.
I think it is a good idea to video tape yourself if you are studying Chinese. That way you can see how you say things and how you look, and you can assess yourself what can be done to improve your Chinese-speaking skills.
Here are some user-videos made using dialogues of NPCR
School Projects:
Class practice sessions:
For those who are interested to use the New Practical Chinese Reader books, yes, these are available from ChildBook. As you may have seen in the videos, the books are designed for late teens and early 20's students.
Some Notes About Learning-Chinese Curriculum Textbooks
One of the top questions we always get from parents and teachers is about Learning Chinese curriculum textbooks.
The basic information about our curriculum textbooks is at the ChildBook Curriculum Textbooks page, but here are some other points that may help you choose the textbook most suitable for your child or students.
Chinese Made Easy and Chinese Made Easy for Kids are attractive looking and the kids like using it. Parents also like that there is a Parent/ Teacher's Guide in Traditional or Simplified Chinese.
Word of tween caution though: Our bigger kids are not exactly thrilled when they see their book entitled "Chinese Made Easy for Kids", so best use this series for the smaller kids set. For tweens and above, do use the Chinese Made Easy series.
An alternative for tweens/ junior high/ middle school kids is the Kuaile Hanyu series. Lessons are cartoon-ish and the videos and software show young teens (junior high age) on exchange student trips to Beijing.
If you think stories will be more interesting for your child, the Better Chinese books series will be appreciated: These are: My First Chinese Words for small children, My First Chinese Reader for younger elementary grades, then Discovering Chinese and Magical Tour of China for teens and adults. Better Chinese matches the stories to the level of the student. Plus there are optional stories/lessons you can avail if desired.
Practical Chinese by Wendy Lin has a simple-looking layout, but customers with Chinese-speaking parents (especially if from Taiwan) find it very useful. These are also best if you desire for your child to learn Traditional Chinese. Plus there are many levels that the child can use until grown up. Also good to note that parents also appreciate that the textbook's author, Ms. Wendy Lin, responds to questions about the lessons.
And not to be confused with the series previously mentioned, the New Practical Chinese Reader (NPCR) is a popular textbook series used by late high school and college students. The content is interesting. Chinese words, conversations, the storyline and lessons are specifically for older teens.
These are some of the usual highlights of the text books that parents and teachers like.
If you have more questions about the textbooks, please send us an email.
PS. Oh! Oh! Special mention since we're talking about textbooks, you might want to check out practice tests for Chinese proficiency examiantions.
Our Chinese SAT review books are very popular among high school students. Plus the AP Chinese Exams is on May. It's not too late to review, we have Barron's and Bih-Hsya Hsieh's practice tests.
I was speaking with a customer on which product was right for them for their 4 and 6 year old for Learning Chinese. I recommended two series for him to look at. He is interested in teaching at home and he would also be learning Chinese at the same time.
My First Chinese Word is a great series that teachers through stories. The first book and cd set includes 36 books and a CD. I like the idea of teaching Chinese at this age in small segments, to avoid the boredom issue. There is also a huge amount of other support material available including teacher guides in simplified, traditional, and English, Flash Cards, CD ROMS, and more. The quality is A+ and the amount of support material you can buy is great.
Chinese Made Easy for Kids - is the other Learning Chinese program I suggested. A great value for the money and is also very popular.
I did not recommend Practical Chinese because in my opinion, this is better if you have a native speaker teaching.
I just redid this page on Learning Chinese Textbooks & Curriculum and I like how the page turned out. The goal is to make it easier for customers to pick out the right textbook for them. There is still more improvements to be done in this section, but this is a nice start. I got frustrated the other day in the Chinese Textbook area and so I finally forced myself to just do the changes that I have been thinking about for a while and had not found the time to work on it.
The problem with the previous page was just too much information that required scrolling down and just gave too much information on one page. Is it better to put the Chinese Textbook information on multiple pages, verses the one page that it used to be?
That is a good question, because forcing the end user to look at more pages is usually a bad idea. I personally get annoyed at web sites that force me to look at multiple pages, when only 1 was necessary. That cut an article into 4 pages, with not option to look at it on one. I try to avoid that with childbook.com
Huge amount of information there, everything I could think of a parent would ask including age/grade, background of the author, how many words are taught, etc.
Practical Chinese Curriculum - The Effective Way to Learn Chinese
Practical Chinese is one of my favorite Learning Chinese Textbooks Series. It's also known as The Effective Way to Learn Chinese, and a lot of people for whom other systems have not worked out for, use Practical Chinese. I like how the author, Wendy Lin developed Practical Chinese to teach her own daughters in the US, because the traditional Learning Chinese method that focused on characters was not working. Practical Chinese uses Pinyin and English, and builds up competency by focusing on conversation through it's ten levels. Feedback has been very positive from customers, especially for the activity book.
There is a bit more work to do on this chart. It would be nice to add age group.
My most popular textbooks currently are Chinese Made Easy which includes Chinese Made Easy for Kids and is available in both Simplified Characters and Traditional Characters. The Textbook comes with a CD, and a workbook is available. May be because I like the motivation of the author (she wrote the books because she could not find good material in the US to teach her daughter's Chinese), my favorite is Practical Chinese - >Effective way to learn Chinese.Kuaile Hanyu (Happy Chinese) is great for Middle School Students. Better Chinese uses multimedia, for example books with CD's as a way to teach Chinese and is based on what works in the classroom. It's designed for non-native speakers and very popular with school and can be used for home study.
Advanced Learning Chinese Textbooks - Daily Chinese
Wendy Lin, the author of the popular Learning Chinese Textbook Practical Chinese for younger Learning Chinese readers, has come out with a new series aimed at older learners:
The books are very intensive and combine both Simplified and Traditional Characters. Daily Chinese is for both beginning and intermediate Chinese Learners, but is meant for older students (6-12th grades).
Both Practical Chinese and Daily Chinese Textbook focus on building good foundations so they both give completed reading, writing, and speaking exercises. However, again, because the Daily Chinese content is more intense and the topics (such as shopping and dining) are related to young adults, it does not fit the use of younger kids.
Learning Chinese System including textbook, workbook, and CD!
10 Level Learning Chinese System - Practical Chinese
"Practical Chinese" book series, also known as "The Effective Way of Learning Reading, Writing, and Speaking Chinese" was originally written for the author's three American born children to learn Chinese. It is designed to teach Chinese as a second language, focusing more on daily conversation and verb usage, which is different from the traditional learning style that emphasizes writing. When the book series was first introduced, it unexpectedly became overwhelming popular.
Level Descriptions Beginner 1 - Numbers, People, Occupations, Family Members Beginner 2 - Self-Introduction, greeting, animals, likes/dislikes. Level 1 - My family, schools, friends and myself Level 2- Self-introduction and self description Level 3 - calendar, interests, occupations, toys, animals... Level 4 - Daily conversation (shopping, directions, time, ...) Level 5 - Introduction to the Chinese Festivals Level 6 - Introduction to the Chinese Dynasties Level 7 - Introduction to the Chinese famous people, inventions, and events. Level 8 - Introduction to the Chinese Idioms and phrases
Games for Learning Chinese, Traditional Characters - provides more than 50 learning activities to make learning fun, easy, and more effective.Cd's/Cassettes are available for each level of textbooks from beginner 1 to level 8.
Wendy Lin, the author is a Chinese teacher and has two master degrees from US universities.
