Teaching Mandarin

Free Resources and Teaching Tips

Everyone can teach Chinese! All you need to do is give it a go!

You may worry about mispronouncing the words and teaching them incorrectly but pronunciation can be corrected at a later date. Building confidence in speaking, understanding and reading a new language is key in language acquisition.

Below you will find a list of website which will demonstrate pronunciation but Google Translate is a fantastic source when learning new words. I have also included Pronunciation Guides in the Mandarin for Beginners book.

There are a lot of resources online for learning Mandarin Chine

se. One of my favourite language programs is Poisson Rouge.

I have made a few resources, lesson plan and exercise book for children to use when learning Mandarin Chinese. 

Lesson Plan

This lesson plan is based on a generic 30 minute language lesson where children will work in a focus group and work independently on activities around the classroom. Download this lesson plan here.

The above lesson plan is a rough guide on how I would teach a Mandarin lesson. As I’m intending to teach this in an afterschool club, I want to limit each session to 30 minutes. This keeps the information concise, children stay on task and it limits an information overload.

Resources

	Mandarin Exercise Book This is a worksheet book with different activities including word matching, recognising words, colouring in and maths questions. Some pages encourage reading skills while other will foster speaking and listening skills. I’m really sorry, I don’t know why but the colours are wrong on the pdf. They’re fine on my computer, it’s not until I uploaded them to my Google Drive that they went wrong. Download the book here.
	Flash Cards These would predominantly be used for recap previously taught words and phrases from previous lessons, however children could use these cards to test each other and partners during independent activities. Download the flash cards here.
	Fruit Snap Children would deal out all the cards equally to all players and place all the cards down in the middle one at a time. When a matching card is placed on top of a card all the players have the opportunity to snap. Download the fruit snap here
	Numbers Go Fish Game Using the phrases on the instructions page of this game, children will try to collect 5 of a kind. Children must ask for the cards they need using Chinese words. Download the Numbers Go Fish game here.
	Colours Go Fish Game Using the phrases on the instructions page of this game, children will try to collect 5 of a kind. Children must ask for the cards they need using Chinese words. Download the Colours Go Fish game here.
	Feelings Matching Pairs Children will place these cards face down on the table and shuffle. Children will turn over two cards at a time, trying to match the Chinese words with the pictures. Download the Feelings Matching Pairs Game here.
	Numbers Bingo As the game title suggests, children call out numbers and tick them off using a whiteboard pen or counter. The winner is the person who has all their numbers ticked off. Download Numbers Bingo here.
	Question Cards Children walk around the classroom, or go round the table, asking each other questions from the cards. The Questions Card document will be updated in a following blog entry. Download the question cards here.
	Shapes Bingo As the game title suggests, children call out shapes and tick them off using a whiteboard pen or counter. The winner is the person who has all their shapes ticked off. Download Shapes Bingo here.
	Shapes Go Fish Game Using the phrases on the instructions page of this game, children will try to collect 5 of a kind. Children must ask for the cards they need using Chinese words. Download the Shapes Go Fish game here.

All the above resources are free available to use in schools. I ask that you link back to my blog if you wish to share these resources online.

Online Resources

I would have a group of children using computers in the classroom while learning Mandarin Chinese, using the Mandarin websites to help them with their pronunciation.

	Google Translate Children can enter any words they choose onto Google Translate to find out how to say these words in Chinese. I would closely monitor this with older children, however,  as they can get a little silly.
	Poisson Rouge This website has a wide range of different languages to learn, but of course we are focusing on Mandarin Chinese.
	Ni Hao Kai Lan Lots of fun games for little children based on the Nick Junior TV programme which like Dora the Explorer, teaches Mandarin to children in a fun and interactive way.
	Digital Dialects This website has lots of fun games where the children can test their knowledge. I think little children would struggle to use this website independently so I would suggest that they use this website with older children who can read the instructions.
	BBC Primary Languages: Mandarin This website looks at the different sounds and pronunciation associated with learning Mandarin Chinese. A good website if you have some headphones and children who are struggling with pronunciation. Maybe a website you could use on the Interactive Whiteboard with the board speakers.
	Tones Game Teaching tones in Chinese is one of the most difficult elements of Chinese. You’re lucky you’re teaching Mandarin, there are only 4 tones. In Cantonese there are 9 tones! This game is for older children as there is a lot of reading involved. Aim this game at your G&T or HA.
	Hello World A website packed full of interesting games and challenging language games. The games are aimed more at older children or higher attainers so if you have young children playing these games I suggest you have an older child to help them.

iPad Apps

If you are fortunate to have access to iPads, there are a number of very good apps for children to explore in the classroom.

If you have an ICT club at school, you could ask them to put the Mandarin Language apps on all the iPads for you.

Children love learning new words and can be super keen to learn new languages. I’ve always had very positive reactions from the children when learning new languages.

I really urge colleagues to teach Mandarin Chinese in their classrooms as children enjoy the lessons so much!

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