Chinese I—Semester A
The Great Wall wasn't built in a day.
- Credit Recovery Enabled
- Course Length: 18 weeks
- Course Type: Basic
- Category:
- Foreign Language
- Middle School
- High School
Schools and Districts: We offer customized programs that won't break the bank. Get a quote.
Pinyin? Stative verbs? Flying, shapeshifting monkey gods?
Yep, the first semester of Chinese I truly has it all.
We'll give you a strong foundation by teaching you the basics of pinyin, the ABCs of the Chinese world, as well as tonal pronunciation.
Oh, did we mention that Chinese is a tonal language? There are four spoken tones that completely change the way a word is pronounced—and its meaning. In other words, your pronunciation could mean the difference between saying "Pandas are cute" (xióngmāo hěn kě'ài) and "Chest hair is cute" (xiōngmáo hěn kě'ài).
Ewww.
More importantly, in Semester A you'll
- use greetings and colloquial phrases to introduce yourself.
- type and handwrite Chinese characters using proper stroke order.
- apply grammatical concepts, like stative verbs and location words.
- understand and engage in simple conversations, such as comparing class schedules.
- discuss Chinese books and movies, like Journey to the West.
- recognize the diversity of Chinese-speaking cultures across the world.
And in case you were wondering, magical monkey gods pop up in Unit 4, and chest hair decidedly does not. Y'know, so you have something to look forward to.
P.S. This is a two-semester course. You're looking at Semester A; you can find Semester B here.
Technology Requirements
- Access to a recording device with sound and video, such as a smartphone or webcam
- Access to an audio uploading service, like Vocaroo, and a video uploading service, like YouTube or Dropbox
- Headphones to listen to Shmoop's audios and videos
Unit Breakdown
1 Welcome 欢迎
你好! If you've already started panicking because you have no idea how to read those two characters, don't worry about it. This first unit of Chinese I introduces you to pinyin, a Romanization of Mandarin—or, uh, in plain English, a way to pronounce Chinese characters through English letters. 你好 would be nǐ hǎo, in case you were wondering.
2 Making Small Talk
How are you? Good, and you? Good. Uh…what next. Luckily, this unit avoids the awkward silence and gives you a few topics to continue the conversation. For instance, you'll learn how to introduce yourself and ask questions about other people. Think: family, pets, age, nationalities, and languages. Pets? Sounds like a good icebreaker to us.
3 The State of Things
Description is the name of the game in this unit. You'll learn the different colors of the 彩虹, talk about physical appearances, and point out personality traits. Plus, you'll do all this using stative verbs—a fancy term for words that act as both adjectives and verbs. It's one of the many things that make Chinese so unique.
4 Staying Busy
Sometimes 24 hours just isn't enough time to get through all our schoolwork, sports, extracurriculars, and hobbies. In Unit 4, you'll learn how to complain about describe your busy schedule. We'll also give you one more fun activity to pencil into your busy, daily routine: reading the epic Chinese classic Journey to the West (西游记). We all need some downtime, right?
Sample Lesson - Introduction
Lesson 4.06: They Shoot…They Score
By now, you've got a pretty decent sense of how to figure out something's location, so don't you think maybe it's time for a change of scenery?
That's right. Shut down your computer, put away your 铅笔 and 纸, throw open the classroom door and head out onto the grass—it's time for some sports.
We're fully kidding. Don't actually go outside.
The truth is, while you have to be outside to play most sports, you don't need to go outside to learn about them. And just ahead, you'll get a chance to learn the names of popular U.S. sports, as well as a few that are big in Asia—think badminton and ping pong. Big on outdoorsy activities that don't require a ball or jersey? We'll talk about other athletic activities, too—like biking, for instance.
You'll also be given an array of verb phrases so you can describe doing the sports. It's a little trickier than it sounds. In Chinese, whether you use your hands or feet to play a game affects your choice of verb.
Seriously; it does. But we're sure you'll get the hang of it.
Sample Lesson - Reading
Reading 4.4.06a: Vocabulary
Let's talk a little bit about Lionel Messi, who's seen by many as a god on the soccer field. Some people would call Messi the best soccer player of all time, to which we say…
"Whatever."
Like, okay. Soccer skills are impressive and all, but can he rattle off the names of twelve different kinds of sports in Chinese? You'll be able to in just a second. (Take that, Messi.)
Take out your vocabulary notebooks and warm up your vocal chords—it's time to drill the following new terms:
Nouns
- 运动 yùndòng: sports; exercise
她喜欢做运动. Tā xǐhuān zuò yùndòng.
She likes to do exercise.
