Our Teaching Method

How will you learn Chinese?

The author of the teaching materials used at Hutong School is Prof. Zhang Pengpeng (张朋朋). He is an associate professor at Beijing Language and Culture University and has taught Chinese to non-native speakers since 1975 in Beijing as well as at universities in France, Switzerland and Germany.

Based on his experiences with non-native speakers, Prof. Zhang developed his own method separating spoken Chinese on the one hand and character recognition/writing on the other hand.

Rather than requiring students to be able to pronounce, read and write every single character from every dialogue, Prof. Zhang pays more attention to explaining the form and structure of characters and the radical-phonetic system.

This way, students can progress quicker in spoken Chinese and at the same time lay a good foundation for character memorization at a later stage because they have a more thorough insight in the characters. In addition, Prof. Zhang focuses more on character recognition in the beginning and incorporates writing characters only in a later phase.

The course books for the Beginner and Intermediate levels are the following three books of the “New Approaches to Learning Chinese” by Prof. Zhang Pengpeng:

口语速成 (Intensive Spoken Chinese), for the Speaking class. The students will learn how to introduce themselves in Chinese, greet people, order food and drinks, buy things, talk about their families, etc… The focus will be on basic Chinese vocabulary which can be immediately used in common daily situations.

集中识字 (Rapid Literacy in Chinese), for the Reading and Writing class. For absolute beginners, the focus will mostly be on reading and recognizing the most commonly used 300 characters.

常用汉字部首 (The Most Common Chinese Radicals), will be used mostly as a reference book for students to improve their understanding of Chinese characters and the radical-phonetic system.

Also used are the following two books:

汉语口语速成: 'Short-term Spoken Chinese'
张老师教汉字: 'Professor Zhang Teaches Characters'

All teaching materials are included in the program fee.

Month	Internship Program	Intensive Chinese Program
1st month	Phonetics, numbers, money, self-introduction Lesson 1 : Phonetics, Hello Lesson 2 : Phonetics, Thank you Lesson 3 : Phonetics, Numerals Lesson 4 : Surname, First Name Lesson 5 : Country, Native Place Lesson 6 : City, Native Place Lesson 7 : Year, Month, Date, Day Lesson 8 : Birthday, Age Lesson 9 : Time, Daily Schedule Lesson 10 : Public Places 5 hours of classes focusing on Chinese characters, with special attention to the most common Chinese radicals. After 1 month, students should master 50 common characters. Phonetics, numbers, money, self-introduction, shopping, ordering food	Lesson 1 : Phonetics, Hello Lesson 2 : Phonetics, Thank you Lesson 3 : Phonetics, Numerals Lesson 4 : Surname, First Name Lesson 5 : Country, Native Place Lesson 6 : City, Native Place Lesson 7 : Year, Month, Date, Day Lesson 8 : Birthday, Age Lesson 9 : Time, Daily Schedule Lesson 10 : Public Places Lesson 11: Daily Necessities, Fruits Lesson 12 : Buy things, Prices Lesson 13 : Wines, Drinks Lesson 14 : Coffee Bar, Tea House Lesson 15 : Menu, Foods 40 hours of classes focusing on Chinese characters, with special attention to the most common Chinese radicals. After 1 month, students should master 200 common characters.
2nd month	Shopping, ordering food, talk about family members and language learning Lesson 11: Daily Necessities, Fruits Lesson 12 : Buy things, Prices Lesson 13 : Wines, Drinks Lesson 14 : Coffee Bar, Tea House Lesson 15 : Menu, Foods Lesson 16 : At the Restaurant Lesson 17 : Eating Habits Lesson 18 : Family / Profession Lesson 19 : Languages, Learning Lesson 20 : Address, Telephone 5 hours of classes focusing on Chinese characters, with special attention to the most common Chinese radicals. After 2 months, students should master 100 common characters.	Lesson 16 : At the Restaurant Lesson 17 : Eating Habits Lesson 18 : Family / Profession Lesson 19 : Languages, Learning Lesson 20 : Address, Telephone Lesson 21 : Doing Something Lesson 22 : Duration of Time Lesson 23 : Result, Possibility Lesson 24 : Means of Transportation Lesson 25 : Direction and Position; Lesson 26 : Asking the way Lesson 27 : Climate, Weather Lesson 28 : Sports Activities Lesson 29 : Comparison Lesson 30 : At the Hospital 40 hours of classes focusing on Chinese characters, with special attention to the most common Chinese radicals. After 2 months, students should master 400 common characters.
3rd month	Asking the way, talk about weather and sports, going to hospital Lesson 21 : Doing Something Lesson 22 : Duration of Time Lesson 23 : Result, Possibility Lesson 24 : Means of Transportation Lesson 25 : Direction and Position Lesson 26 : Asking the way Lesson 27 : Climate, Weather Lesson 28 : Sports Activities Lesson 29 : Comparison Lesson 30 : At the Hospital 5 hours of classes focusing on Chinese characters, with special attention to the most common Chinese radicals. After 3 months, students should master 150 common characters. Changing money, room decorations, booking tickets	Lesson 31: Changing Money Lesson 32 : Color, Clothes Lesson 33 : Room Decorations Lesson 34 : Recreations and hobbies Lesson 35 : At the Post Office Lesson 36 : Repairing a Bicycle Lesson 37 : Formalities of a Hotel Lesson 38 : At the Train Station Lesson 39 : Booking a Plane Ticket Lesson 40: The Internet Age 40 hours of classes focusing on Chinese characters, with special attention to the most common Chinese radicals. After 3 months, students should master 600 common characters.Review of all topics of oral Chinese.
4th month	Changing money, room decorations, at the post office Lesson 31: Changing Money Lesson 32 : Color, Clothes Lesson 33 : Room Decorations Lesson 34 : Recreations and hobbies Lesson 35 : At the Post Office Lesson 36 : Repairing a Bicycle Lesson 37 : Formalities of a Hotel Lesson 38 : At the Train Station Lesson 39 : Booking a Plane Ticket Lesson 40: The Internet Age 5 hours of classes focusing on Chinese characters, with special attention to the most common Chinese radicals. After 4 months, students should master 200 common characters.	Tailor-made lessons
5th month	More focus on Chinese characters with the aim of mastering 400 characters by the end of the month. (200 additional characters to be learned) Review of lessons 1-20 of oral Chinese and additional exercises.	Tailor-made lessons
6th month	More focus on Chinese characters with the aim of mastering 600 characters by the end of the month. (200 additional characters to be learned) Review of lessons 21-40 of oral Chinese and additional exercises.	Tailor-made lessons