Class 1
Class 1 is designed for first grade students. The instruction will be conducted in Mandarin Chinese. Thus, it requires students to have the basic listening and speaking skills in Mandarin.
Class 1 is constructed with two sections: Hanyu Pinyin (汉语拼音) and 《中文》第一册.
汉语拼音 section helps students study the 23 Initials and 24 Finals; learn the rules to place tone marks; and master the pronunciation of Hanyu Pinyin. After studying this section, student is expected to be able to write and recognize Huanyu Pinyin, and correctly pronounce new Chinese characters using Hanyu Pinyin system.
《中文》 第一册 section includes 12 lessons. Lessons one to six are designed for learning characters. The main texts are in form of new Chinese characters. No phrases or sentences are introduced. Starting from Lesson seven, the main texts take the form of simple sentences with specific themes that connect all the exercises. These themes are designed to help students learn Chinese culture while they study the language. Students will be able to build their vocabulary through reading and writing exercises, learn the name of different strokes, write Chinese characters with proper stroke order. After studying this section, students are expected to master about 130 Chinese characters (listening, reading, and writing); use five to ten sentence patterns for short conversation in Mandarin.
Along with 《中文》 第一册, students will learn how to use the Chinese-Chinese Dictionary 新华字典, which is an important tool for their future Chinese study experiences.