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CHINESE (MANDARIN)

TEXTBOOK SERIES

Jinbu. Suitable for Years 7-10; accessible format and excellent grammar explanation; various extension worksheets available as part of teacher pack.

 

Edexcel GCSE Chinese. Suitable for Years 10-11; continuation of Jinbu, with a thorough revision done at the start of each chapter; full of communicative activities suitable for classroom use.

 

Discovering Chinese: Magical Tour of China. Suitable for Years 7-11; interactive content and achievable coverage; excellent range to cater for both background and non-background students.

Voyages in Chinese. Suitable for Years 7-11; featuring pared down language with bite-size chapters and a range of mechanical exercises.

Gu Wu for Secondary Mandarin Students. NEW for 2017.

Step Up with Chinese. Suitable for Years 8/9-11; series driven by extensive development of vocabulary and grammar points; potentially more suitable for background students.

Discover China. Suitable for Years 8-(12); beautiful layout and editing; thorough development of reading and writing skills; more university student focused, and big jump from Book 1 to 2.

iChinese. Suitable for Years 11-12; exam-style focused revision.

A+ Chinese (GCSE Revision). Suitable for Years 11-12; exam-style focused revision.

Pass Chinese. Suitable for Years 11-12; exam-style focused revision.

Chinese Made Easy. Suitable for Years 5-12; topics well selected, although the speed may potentially be more suitable for background students looking at developing literacy.

Easy Steps to Chinese. Suitable for Years 5-12; topics well selected, and slower than the Chinese Made Easy series; exercises are very mechanical (potentially repetitive).

NiHao. Suitable for Years 7-12; localised content, closely knit to Australian lifestyle; monotonous and occasionally includes out of date content.

Hanyu. Suitable for Years 7-12; localised content; difficulty rise quickly; the Chinese presented is potentially too “informal”, Beijing-focused, and archaic.

NOT SO SERIOUS TEXTBOOKS

Get Talking Chinese. Suitable for students going on study trips to China but who do not speak any Chinese.

Chinese With Mike. Suitable for teenagers and adults who want to systemically build up language without academic pressure.

Not For Parents: China. Suitable for Years 7-8 students going on study trips.

A Geek in China. Suitable for Years 9-10 students going on study trips.

Live Interactive Chinese. Suitable for finding resources in designing one-off communicative activities.

Ease into Chinese. Suitable for adults who are looking to learn about the Chinese language, rather than necessarily speak the language.

Chit-Chat Chinese. Suitable for adults with no background, who just want to learn to speak simple sentences, without having to worry about the script.

ONLINE LEARNING TOOLS

ArchChinese is a powerful character worksheet builder.

Type Pinyin with Tone Marks is a convenient input method for putting tone marks onto pinyin.

Skritter provides character writing practice using spaced repetition.

MBDG Dictionary is an easy-to-use online Chinese dictionary.

Yes! Chinese is a hub of online resources.

Online Mandarin Tools is a hub of online resources.

Mandarin Spot is an online dictionary and powerful pinyin annotator for accessing authentic materials.

Culture Agents is an online learning experience that "sets students on a path toward success in a multicultural environment while sparking global friendships that will last a lifetime."

Teacup Media is is "a digital media company that produces podcast shows related to Chinese culture." 

NEWS & WIDER READING

The Chairman’s Bao provides simplified news with excellent learner support for accessing grammar and vocabulary.

CCTV.com Learn Chinese provides official CCTV news with a touch of learner focus.

Decipher Chinese offers bite-sized news with a dictionary function to support beginning readers.

FluentU provides access to online media in Chinese with subtitling that allows you to customise learning.

FORUM

Hacking Chinese is a source of excellent pedagogical and learning-focused discussions.

Dig Mandarin provides a guide to how to learn each aspect of the Chinese language.

Mandarin Poster offers visual guides and a search database for component structures.

 OTHER

Culture Agent. Suitable for upper primary, focusing on the development of intercultural capabilities.

ImmerseMe. Speaking practise via virtual reality.

Let's Read Asia has a wide range of story books available in many languages.

The Dragon Collective. Suitable for upper primary, focusing on the development of metalinguistic awareness.

YOUTUBE CHANNELS/SERIES

RedRooBen 红袋鼠小明. Channel of Ben McMahon, an active Mandarin learning advocate based in Melbourne.

Local Laowai. Hosted by Donny Newman, focuses on introducing various aspects of life in China to foreigners.

Qingwen: Ask Your Mandarin Questions. Language focused video lessons, with clear and excellent explanation of grammar.

Transition. A UK band that writes songs in both Chinese and English.

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