Many new learners will feel that Chinese is quite difficult when they are learning Mandarin in China. Some scholars say that the purpose of teaching Chinese as second language is not only to let students who are learning Mandarin in China understand the Chinese language learning program, but the most important thing is to let them learn how to use the language completely in practical communication.
Classroom is the regular place of Chinese language learning program for students. And learning language has a process of perception-imitation-application. The purpose of expert applying can be reached only by lots of trainings to stimulate brains and keep memorizing. The author has a very good teaching approach which can help student who are having Chinese language learning program learn easier and more efficient. This teaching approach meets the principle and requirement that those scholar mentioned.
The new teaching approach is called “expanding words to sentence”. It includes many branches, such as extension, expansion, comparison, comprehension, collocation and connection. Here we will talk about some of the branch methods for students of Chinese language learning program.
Extension: through the explanation of one word, teachers can make students of Chinese language learning program learn a group of similar words so that the vocabulary of students can be broadened and grasped.
Example 1, new word 项链
Sentence: a. 她戴了一条项链。A group of words which belong to ornament with “项链”. The verb is the same with the one that 项链 uses, but the quantifier is not completely the same.
b. 她戴了一个(只,对,副)手镯。
c. 她戴了一对耳环。
d. 她戴了一个(枚)戒指。
Example 2, new word 中学
小学/中学/大学——大中小学/中小学 (abbr.)
Expansion: expand words to phrase and grasp the different usages.
Example, new word 见面——(separation and reunion verb)
Sentence: a. 我跟他见面了。(the form of reunion, verb without complements)
b. 我跟他见了两次面。(the form of separation, verb-object word group with complements)
Separation and reunion verbs belong to a kind of special verb of Chinese. Students of Chinese language learning program may make many mistakes when they are using these words. For example, “我昨天见面朋友了”/ “我见面他两次了”/ “我两次见面他了”. Therefore, all the separation and reunion new verbs appear in textbook should be explained clearly by teachers of Chinese language learning program.
Comparison: by comparison of two words, students who are having Chinese language learning program can understand the teacher quickly. In this way, the teaching efficiency will be improved and the mistakes of students can be avoided.
Example, new word 考(verb)——考试(noun, verb)
“考” and “考试” are synonyms. But the usages are different. “考试” belongs to special parts of speech in Chinese——multi-category words, which have the same meaning but different usage as noun and verb. Thus this kind of words is also difficult point in Chinese language learning program.
For example, 我们考试口语了。/ 我这次考试得不好。/ 你们考试什么了/ 他没考试大学。/ HSK考太难了。
Similar words like this must be taught to students of Chinese language learning program as importance.
Step one: to explain “考试” from the aspect of “multi-category” words. Step two: to explain “考” and “考试” from the aspect of verbs.
In the teaching approach of “expanding words to sentence”, students can learn large amount of words in a short period, which is quite good for teaching Chinese as second language.