- 棒球 bàngqiú: baseball
他们打棒球. Tāmen dǎ bàngqiú.
They play baseball.
- 篮球 lánqiú: basketball
打篮球很好玩. Dǎ lánqiú hěn hǎo wán.
Playing basketball is fun.
- 排球 páiqiú: volleyball
他们在海边打排球。Tāmen zài hǎibiān dǎ páiqiú.
They play volleyball at the beach.
- 网球 wǎngqiú: tennis
Roger Federer打网球打得很好。Roger Federer dǎ wǎngqiú dǎ dé hěn hǎo.
Roger Federer plays tennis very well.
- 乒乓球 pīngpāngqiú: ping pong
你会打乒乓球吗?Nǐ huì dǎ pīngpāng qiú ma?
Can you play ping pong?
- 羽毛球 yǚmáoqiú: badminton
她最喜欢打羽毛球. Tā zuì xǐhuān dǎ yǚmáoqiú.
Her favorite is playing badminton.
- 足球 zúqiú: soccer
Mia Hamm踢足球。Mia Hamm tī zúqiú.
Mia Hamm plays soccer.
- 美式足球 měishì zúqiú: American football
美式足球很危险。Měishì zúqiú hěn wéixiǎn.
American football is dangerous.
- 功夫 gōngfu: kung fu
我不会功夫. Wǒ bú huì gōngfu.
I don't know kung fu.
- 队 duì: team
我们的学校有足球队. Wǒmen de xuéxiào yǒu zúqiúduì.
Our school has a soccer team.
- 比赛 bǐsài: competition; match; game
我想参加一场热狗吃比赛。Wǒ xiǎng cānjiā yī chǎng règǒu chī bǐsài.
I want to enter a hot dog eating competition.
- 球 qiú: ball (used in games)
给我一个球. Gěi wǒ yīge qiú.
Give me a ball.
Verbs
- 跑步 pǎobù: to run; to jog
他紧张的时候跑步。Tā jǐnzhāng de shíhòu pǎobù.
He runs when he's stressed out.
- 散步 sànbù: to walk; to stroll
他们喜欢在公园散步. Tāmen xǐhuān zài gōngyuán sànbù.
They like to take a stroll in the park.
- 游泳 yóuyǒng: to swim
我害怕海洋,因为我不能游泳。Wǒ hàipà hǎiyáng, yīnwèi wǒ bùnéng yóuyǒng.
I'm afraid of the ocean because I don't know how to swim.
- 骑车 qíchē: to ride a bicycle
她不会骑车。Tā bù huì qíchē.
She doesn't know how to ride a bicycle.
- 跑 pǎo: to run
他们在学校里跑步. Tāmen zài xuéxiào li pǎobù.
They go running in the school.
- 打 dǎ: to play (used with hand sports); to hit
打羽毛球很好玩. Dǎ yǚmáoqiú hěn hǎo wán.
Playing badminton is fun.
- 踢 tī: to play (used with foot sports); to kick
你会踢足球吗? Nǐ huì tī zúqiú ma?
Do you know how to play soccer?
Phrases
- 好球!hǎoqiú!: nice shot; good play
他打了两分,好球!Tā dǎ le liǎng fēn. Hǎo qiú!
He scored two points. Nice shot!
Sample Lesson - Reading
Reading 4.4.06b: Ear-obics (Audio)
Now that your vocal chords are good n' warmed up, it's time to loosen up your ear drums. If, uh, that's a thing you can do with ear drums. (Now that we've said it out loud, it sounds kind of dangerous.)
In this listening exercise, you'll hear the vocab of the day read aloud by our team of suave voice artists. During the pause after every word and phrase, try your best to imitate their resonant tones as you repeat the vocab out loud.
In places, the narration will include verb phrases for playing sports. You'll hear not only the word for baseball…
- 棒球
…but also the verb phrase meaning to play baseball:
- 打棒球
You'll even get a sample sentence:
- 他们打棒球
Now, click on the link below to hear the audio clip, and…play ball.
Sample Lesson - Reading
Reading 4.4.06c: What's Kickin'?
You've just poured your awesome physique into some body-hugging activewear and hit the court/field/studio. Other than stand around lookin' good, what are you going to do next? Chances are you're about to…play a sport.
This brings up an interesting question: how do different languages talk about doing athletics?
We do, of course, have the answers for you. Take a look at these verb phrases:
- Play tennis
- Play soccer
- Play volleyball
In English, we play our sports. Not so in Chinese, which—as you'll see below—is more about the acts of hitting and kicking in sports.
