New Practical Chinese Reader: Textbook 1

This is the first in a relatively new series of Chinese textbooks produced in mainland China. It has an excellent mix of conversation, culture, reading and writing. The text emphasizes communication, starting with day to day situations. I have studied Chinese off and on for a few years, using many different texts, but I keep forgetting when I don't continue studying, so I am using the book as review. I chose it on the recommendation of my teacher. This text is good for me, but it is also good for total beginners. In fact, my teacher chose it for herself because it works with students of many different levels. The writing aspect is particularly good, and quite different from other texts I have used. Characters are introduced right away, and the components of the characters are emphasized. It's like teaching the 'alphabet' of parts that are used to construct characters, and the logic of it. One point to make is that the characters used are primarily in simplified form as used in mainland China, although the traditional forms are usually given too.

I have started my Chinese studies from an other language book during a language course, but after a time we have changed to New Practical Chinese Reader, which was far more better. Maybe those who have studied English as foreign language like me agree that this is a good book. Its main story is about some students studying in Beijing, and the lessons are about their life. From the very first lesson there are enjoyable conversations and useful phrases, so we can have the impression of a rapid progression which is important for guarding the motivation. The lessons have good structures and a good balance of texts and exercises, each lessons contains model phrases and explanation for the stroke order. It is easy to follow the instructions. There are not too much new words in one lesson, so one can manage to study them lesson by lesson.

I used this book for a high school students who just started learning Chinese. The book is well organized at a pace that the progress can move smoothly. I am glad that I picked a good one.

I've been studying Chinese in China for five months now with this textbook, and I've loved it. I'm on the 19th chapter right now, and really enjoying it. The text is quite well-organized and the teaching method solid. The way I use this text is to first memorize the characters, then go through the dialgues with the audio (copying most of the characters as I go) and then going through the vocabulary lists once. Then I spend 4-6 hours with a tutor per lesson going through the exercises in the textbook, and have my tutor correct my workbook exercises. My chinese teachers and friends like the textbook and say that the content is authentic and high-quality (even though I live in Guangxi province, in Southern China, where people sometimes get annoyed if I use the Beijing dialect used in this book :) I haven't gotten the Teacher's manuals, as they're difficult to get a hold of in China, but you're better off studying with a tutor if it's at all possible. My only complaint is that more help could be given when learning the characters - many times I have to do research using a dictionary to learn what some of the components are, and what the meanings of individual characters are.