Unit 9: 今天是星期几? (jīn tiān shì xīng qī jǐ?)

UNIT 9 VOCABULARY

The days of the week in Chinese are extremely easy if you just remember that the week starts with Monday, not Sunday. From then on, each day is just a number, except for Sunday!

Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAN7P1Lnj-Q is a video tutorial of the days of the week in Mandarin. The woman speaking also includes information about the unit vocabulary above, as well as 2 additional ways to say the days of the week. 

UNIT 9 SENTENCES 

1)  What day is it today?

     Jīn tiān shì xīng qī jǐ?

  今天是星期几？

2)  Today is Saturday.

     Jīn tiān shì xīng qī liù.

  

  今天是星期六。

3) What day was it yesterday?

     

     Zuó tiān shì xīng qī jǐ?

     

   昨天是星期几？

 4) Yesterday was Friday.

          

          Zuó tiān shì xīng qī wǔ.

     

     昨天是星期五。

 5)  What day will it be tomorrow?

Míng tiān shì xīng qī jǐ?

明天是星期几？

 6)   Tomorrow will be Sunday.

Míng tiān shì xīng qī rì.

明天是星期日。

 7)   Will it be Friday tomorrow?

Míng tiān shì xīng qī wǔ?

明天是星期五？

 8)   No, it will not be Friday tomorrow.

Bù, míng tiān bú shì xīng qī wǔ.

不，明天不是星期五。

 9)   Will it be Sunday tomorrow?

Míng tiān shì xīng qī rì?

明天是星期日？

10)  Yes, tomorrow will be Sunday.  

Shì, míng tiān shì xīng qī rì.

是，明天是星期日。

UNIT 9 STUDY RESOURCES

http://www.cjvlang.com/Dow/dowchin.html

Here is a link to a webpage describing the different ways to say the days of the week in Mandarin (similar to the video above). Unlike the video, this webpage goes more into depth and has each different way written out. 

Unit 8: 今天是几月几号？(Jīn tiān shì jǐ yuè jǐ hào?)

UNIT 8 VOCABULARY

Note: hào and rì are interchangeable for the word day

UNIT 8 SENTENCES

1. What day (of the year) is it?

    Jīn tiān shì jǐ yuè jǐ hào?



   今天是几月几号？

 2. Today is ___ month ____ day . . .

     Jīn tiān shì (sì) yuè (shí wǔ) hào.

     今天是 (四)月(十五) 号。

3. Today is my birthday!

    Jīn tiān shì wǒ de shēng rì!

    今天是我的生日！

4. What day (of the year) is your birthday?

    Nǐ de shēng rì shì jǐ yuè jǐ hào?

    你的生日是几月几号？

5. My birthday is ___ month ___ day . . .

    Wǒ de shēng rì shì (yī) yuè (qī) hào.

    我的生日是(一)月(七)号。

6. (To wish you a) happy birthday!

    Zhù nǐ shēng rì kuài lè!

   祝你生日快乐！

Note: In these sentences, the rule of one question word per sentence is broken. However, since the same question word (jǐ) is the one used twice, it's okay.

UNIT 8 ACTIVITY/DIALOGUE

你好！你叫什么名字？

我叫白玛丽。你呢？

我叫白小文。

你是很老。

不，我不是很老！我是很好看！

你有百色的头发。。。

你也有白色的头发。。。

你多大？

我一百十七岁。你呢？

我也一百十七岁！

真的吗?! 我们是很老。

你的生日是几月几号？

我的生日是八月十号。你呢？

我的生日也是八月十号！

我们是姐妹！

UNIT 8 STUDY RESOURCES

This unit and its vocab are quite self-explanatory and simple compared to previous units. Therefore, this week's resources are just 2 Youtube videos. The first video is the Chinese rendition of the Happy Birthday song, and the second video reviews the vocabulary (which is helpful for pronunciation).

Video #1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUz2UVdNC1I

Video #2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD9y4Vcz5XU 

Unit 7: 你住在哪儿？(Nǐ zhù zài nǎr?)

