Premier's Kingold Chinese Bridge
Language Teacher Scholarship
Teaching Chinese as a foreign language:
Chinese characters for beginners
Xiaohong Chu
TAFE NSW - Sydney Institute
Sponsored by
I accepted this scholarship in 2005 with the following objectives in mind:
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Firstly, to conduct field work in Beijing aimed at broadening my own knowledge in
the area of teaching Chinese characters to beginners. To this end, I arranged to
observe beginner’s classes in action and to meet with a variety of Chinese lecturers
who teach students at this level in order to obtain their advice;
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Secondly, and as an outcome of the field work, I intend to develop a self-study
booklet which could serve as a teaching and learning aid for basic Chinese characters
(Hanzi).
Description of the study trip
The award included three weeks of language classes and a two week study tour. The
itinerary for 2005 included Beijing, Tai’an, Qufu, Nanjing, and a few other cities.
As it turned out there were some changes from the original plan as presented in Sydney.
The Chinese sponsors had a tightly organised program of four weeks of lectures at the
Beijing Normal University and a 10-day study tour, mostly in Henan Province and the
ancient city of Xi’an in Shaanxi Province for a group of 33 international scholars in
Chinese from 12 countries.
We (the three of us from the NSW Department of Education and Training) arrived in
Beijing on Sunday, 17 July 2005, a week after the course had started. This caused a bit of
difficulty initially for us to settle into our prearranged accommodation, lectures and other
activities. Because it was the middle of summer, the weather was hot and steamy, with
temperatures hovering just below 40 degrees on most days. As it was the time for
summer holidays for Chinese schools and universities, the campus had no normal classes.
Theoretically, the course looked integrated, but the lecturers seemed quite independent.
The topics focused more on theory than practical application and ranged from the
History of Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language to Modern Chinese Literature and
Chinese Folklore. Generally the lecturers talked in Chinese at a native speaker’s level and
the participants listened during most of the class time. However, most of the lecturers
were well-prepared, and knowledgeable about their specialties.
Apart from the lectures, other activities, such as Chinese calligraphy, visiting the Peking
Opera etc., were organised for us in the afternoons and some evenings and weekends. All
of these were paid for by the Chinese sponsors. On 19 July, we had the honour of being
invited to the Great Hall of the People, a very prestigious place, to attend the opening
ceremony of the International Conference on the Teaching of the Chinese Language. As
a teacher of Chinese, I was encouraged to observe that a few foreign dignitaries delivered
their speeches in Chinese. I thought if they could do so well with their Chinese, so could
my Australian students at TAFE NSW—Sydney Institute, Ultimo Campus.
After three weeks of study in Beijing, we embarked on the next part of the program. The
study tour was centred on visits to historical sites of the early dynasties in Henan
Province. This was a very valuable experience. The itinerary was so full that we were busy
for 12 hours on most days. Some of the highlights included a hovercraft ride on the
Yellow River, and visits to the Shaolin Temple and the cities of Kaifeng and Luoyan.
Then we paid a visit to the historical city of Xi’an in Shaanxi Province. Travel was both
by train and private coaches. It was a very interesting time. We learnt not only more
about the Chinese culture and modern China, but we also learnt much from discussion
with our fellow scholarship recipients from different countries.
Overall, for a teacher of Chinese in Australia, the five weeks study trip was excellent
professional development, both culturally and linguistically. I took as many photos as
appropriate for my use in teaching Chinese characters in real life context to Chinese
beginners.
The program offered extremely valuable opportunities to learn more about modern-day
China, the teaching of Chinese as a foreign language and about Chinese culture. My only
regret is that I did not have enough time to further pursue all of the objectives I initially
set out with.
Teaching Chinese characters (Hanzi) to beginners
Due to the nature of the highly organised program, I was unable to arrange to observe
beginner’s classes in action as there were no normal classes during vacation and the
special classes clashed with my morning lectures. Furthermore, I did not manage to meet
many Chinese lecturers who teach students at the beginner’s level.
I was able to have a discussion on the subject with one particular lecturer. This is a
summary of her opinions:
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As with modern Chinese, often words come in a pair of Chinese characters, so it is
important to teach students words/phrases instead of individual characters.
While written words can be introduced at the same time that listening and speaking
skills are taught, it is also a good idea to hold separate sessions for the teaching of
written words and they can be explained in English rather than Chinese.
Written words are introduced step by step, from radicals, the formation of a
character, to the whole words.
The written form of a word should be taught and exercised together as often as
possible in and out of classes.
The recommended list of Hanzi for Chinese beginners
Rationale for the list of Hanzi
According to the TAFE NSW Chinese Language Syllabus for Certificate I in Chinese
(course number 6479), the purpose of the first two modules is to provide adults with the
beginning skills and strategies to achieve oral and written Chinese language competencies
needed to enhance their opportunities of access to and successful participation in
employment, further education and the Chinese and Sino/Australian community.
