PCR Lesson 1 Study Guide

• You should be able to greet in Chinese.
• You should be able to write the following two characters:
  

  (Click to view stroke sequence animation.)

• You should be able to read the syllables of the sounds introduced in this lesson with the correct tones.
• You should be able to say and write in pinyin the vocabulary items from the list of classroom vocabulary. You are not expected to be able to read or write the Chinese characters on the list--with the exception of 你好.

Step 1

Listen to a brief synopsis of the material covered in lesson 2 (about 15 minutes).  

Recording for Lesson 1

Step 2

Listen to the dialog using CyberChinese, Dr. Xie's online primer, or the audio files available in the language lab.

Step 3

Get familiar with the phonological system of the Chinese language using Dr. Xie's online primer, or other online sites (Pinyin Info, Pinyin Practice, John Derbyshire's Notes on Chinese Pronunciation, and John's blog). For more detail check the Pronunciation section in Cyberchinese-Online (available free with demo access).
You can also download the Table of the Initial-Final Combinations in Chinese (MS Word file).

Step 4

1. Become familiar with the Chinese script by studying Dr. Xie's online primer, Zhongwen.com, Dikk Kelly's Learn To Read And Write Chinese Characters, or other reliable sources.
2. Learn how to correctly write characters in this lesson using your writing workbook, Cyberchinese-Online, or right here on this page. Click the Chinese characters listed above step one.
3. Practice writing the characters using the Calligraphy Practice sheet for lesson 1 in the Assignment section.

Step 5

Read the information about the Chinese language on page 6 and 7 of the textbook Practical Chinese Reader.

Step 6

Do your homework.

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Listen to the tone discussions from ChinesePod below:

• First Tone
• Second Tone
• Third Tone
• Fourth Tone
• Neutral Tone