Review & Fun (1)
This week, let’s review some of the characters that we’ve already learnt in previous lessons. To keep it interesting, I have decided to introduce you to “上大人 (shàng dà rén).”…
Freezing “to death?” – Adjective/Verb+死+了
It has been very cold in Beijing recently, and out on the streets, you might hear some Chinese people saying: “冷死了(lěng sǐ le, I’m freezing).” “死 (sǐ)” literally means “to…
A Thematic Learning Approach – Exploring Body-Related Chinese Characters
Learning Chinese characters can be challenging due to the complexity and diversity of the symbols. One effective approach is the topic-oriented characters learning method, which focuses on specific themes to make the process…
Mastering Chinese Characters Through Radicals – Analyzing Characters with the Mouth Radical
Grouping Chinese characters with similar meaningful parts can help when learning to write them. Today, we’ll focus on characters with the 口 (kǒu) radical. The ancient form of 口 resembled…
Basic Verbs that are Different in Chinese and English Part II
Although I always know Chinese and English were poles apart, I didn’t realize how much simple differences between the two languages could create problems for learners until I started developing…
Mastering Chinese Characters Through Radicals – Recognizing Chinese Characters by Their Radicals
This week, I have chosen a set of Chinese characters that beginners may easily confuse. In the picture below, you’ll see six pairs of characters. The symbols in the second…
4 Common Chinese Measure Words – 个/只/支/头
Many people have trouble understanding which “measure word” they should use in different situations. If you don’t know what a measure word is – it’s a word that is used…
10 ways to use 点 (diǎn)
点 (diǎn) is one of those characters in Mandarin that pops-up all over the place. In the dictionary, there are multiple meanings given, including “dot”, “point”, a “small amount”. In…
Learn The Chinese Tones With Morse Code?
I want to share a teaching cue I’ve been using with my students recently that’s been great for learning how to actually produce the Chinese tones. When it comes to…