TEXTBOOK SERIES

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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.

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

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Gu Wu for Secondary Mandarin Students. NEW for 2017.

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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.

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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.

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

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

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

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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.

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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).

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Suitable for Years 7-12; localised content, closely knit to Australian lifestyle; monotonous and occasionally includes out of date content.

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

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NOT SO SERIOUS TEXTBOOKS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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.

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ONLINE LEARNING TOOLS

ArchChinese is a powerful character worksheet builder.

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

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Skritter provides character writing practice using spaced repetition.

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

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Yes! Chinese is a hub of online resources.

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Online Mandarin Tools is a hub of online resources.

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

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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."

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

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NEWS & WIDER READING

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

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

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

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

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FORUM

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

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

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

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 OTHER

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

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ImmerseMe. Speaking practise via virtual reality.

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

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

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YOUTUBE CHANNELS/SERIES

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

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

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

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