UNIT 7 VOCABULARY

UNIT 6 SENTENCES & MINI CONVERSATIONS

I.     Where do you live? à Nǐ zhù zài nǎr? à  你住在哪儿？

I live on 10 Dahua Street. à Wǒ zhù zài dà huá jiē shí hào. à  我住在大华街十号。

II.   Where does Principal Lǐ live? à Lǐ xiào zhǎng zhù zài      nǎr? à 李校长住在哪儿？

Principal Lǐ lives on 35 Elementary School Road, building 3. à Lǐ xiào zhǎng zhù zài xiǎo xué lù sān shí wǔ hào sān lóu. à 李校长住在小学路三十五号三楼。

III.   Does Professor Wáng live on Elementary School Road? à Wáng lǎo shī zhù zài xiǎo xué lù ma? à 王老师住在小学路吗？

No, he does not live on Elementary School Road, he lives on Park Road. à Bù, tā bú zhù zài xiǎo xué lù, tā zhú zài gōng yuán lù. à 不，他不住在小学路，他住在公园路。

IV.   Where is your mom? à Nǐ de mā ma zài nǎr? à 你的妈妈在哪儿？

My mom is in America. à Wǒ de mā ma zài měi guó. à 我的妈妈在美国。

Where is your dad? à Nǐ de bà ba zài nǎr? à 你的爸爸在 哪儿？

My dad is in China. à Wǒ de bà ba zài zhōng guó. à 我的爸爸在中国。

UNIT 6 CULTURE

This week in class, we began watching Beijing Bicycle, a famous Chinese movie. It tells the story of two country workers who moved from rural China into the city. With a new courier job that lends him an expensive mountain bike and a view of his neighbor's lavish lifestyle through her big, glass window, Guei is constantly tortured by the luxuries that surround him but are not his own. Although we have only watched a little bit of the movie so far, the mistreatment of the poor is very evident in this movie's depiction of Chinese culture. Above is a video of a trailer/compilation of clips of the movie.

THIS WEEK'S STUDYING RESOURCES

• http://dictionary.hantrainerpro.com/ This is an extremely helpful resource that is loaded with information. Not only does it translate words from English to Chinese (and vice versa), but it provides the pronunciation of the word, the history of the word including its traditional characters, and its pinyin.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fk8nmypeQpI This video has a native mandarin speaker pronouncing the vocabulary and using it in sentences. Her Youtube channel, Live Mandarin, has countless videos. I find this video especially helpful because it shows the vocabulary used in more colloquial ways, instead of how it is written in the textbook. 

Unit 6: 我爱我的家。(wǒ ài wǒ de jiā)

UNIT 6 VOCABULARY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8ifz5QWOOk

The link above is a video that reviews this vocabulary in sentences saying "I love my mom/brother/dad . . ." It is only a minute long, and the YouTube channel has many more helpful videos!

UNIT 6 SENTENCES & MINI CONVERSATIONS

A: Who is he? à Tā shì shéi? à 他是谁？

B: He is my dad. I love my dad. à Tā shì wǒ de bà ba. Wǒ ài wǒ de bà ba. à 他是我的爸爸。我爱我的爸爸。

A: Who is she? à Tā shī shēi? à 她是谁？

B: She is my mom. I love my mom. àTā shì wǒ de māma. Wǒ ài wǒ de māma. à 她是我的妈妈。我爱我的妈妈。

A: Is he or is he not your little brother? à Tā shì bú shì nǐ de dìdi?à 他是不是你弟弟？

B: Yes, he is my little brother. à Shì, tā shì wǒ de dì di. à是,他是我的弟弟。

A: Is she or is she not your older sister? à Tā shì bú shì wǒ de jiě jie? à她是不是姐姐？

B: No, she is not my older sister. She is my little sister. à bú shì, tā bú shì wǒ de jiě jie. Tā shì wǒ de mèi mei. à不是, 她不是我的姐姐。她是我的妹妹。