For the beginner’s Chinese course, students would need to learn to write up to 100
Hanzi. This requires some rote learning. Although students are introduced to these
characters in the texts and exercises with a fair bit of explanation, there seems to be a
lack of visual and practical simulation to enhance the memory of these characters.
The written form of a Hanzi is important because Hanzi, rather than the sound, is what
carries the meaning. Unlike an alphabet-based language, the Chinese language conveys its
meaning through the written form with an audio sound at the same time. Though people
can communicate exclusively in Chinese by speech, one cannot rely solely on sound to
communicate as the sound system is limited. Because there are many Chinese words of
different meanings sharing the same sound, only the written form allows one to
accurately clarify meaning in its context.
Written Chinese is extremely helpful for those who visit China, and should be taught to
students who need to read the language as well as those who are learning to speak and
listen. The majority of Chinese language students will eventually go to China or a
Chinese-speaking country to study, do business, visit friends and family, or simply
holiday. Therefore, it is essential for a learner of the Chinese language to learn to
recognise Hanzi in context.
After teaching Chinese language and culture for over 15 years at Sydney Institute,
Ultimo, and other institutions in Sydney, I have observed that coming to terms with the
written form of the Chinese language remains one of the biggest challenges facing the
beginning student. This is especially the case when the student comes from an alphabetbased language background and has had little or no previous contact with Chinese
characters.
The recommended Hanzi list given in this report is not intended for class use, but as
supplementary exercises for students to practise.
Recommended list of 100 Hanzi
Hanzi is shown first, then Pinyin (the Romanised sound script) and the meanings in
English.
A
1
爱 ai: love
B
2
八 ba: 8
3
白 bai: white
4
百 bai: 100
5
半 ban: half
6
北 bei: north
7
不 bu: no/not
8
步 bu: a step
9
厕(所) cesuo: toilet
10
长 chang: long
11
(工)厂 gongchang: factory
12
车 che: vehicle
C
火车 huoche: train
汽车 qiche: a bus
13
吃 chi: to eat
14
出 chu: exit/out
D
15
打 da: to play
打(电话) da dianhua: make a phone call
16
大 da: big
17
的 de: of
18
地点 didian: place
19
点 dian: hour
20
电 dian: electricity
电(话) dianhua: telephone
21
东 dong: east
E
22
二 er: 2
F
23
房 fang: house
24
(咖)啡 kafei: coffee
25
飞(机) feiji: plane
26
分 fen: cent (money)/minute
27
(衣)服 yifu: clothes/clothing
28
个 ge: a most commonly used measure word for a noun
29
工(人) gongren: worker
G
30-31公共 gonggong: public
公共(电话) gonggongdianhua: public phone
公共(汽车) gonggong qiche: public bus
32
关 guan: to close/closed
33
国 guo: country
(中)国 Zhongguo: China
H
J
K
L
34
(水)果 shuiguo: fruit
35
好 hao: good/well
36
号 hao: number
37
喝 he: drink
38
和 he: and/peace
39
黑 hei: black
40
红 hong: red
41
话 hua: speech/also see H section
42
黄 huang: yellow
43
火 huo: fire
44
机 ji: see F section
45
家 jia: home/family
46
角 jiao: 10cents (money unit)
47
节 jie: festival
48
九 jiu: 9
49
咖 ka: see F section
50
开 kai: to open
51
口 kou: mouth/entrance
52
蓝 lan: blue
53
冷 leng: cold
54
里 li: in/inside
55
六 liu: 6
56
楼 lou: building
M
57
绿 lu: green
58
门 men: gate
门口 menkou: entrance
N
Q
R
S
59
米 mi: rice
60
面 mian: noodles/wheat
61
木 mu: tree
62
年 nian: year
63
女 nu: female
64
男 nan: male
65
南 nan: south
66
七 qi: 7
67
汽 qi: see C section
68
千 qian: 1,000
69
钱 qian: money
70
热 re: hot/warm
71
人 ren: a person/people
72
日 ri: sun/date
73
肉 rou: meat
74
入 ru: to enter
75
三 san: 3
76
上 shang: up/above
77
十 shi: 10
W
X
Y
Z
78
四 si: 4
79
水 shui: water/ also see G section
80
所 suo: see C section
81
外 wei: outside
82
万 wan: 10,000
83
五 wu: 5
84
西 xi: west
85
下 xia: down/under
86
小 xiao: small/little
87-88
学校 xuexiao: school
89
一 yi: 1
90
衣 yi: see F section
91
药 yao: medicine
92
有 you: to have
93
右 you: right
94
鱼 yu: fish
95
雨 yu: rain
96
元 yuan: Chinese dollar (money)
97
月 yue: moon/month
98
在 zai: to be at/in (a location)
99
中 zhong: middle/also see G section
100
左 zuo: left