Colorful speech bubbles containing greetings like "Hello," "Hola," and "Ciao" in various languages on a white background.

This is a course for absolute beginners of Chinese. No prior knowledge of the language is required. The course is taught in English. 

TEXTBOOK 
Lesson 1-4 in Let's Learn Mandarin (Level 1). 

COURSE OBJECTIVES 
After completing the course, students will be able to: 

1. Pronounce Pinyin accurately and distinguish the four tones in Mandarin Chinese. 

1. Use basic sentence patterns (e.g., shì, yǒu) to introduce themselves and their family. 

1. Ask and answer simple questions in everyday social contexts, such as greetings, locations, and activities. 

1. Recognize and write basic Chinese characters, and understand their connection to pronunciation and meaning. 

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE 

Week 1: Lesson 1 Greetings — Chinese characters and tones 

Week 2: Lesson 1 Greetings — Grammar of shì 

Week 3: Lesson 1 Greetings — Self-introduction 

Week 4: Lesson 2 Family — Grammar of yǒu 

Week 5: Lesson 2 Family — Numbers and Chinese classifiers 

Week 6: Lesson 2 Family — Basic question forms and negation 

Week 7: Systematic introduction to Pinyin 

Week 8: Lesson 3 Socializing I — How to talk about place and activities 

Week 9: Lesson 3 Socializing I — Grammar of nǎlǐ (where) 

Week 10: Lesson 4 Socializing II — Grammar of adjectives 

Week 11: Lesson 4 Socializing II — A-not-A pattern 

Week 12: Calligraphy experience — How to make an invitation