The two verbs used to perform athletic activities are:
- 打 dǎ: to hit
- 踢 tī: to kick
Combine those verbs with the activity and you get verb phrases like:
- 打乒乓球 dǎ pīngpāngqiú: to play (hit) ping pong
- 打网球 dǎ wǎngqiú: to play (hit) tennis
- 打篮球 dǎ lánqiú: to play (hit) basketball
- 打棒球 dǎ bàngqiú: to play (hit) baseball
- 踢足球 tī zúqiú: to play (kick) soccer
Wait, what just happened there? We were going along fine with 打, then the last example suddenly switched to 踢. What gives?
Turns out there's a method to the 打/踢 madness. The choice of verb is related to how each sport is performed. Hand sports—where you use your hands (or a racket, stick, paddle) to control or "hit" a ball—use 打. Sports where you use your feet to control or "kick" the ball use 踢.
Sports that use 打 include baseball, basketball, tennis, ping pong, badminton…anything using your hands. Sports with 踢 include all the foot sports: soccer. And, soccer. Also, uh…soccer.
Now you're a spectator at the big game. Your favorite star makes an unbelievable play, bringing the crowd to its feet. "Nice shot!" you scream.
Then, you realize everybody around you is speaking Chinese, because you're at the Bird's Nest stadium, watching host Beijing Guoan FC take on rivals Guangzhou Evergrande FC. Racking your brain for the right words, suddenly it comes to you: "好球," you holler. "漂亮!."
Your words of encouragement light a fire under the players and they sweep to victory. And then you're heralded, Mulan-style, as a hero of China.
(What do you mean, "your fantasy is unrealistic"?)
These are some of the "nice shot" phrases you can yell:
- 好球! hǎoqiú: good shot! nice play! (literally, "good ball")
- 漂亮! piàoliang: pretty! nice shot!
- 帅! shuài: awesome! good-lookin' play!
Anybody wanna go kick some soccer now?
Sample Lesson - Activity
Activity 4.06a: Chinese Character Practice
Top athletes like Lebron James stay sharp by doing countless hours of routine passing, shooting and dribbling drills. Chinese students—particularly when it comes to writing characters—also know the value of practice.
Basically, Chinese students are just like Lebron. Except for that $100 million contract. But who needs $100 mil, right?
Step One
First, download and print a Chinese Character Practice Worksheet. You may need more than one copy for all the words you're about to write out.
Step Two
Then, using a pencil (or if you’re feeling confident, a pen), practice writing each of the characters below.
- 跑
- 步
- 球
- 足
- 蓝
- 棒
- 排
- 打
- 踢
- 队
To see the stroke order of each character, check out the website Arch Chinese. All you need to do is copy and paste each character into the search bar, then sit back and watch the animation display the stroke order.
Follow along in your Chinese Character Practice Worksheet and write out each character at least five times.
When you're done, upload a picture or scan of your worksheet(s) below.
Foreign Language: Participation Only Rubric - 10 Points
Sample Lesson - Activity
Activity 4.06b: Game, Set, Match
Admit it, you're finding it hard to keep track of all those different kinds of 球. 棒球, 乒乓球…why are there so many different kinds of balls in sports? Seems things would be a lot easier if they all used the same kind of ball. Just a suggestion.
Still, that's never going to happen, so we'd better get up to snuff on our sports-themed vocab knowledge. You'll see a list of sports-themed English words below:
A. American football
B. soccer
C. basketball
D. tennis
E. badminton
F. kung fu
G. ping pong
H. swimming
I. baseball
You'll also notice a bunch of Chinese characters for various sports-themed words below, along with input fields. Guess what? The Chinese characters mean the same thing as the list of English words.
Problem is, they're all scrambled. We'd like you to unscramble the lists by writing the letter of each English word into the correct box below. For example, if you see the Chinese characters for "soccer," then you'd write "B" into the box (since B is the letter for soccer).
Foreign Language: Practicing Fluency Rubric - 15 Points
Sample Lesson - Activity
Activity 4.06c: Trivial Pursuits
Now comes the part of the lesson where we grill you about sports. Do you like baseball? Can you swim? How many bobsledders are on the Jamaican bobsled team?
Just kidding. We won't ask you to tap into your niche sports knowledge (though we'd love to know what little-known sports facts dwell in your noggin). Instead, we just want you to read the questions below, then enter your answers in complete Chinese sentences.
Foreign Language: Written Comprehension Rubric - 15 Points
- Credit Recovery Enabled
- Course Length: 18 weeks
- Course Type: Basic
- Category:
- Foreign Language
- Middle School
- High School
Schools and Districts: We offer customized programs that won't break the bank. Get a quote.