Mandarin Lesson Plans for Beginners: Teacher Guide to Your First 14 Days of Spoken Mandarin

By the end you can

• Plan the whole course from one page. The course map lists all 15 lessons with their student book pages and the first line of each day, a good line to put on the board.
• Run Day 1 as a 40-minute class. A warm-up, the Learn page, the Practice page, pair work with name cards, a group name chain and the book's speaking challenge, each step timed. A note says what to drop for 30 minutes.
  很高兴认识你。 · Hěn gāoxìng rènshi nǐ. · Nice to meet you.
• Turn the room into a café and a bun stall. In Lessons 4 and 5 pairs take turns as server and customer. They order with 我想要 and 我要, then count buns with 个 and practise 两 in a team relay.
  请给我两个包子。 · Qǐng gěi wǒ liǎng ge bāozi. · Two steamed buns, please.
• Get the class moving with directions and prices. Lesson 10 is a human sat-nav along a path through the desks. Lesson 11 is a market stall with price tags on classroom objects and reactions with 太贵了.
  一直往前走。 · Yìzhí wǎng qián zǒu. · Go straight ahead.
• Build up to a six-line conversation. In Lesson 14 pairs write a conversation from Days 1 to 13 and hold it in speed chats. Lesson 15 acts out the Review's café chat and the walk to the park without reading.
  你好，我叫陈小雨。你呢？ · Nǐ hǎo, wǒ jiào Chén Xiǎoyǔ. Nǐ ne? · Hi, my name is Chen Xiaoyu. And you?
• Hold two short speaking checks. A three-minute chat after Lesson 7 with questions from Days 1 to 7, and a six-line conversation in Lesson 15. A three-step scale runs from Getting there to Confident.
  你家有几个人？ · Nǐ jiā yǒu jǐ ge rén? · How many people are in your family?
• Listen for the mistakes beginners make. The guide lists them by day: 也 at the end of the sentence, 二 instead of 两, the time after the action, and 哪儿 and 那儿 said with the same tone.
• Adapt every lesson for a mixed-level class. Keep the whole class on the day's core exchange. The guide gives ideas for students who need support, students ready for more, heritage speakers and anyone who missed a lesson.
• Mark homework with the answer key. Every answer in the student book, set out by lesson with its book page. Lines marked Model are one good answer: accept any correct answer about the student.

Use it with

The student book: Your First 14 Days of Spoken Mandarin. Your class downloads it free with a SayMei account.

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  Your First 14 Days of Spoken Mandarin

  Total beginner · 39 pages · practice online

What’s inside

• Course map: Course map
• Lesson 1: Meet Someone and Ask Back
• Lesson 2: Say Where You're From
• Lesson 3: Share Two Things You Like
• Lesson 4: Order One Drink
• Lesson 5: Add a Simple Food Order
• Lesson 6: Propose and Confirm a Time
• Lesson 7: Describe a Household
• Lesson 8: Two Parts of Your Daily Routine
• Lesson 9: Ask Where a Place Is
• Lesson 10: Ask for and Follow Directions
• Lesson 11: Ask a Price and React
• Lesson 12: Invite Someone and Pick a Time
• Lesson 13: Say One Thing You Did
• Lesson 14: Hold a Complete First Exchange
• Lesson 15: Café Chat and Finding the Park
• Assessment: An exit line every lesson, the halfway chat, the end-of-book conversation, a speaking scale, writing checks and the mistakes to listen for. Check speaking and writing
• Mixed levels: Support and stretch ideas that work in every lesson, plus tips for heritage speakers and for students who missed a class. Teach a mixed-level class
• Answer key: The student book's answers, lesson by lesson, with the book page for each set of exercises. Answer key · Answer key · Answer key · Answer key

How to use this book

One lesson plan for each day of the student book, then the Review. Each plan fits on one page and runs about 40 minutes.

1. Before term: Set the pace. Daily classes cover the book in three weeks. Twice a week, it fills about eight weeks. Check that every student has the student book, downloaded or printed.
2. Before each lesson: Make the props. Each plan's Prepare line says what you need: name cards, a café menu, a paper clock, price tags or signs for places around the room.
3. Each lesson: Keep the same rhythm. Warm-up, the Learn page, the Practice page, pair work, group work, the speaking challenge and homework. New lines go choral first, then to pairs, then to one or two students alone.
4. After Lesson 7: Halfway chat. Three minutes with each student or pair, using questions from Days 1 to 7. Run it during the pair work in Lesson 8.
5. Lesson 15: End-of-book check. Pairs hold the six-line conversation from Day 14 or act out a Review scene with one detail changed. Then ask each student one question from Days 8 to 13.

Who it’s for

Teachers of complete beginners in Mandarin: school and university classes, adult evening classes and tutors working with a small group. The plans assume students start with no Chinese at all.

Before you start: Your class needs the student book, Your First 14 Days of Spoken Mandarin, free with a SayMei account. Students download their own copy, or you hand out printed pages. The book has no audio, so you model every line yourself.

Frequently asked questions

How many lessons are there, and how long is each one?

Fifteen lessons of about 40 minutes: one for each of the book's 14 days, then the Review. A note at the foot of every plan says what to drop for a 30-minute class.

Is there audio for the class?

No. The student book has no audio, so you are the model for every line. The plans build this in: the class repeats each new line twice, then says it in pairs and alone.

How do I teach students who already speak some Chinese?

The mixed-levels page has a section on heritage speakers. They often speak well but mix up points the book teaches, such as 两 and 二 or the place of 也. Ask them to explain the mistakes in each Correct the mistake exercise and to model lines for the class.

How do I share the guide with a colleague?

Send them this page. They can download their own copy, free with a SayMei account.

Is this teacher guide free?

Yes. The whole 24-page PDF is free, and you can look through its pages here before you download. There's no card and nothing to pay.

Do I need a SayMei account?

Yes, to download the PDF, and the account is free: sign up with Google, Apple or your email address. With it we email you a copy of the workbook, keep every workbook you download on your account on all your devices, save your place in the free online practice, and you can practise speaking with Mei Lin, SayMei's AI tutor.

How do I print it?

The PDF is US Letter size. On A4 paper, choose "Fit to page" (or "Scale to fit") in the print dialog so nothing is cut off. Print the whole workbook or only the pages you need; colour looks best, and black and white works too.

Can I copy it for my class?

Yes. Print and copy as many pages as you like for your own classes. Your students can download the student book from its page, free with a SayMei account.

Keep going

Your First 14 Days of Spoken Mandarin · Five Beginner Mandarin Mini-Stories · Your 30-Day Mandarin Plan · Chinese Numbers, Dates and Telling Time: Prices, Weekdays and the Clock · Browse all 294 workbooks