Chapter I

A. Overview of Mandarin (Chinese)

Activity
Answer the following questions:
1. What is pinyin?
2. What is tonal language?
3. What is the number of strokes?
4. What is the importance of the five Chinese dialects?
5. What are the four Chinese tones?

Quiz

1. It is one of the most famous languages in the world and is spoken by the largest population.
2. It is the official language of the People's Republic of China and Taiwan, as well as one of the four official
languages of Singapore.
3. It is the Romanized letters that reveal the pronunciation of Chinese words.
4. Give the four Chinese tones.
5. It's the basic gestures used to write Chinese characters, and radicals are the building blocks of all Chinese
characters.

B. Tones

Activity

1. Why are the four tones important in Mandarin Chinese?

Quiz
Translate the given Mandarin Chinese words into English.

1. mā
2. mǎ
3. má
4. mà
5. Māmā

C. The Chinese Alphabet

Activity

On the 1/8 illustration board, write the Chinese alphabet.

Quiz

1. How many characters does the Chinese alphabet have?

2. What do you call the pronunciation of Chinese characters in Chinese?
3. How many consonants are there in the Chinese alphabet?
4. How many vowels are there in the Chinese alphabet?
5. What letters are missing from the Chinese alphabet?