Mandarin Level 3 digital textbook now available

We are proud to announce the publication of the third in a series of online digital textbooks for the study of Mandarin Chinese language. As with the Mandarin Chinese digital textbooks for level one and level two, Mandarin Chinese three is freely available and is based on the online Mandarin Chinese language courses developed by LEARN NC and taught through the North Carolina Virtual Public School (NCVPS).

All three textbooks feature video vignettes that introduce new language and culture. Each vignette is accompanied by a transcript and vocabulary list that presents both the traditional and simplified versions of the language. The design also includes a clickable audio link for each line of the vocabulary, making it possible to hear expressions and individual words as often as you like. All video and audio can easily be downloaded to a portable device or to your computer.

The Mandarin Chinese digital textbooks were developed to support Chinese language instruction throughout the United States, but in particular in North Carolina where Chinese language instruction has seen an impressive increase in recent years, surpassing the increase in Chinese language study on a national level. While they are ideal to support and enhance Chinese language instruction in both the online and face-to-face classrooms, we hope that educators in other subject areas will consider the value of these online resources toward other teaching and learning objectives, specifically:

• Introducing Chinese culture
• Introducing the sounds of Chinese language to students who may never have heard it
• Integrating content into a global education curriculum
• Supporting heritage speakers of Mandarin Chinese who want to deepen their understanding of Chinese grammar
• Teaching students some basic Chinese expressions to promote the idea of learning a second or third language
• Learning some basic Chinese expressions to make a connection with native Chinese speaking students and their parents

We are currently working on the level four digital textbook that is due for publication before the end of this calendar year. You can easily access the Mandarin Chinese level three digital textbook, as well as levels one and two, by searching for “Mandarin” from the homepage of the LEARN NC website.