Elementary Chinese Textbook

Written by Prof. Chao, the Elementary Chinese textbook has been used at Hunter College since 2002. This textbook can be used for two semesters of Chinese courses for students with no Chinese background.

The first part of the textbook has five units that introduce the Chinese sound system, formation of Chinese words, and basic grammar structures. The second part of the book contains 10 chapters of dialogues on everyday topics ranging from the self, family, sports, and holidays. This textbook is to be used for one year of Chinese instruction. There are audio files for the text and vocabulary.

The textbook has both Traditional and Simplified versions. At Hunter, students begin learning the Traditional version of characters. After one semester of practice, students will be introduced to Simplified characters. After finishing Elementary Chinese, students can choose to write either Traditional or Simplified characters.

The web materials are designed for students to listen to the vocabulary and text audio and practice the dialogues. Grammar point examples are also given. Students can easily toggle between pinyin and characters.

For more information regarding the hard copies of the Elementary Chinese textbook, please contact Prof. Chao.