Digital library
Textbooks, references and open learning resources.
External
Elementary Chinese II
Wenying Zhou · Michigan State University
This open textbook is designed for those who are learning Chinese as a second/foreign language in their second semester. It has six chapters, covering topics including describing school life, shopping in stores and online, transportation means, reporting weather and climates, ordering foods, and asking and giving directions.
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CHN101: Elementary Mandarin I
Carl Polley · Kapi'olani_Community_College
This OER textbook can be used for self-study, as part of an online course, or as a traditional college course. This text is used for the course CHN102: Elementary Mandarin II, taught at Kapi'olani Community College in Honolulu, Hawai'i. Cover image: "Calligraphy Lesson" c. 1920 by Thang Tran Phenh (Vietnam, 1890-1972)
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CHN101: Elementary Mandarin I
Carl Polley · Kapi'olani Community College
This OER textbook can be used for self-study, as part of an online course, or as a traditional college course. This text is used for the course CHN101: Elementary Mandarin I, taught at Kapi'olani Community College in Honolulu, Hawai'i.
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Elementary Chinese I
Wenying Zhou · Michigan State University
This textbook is designed for beginners learning Chinese as a second/foreign language and aims to introduce learners to standard Chinese pronunciation, character knowledge, basic conversational phrases, grammar and vocabulary use, and cultural knowledge. Throughout the eight chapters, learners will explore: greetings and self-introduction, hobbies, nationalities, family members and occupations, inviting friends to dinner, talking about food and beverage, and talking about classes and exams.
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Mastering Mandarin Sounds: An interactive H5P Pressbook
Huiqiang Zheng · University of Iowa · 2025
Mastering Mandarin Sounds: An Interactive H5P Pressbook is an open educational resource (OER) designed to help learners develop accurate pronunciation in Mandarin Chinese. The pressbook incorporates multimedia features such as interactive exercises, audio recordings, and instant feedback to guide students through the foundational elements of Mandarin phonetics—including initials, finals, tones, tone sandhi, and common pronunciation challenges.
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Elementary Chinese II
Wenying Zhou · Michigan State University · 2022
Elementary Chinese II is aimed at those who have learned Chinese as a second/foreign language for one semester, using the OER textbook “Elementary Chinese I“. This open textbook contains six main lessons, including topics such as school life, shopping, transportation, weather, eating out, and asking and giving directions. They are organized in a straightforward and well-structured manner that are easy to follow. Within each lesson, there are a set of two dialogues or a set of one dialogue plus one narration. The texts of the dialogues or narrations are created to provide real-life Chinese language to beginning learners. After the texts, vocabulary words are listed for them to study and review. Grammatical points are explained in English and example sentences are provided for students to understand. Each dialogue or narration ends with culture notes where learners can read and better understand the target text.
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Elementary Chinese I
Wenying Zhou · Michigan State University · 2022
This open textbook is designed for beginners learning Chinese as a second/foreign language. This book aims to introduce learners to standard Chinese pronunciation, character knowledge, basic conversational phrases, grammar and vocabulary use, and cultural knowledge. Throughout the eight chapters, learners will explore: greetings and self-introduction, hobbies, nationalities, family members and occupations, inviting friends to dinner, talking about food and beverage, making phone calls, and talking about classes and exams. Learning activities include audio recordings so students can listen to the pronunciation of vocabulary words and observe dialogue between speakers. The book also includes videos with captions, allowing learners to listen, watch, and read. Original interactive activities have been created by the author to facilitate the practice of target vocabulary and dialogues.
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Elementary Mandarin
Carl Polley · LibreTexts · 2019
This course is designed for learners with no background in Chinese. It introduces basic structures of the Mandarin Chinese language with emphasis on listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. Students will gain these four skills in standard Mandarin Chinese, attaining approximately the Novice-High level on the ACTFL-ETS (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) proficiency scale. Topics of conversation include basic greetings, names, family, work, study, and hobbies. Upon successful completion of this course, the student should be able to: Exchange information about familiar topics using phrases and simple sentences, sometimes supported by memorized language, and ask and answer simple questions about everyday situations in short social interactions. (Interpersonal Communication) Verbally convey basic information on familiar topics using phrases and simple sentences. (Presentational Speaking) Write short messages and notes on familiar topics related to everyday life. (Presentational Writing) Interpret spoken words, phrases, and simple sentences related to everyday life by recognizing pieces of information and by identifying the main topic. (Interpretive Listening) Interpret familiar words, phrases, and sentences within short and simple texts related to everyday life and identify the main idea of written materials. (Interpretive Reading)