NPCR1 to NPCR2

Recently I reached a milestone in my learning. I finished New Practical Chinese Reader and began New Practical Chinese Reader Two. There are some noticeable differences between the two texts. The most obvious is that there is no longer any pinyin with the dialogues that begin each lesson / chapter. The idea is that the text will gradually ween us off the use of pinyin. According to the introduction in NPCR1 this is part of the methodology of the series of books. A more subtle change is that the grammer, sentence patterns, questions and answers have become much more complex. I expected the texts to become more difficult, but there seems to be quite a jump from simple Chinese to more complex Chinese.

Here is something I did not expect. There are many suplementary resources for NPCR1 across the Net. As for NPCR2 there seems to be very few resources available. I can't understand this. It is as though learners had very good intentions to begin learning Mandarin, worked their way through NPCR1 and then stopped. Alternatively many of the supporting web sites seemed to have given up creating media that would help learners who choose this text. There are a few websites where I can still access some resources, but others finished with Lesson 14 of NPCR1. So this makes working through NPCR2 for me a bit more dull and less of a rich learning experience. I have searched for suplementary materials for NPCR2 and found nothing.

I still have access these sites;

Chinese Character Writing Exercise Sheets

Quizlet

YellowBridge

Hanlexon

I should mention that my university UNE does supply me with multiple resources to support my learning. The lesson guides are very detailed, well written and support my studies. There is much to do and much to learn in my course of study. 

So onward and upward using NPCR2. If anyone has a NPCR2 related resource or resources I would be very pleased to know about it.  

Flash Cards Part II

My previous brief mention of Quizlet did not really do justice to all that can be done on the website.  This site makes flashcards fun.  Most of the activities are offered for free.  You can create a set of electronic double sided flashcards. I have created sets in various combinations; English / Pinyin, English / Hanzi, Hanzi / Pinyin, etcetera. The interface for making these is very simple and intuitive. You can drag and drop from lists and import complete sets from other applications such as Excel or Word. 

One of the best features of is that Quizlet will read the card to you. This is really important for aural learners.  More importantly it is an excellent tool for Mandarin learners as tones are so important. Quizlet doesn’t always read the tone correctly, but it is mostly accurate. 

Below the cards are a number of activities to where Quizlet will test you. These are Speller, Learn and Test.  I tend to use the Quizlet Test feature. It will generate a random test which can be customized with these features; Written, Matching, Multiple Choice and True/False questions. There are even more choices for customization of your test below this.  After taking the test it will automatically add up your score and give you a percentage and grade.  You can retake the test or generate a new one. More learning tools include two types of games Scatter and Space Race. I have tried these, but much prefer the Test feature. 

Finally Quizlet is cross platform. It works very well on my Windows PC and my iPod and iPad. So anywhere where there is a wireless connection I can access Quizlet. I think every serious learner should use Quizlet to learn Mandarin. 

Below is a set of NPRC Lesson 11 flashcards that I created, same set of cards in with the Learn activity and the Scatter game.  Try them and see what you think. 

Choose a Study ModeScatterLearnFlashcards

Study these flash cards | Study mandarin flash cards

Choose a Study ModeScatterLearnFlashcards

Study these flash cards | Study mandarin flash cards

Choose a Study ModeScatterLearnFlashcards

Study these flash cards | Study mandarin flash cards