A: How many people are in your family? à Nǐ jiā yǒu jǐ gè rén? à你家有几个人？

B: My family has 5 people: dad, mom, older brother, older sister, and I. à Wǒ jiā yǒu wǔ gè rén: bà ba, mā ma, gè ge, jiě jie, hé wǒ. à我家有五个人：爸爸, 妈妈, 哥哥, 姐姐, 和我。

UNIT 6 CULTURE

In order to slow down the Chinese population's growth rate, the government implemented a one-child policy that restricts families to, as the name states, one child. The government has been promoting birth control and family planning ever since. This has led to much debate and controversy, along with worsening the extremely imbalanced gender ratio. More information on the policy can be found in this encyclopedia article: 

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1710568/one-child-policy

Additionally, this article offers a view on the growing problems surrounding the one child issue. 

http://www.newsweek.com/2014/01/24/one-child-policy-one-big-problem-china-245118.html.

Unit 5: 我上大华高中。(Wǒ shàng dà huá gāo zhōng)

UNIT 5 VOCABULARY

For help with the stroke order of these characters, you can visit this website: http://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/character-stroke-order.php?word=%E5%9C%8B

you can search any character and it will animate the stroke order!

UNIT 5 GRAMMAR / SENTENCES & MINI CONVERSATIONS

UNIT 5 CULTURE

A "hot pot" filled with chili peppers in Sichuan, Chengdu.

This week, we learned about the love for anything and everything spicy in China. Chengdu is a cultural hot spot (literally, burning hot) for this kind of food. Chili pepper is a fundamental ingredient in almost every dish! Tourists have a hard time handling the heat that natives have become accustomed to their entire lives. Chinese culture puts more emphasis on the different tastes that food has, including: sweet, sour, spicy, salty, and bitter. 

Here is a link to a video of a girl trying some hot pot noodles (hot pot is similar to fondue) that are famous in Chengdu. Apparently they did not live up to the spicy hype in her opinion!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHw-r3z-1p4

Unit 4: 你是哪国人? (Nǐ shì nǎ guó rén?)

UNIT 4 VOCABULARY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egkT_pBlNmc

Above is a link to a great video that uses this vocabulary. It is only 2 minutes long, and the characters, pinyin, and English meaning, are displayed all at once while a woman narrates in the background. It is a very helpful source for quick review and pronunciation! The Youtube user who created it also has a channel with hundreds of "learning Chinese" videos. 

Here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Acv2H-S65nI is a video that she posted on programming Chinese characters on a computer using Windows.

UNIT 4 SENTENCES & MINI CONVERSATIONS

Side note:

 I created this comic strip
using http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/Comix/.
It is the best and easiest comic creator that I could find online; however, you cannot type in characters on the website. I added them by saving the comic and using the Paint program on a Windows computer.

Some other mini conversations: 

A: Are you a Chinese person? (Are you from China?) 你是哪国人？

B:  No, I am not a Chinese person. (No, I am not from China) 不 是，我不是中国  人。I am a Japanese person. (I am from Japan) 我是日本人。

A:  She is or is not an American person? 她是不是美国人？

B:  No, she is not an American person. (No, she is not from America) 不是, 她不是美国人。She is a Canadian person. (She is from Canada) 她是加拿大人。

UNIT 4 CULTURE

China has 56 officially recognized ethnic groups. The Han Chinese make up the largest ethnic group (92 percent of the population). Gradually, Han Chinese culture has been spreading westward where many minority groups live. The government is developing and renovating ancient cities, supposedly because they are trying to help the structures that are unsafe and unprotected from earthquakes. However, the natives that are being pushed out of their homes have been moved into buildings that are very poorly constructed, and no safer than their old ones. 

http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/3/kunming-attack-chinesemuslimshuiyunnanhistory.html

The above article, titled China's Westward Expansion and Its Discontents, provides a lot of information on this week's culture subject.