Chinese Link: Beginning Chinese, Traditional Character Version, Level 1/Part 1, 2nd edition

For the first course in the beginning Chinese sequence. For learning Mandarin Chinese.  

Recognizing that the world is becoming increasingly interlinked and globalized, the goal of the Chinese Link: project is  to integrate the "5Cs" principles of the National Standards for Foreign Language Education - Communication, Cultures, Comparisons, Connections and Communities - throughout the program. 

By incorporating the "5Cs," Chinese Link, 2e provides a much needed new approach for the teaching and learning of Chinese language in the 21st century. The program aims to help beginners develop their communicative competence in the four basic skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, while gaining competence in Chinese culture, exercising their ability to compare aspects of different cultures, making connections to their daily life and building links among communities.  Chinese Link, 2e is available in two volumes (Level 1 / Part 1 and Level 1 / Part 2) in both traditional and simplified character editions.

• Chinese Link, 2e provides a practical, learner-centered and enjoyable language and cultural learning experience for beginning students of Chinese, as well as an efficient and comprehensive teaching resource for instructors.
• Care has been taken to introduce and explain grammar points clearly and systematically, yet not in a fashion that would be overwhelming to beginners.
• In keeping with the communicative focus of the text, grammar points are related to communicative task-oriented content.
• The textbook presents both traditional (complex) and simplified versions of Chinese characters, since it is likely that students will encounter both forms during their course of study.
• Photographs and drawings are provided to make the text vivid and eye-catching, and to provide visual cues to aid in communicative exercises and activities.

• Video Program to accompany the “Language in Use” sections enhances the in-text dialogues by presenting them in authentic settings. 

DESIGN:

• NEW 4-color design makes the text more appealing to today’s learners by providing them with realistic images of China today and provides a clear delineation between various items within the chapter.
• UPDATED chapter opening photos show students more contemporary photos of China that also highlight the theme of the chapter.
• NEW highlighted Key grammar points in the Sentence Pattern section now show the grammar in context and make it more explicit for students.
• Core Vocabulary List now highlights Traditional and Simplified Characters that are not written the same to make it easier for students who are likely to encounter both character forms to recognize which form is being used.

CHAPTERS:

• NEW “Connections and Communities Preview” section has been added to the Chapter Opener to help learners make connections to their daily life and build links among their communities. Questions focus on the lesson and Culture Link themes.
•  "Language Notes" are now in the margin next to the "Language in Use" dialogues, rather than in a separate section, to make them easier for students to reference while reading the dialogue.
• Lessons have been revisited throughout to provide greater balance, add more review and recycling of materials, enhance consistency, and emphasize student outcomes.
• NEW more engaging and communicative activities for learners have been added to the end of each chapter, and several of the culture notes have been updated. 

GRAMMAR:

• Pinyin has been added to the examples of grammar usage to provide a more effective illustration of the key grammar points and aide students with pronunciation.
• Grammar explanations are now simplified and more clearly written to facilitate student learning.
• NEW “Try It!” section has been added to provide guided communicative practice immediately following and reinforcing grammar points.
• NEW questions have been added to the "Supplementary Practice" sections to aid students' reading comprehension of the supplementary texts.
• NEW Grammar Summary section at the back of the book for easy reference.

NEW ACTIVITIES:

• Activities have been updated and additional communicative activities have been added to the end of each chapter to support the aim of the text to help develop students' communicative competence.

CULTURE LINK:

• Culture Notes have been updated with new information and some new topics to ensure they will be of interest to today's students.  The Culture Notes are also more thematically linked to the content of the lesson.
• NEW “Do You Know…” feature has been added before the Culture Notes reading to provide a set of introductory questions that will engage student motivation, attention, and interest before starting the reading.
• UPDATED comparison questions follow the "Culture Notes" reading.  These updated questions help learners to compare and discuss their culture to Chinese culture. Questions also encourage discussion on issues related to the reading and lesson’s theme.
• UPDATED photos accompanying each reading present scenes related to the reading and captions that encourage student reflection upon the information learned in the reading.
• NEW Fun with Chinese activity questions have been added to highlight familiar words in the idiom/slang and allow students to connect real-life situations with the sayings.
• UPDATED Let’s Go! information and activities now relate more strongly relate to the lesson’s theme.

WORKBOOK:

• NEW situational dialogues have been created for each lesson that incorporate the themes, expressions, and pragmatic settings of the lesson. Dialogues also contain some vocabulary and expressions that the students have not yet studied. 
• Students are exposed to more challenging and authentic materials in the listening exercises.  These situational dialogues can challenge students from the very beginning and help them develop the skill of picking out useful information even if they don’t fully understand everything they hear. This helps develop an important survival skill for students who will encounter real-life settings in Chinese societies through study abroad, travel, or interaction with Chinese communities in their own countries.
• NEW "Progress Checklist" has been added to the end of each chapter in the Workbook so that students can monitor their progress and their accomplishment of lesson goals and language competencies in each lesson.
• The character exercises previously found in the workbook have been put into a separate volume for more efficiency and convenience.

NEW CHARACTER BOOK:

• This NEW volume has been separated from the Workbook to make it more convenient and efficient for students to work with characters.
• The Character Book provides the Chinese characters for the core vocabulary in every lesson to help student practice writing chinese characters.
• Blank boxes are also included for students to practice writing the character.
• As a handy reference, three types of indices are provided in the Character Book: (1) By number of strokes; (2) By Lesson number; (3) Alphabetic by Pinyin.

MYCHINESELAB:

• Available for fall 2010 courses. 
• The most recent addition to our suite of MyLanguageLabs products, MyChineseLab is a nationally hosted online learning system was created specifically for students in college-level language courses. It brings together — in one convenient, easily navigable site — a wide array of language-learning tools and resources, including an interactive version of the Workbook and all materials from the audio and video programs. Readiness checks and grammar tutorials presented in English individualize instruction to meet the needs of each student. Instructors can use the system to make assignments, set grading parameters, listen to student-created audio recordings, and provide feedback on student work. Instructor access is provided at no charge to adopting institutions.