Defense Language Institute. Elementary Chinese Reader. Volume 1, Lessons 1 - 42

Defense Language Institute, 1981. — 605 pages.When using Elementary Chinese Reader Volumes l and 2, keep in. mind that this instructional program is designed to build your comprehension a step at a time on concepts you clearly understand. Therefore, we recommend that you do not go on to new material until you feel sure of the material you’ve already completed.There will be times when English definitions of Chinese grammar may be difficult to understand. The original text and grammar notes come from the People’s Republic of China, and the English explanations are not always very clear. Also, keep in mind that certain words and phrases in Chinese have no acceptable English counterparts. Therefore, it will be necessary for you to infer their meaning from context. Don’t be afraid to do this. If you have experience in studying Chinese, we recommend that you start with lesson 11.Lesson format varies but certain items will usually be present. Each lesson includes a text, grammar drills, new vocabulary, exercises, and a character table. Attempt translating the text of each lesson before going on to the vocabulary list. This gives you a chance to develop your contextual translation skills. After becoming familiar with the new words, translate the text into English to check your ability to figure out the meaning from context.The “Exercise” portion of each lesson is designed to check your progress and indicate what you have or have not learned. If you have an instructor, the interplay between the two of you will show you just how much you understand. In the event you must use these materials without an instructor, the exercises are still useful. If you’re not sure of a grammar point or vocabulary item, make a note of it. The grammar index included in the Manual of Administration and the vocabulary listing provide a comprehensive listing. If you are unable to find’ a specific or similar example, the textbook is organized in groups of four lessons including a review lesson which normally covers all important grammar points. Each lesson text includes similar constructions to the ones used in the exercises. These provide a context to work from to clarify how the construction is used in the language.The Chinese/English Dictionary included in the FLAMRIC program provides the characters, their primary definitions and lists many of the most common combinations used with these characters. Although the meanings of combinations and structures given in the dictionary are often complete in themselves, check the example sentences in the dictionary to see if your construction is similar to the one in the example. It is important that you read the grammar and grammar notes sections in each lesson to make sure that you understand them before attempting the exercises.There are eight types of exercises:Substitution drills: Provide variations on the basic constructions and can be used with a teacher or another student.
Grammar exercises: At the beginning of each lesson there are examples of the grammar emphasized in that lesson.
Text: A short story or dialogue in Chinese characters.
New words: The vocabulary contained in the text or dialogue listed in order of appearance.
Grammar explanations: In both Chinese and English, provide example sentences of the grammar usage.
Completions: These give incomplete sentences and require you to fill in the grammatically correct words or combinations from the vocabulary list.
Read aloud and retell: These give Chinese texts which require extractions of the overall meaning in such a way that you can convey it to someone else in English or Chinese.
Questions on the text: These measure your understanding of the lesson’s text and your ability to use the information presented in conversation.An additional practice exercise would be to translate each lesson’s text and stories into English before going on to the other exercises.