Text Books/Learning Materials

Toronto Mandarin School is committed to providing learners of diverse background with the most practical curriculum of the highest standard to ensure their success. We are highly selective about the learning materials we use. We also developed many of our own teaching supplements to address the different needs of our students. Here are the categories of the textbooks for different programs at our school:

Early Years Learning in Mandarin

My First Chinese Words, is the best place to start teaching your child Mandarin Chinese. The series has 36 mini-books with easy-to-read script and vivid illustrations that make learning Chinese fun and easy for youngsters! My First Chinese Words teaches over 200 words and covers 36 topics from a child’s world, such as family, friends, food, animals, home, school etc. A DVD is also available to help your child learn the words at home.
For: 3-5 year-old preschoolers
Sing Along, Learn Mandarin (1,2,3), is designed by experienced ECE teachers from Toronto Mandarin School. It incorporates many stimulating and age-appropriate theme-based activities to make learning fun. The book includes colouring, learning Chinese characters and phrases, practicing speaking, singing rhythmic songs, listening to stories to cover subjects in a little youngsters' world, such as all about me, fruit and vegetables, farm animals and zoo animals, colours, shapes and community, etc.
For: 3-5 year-old preschoolers

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Learn Chinese as a Heritage Language (Children)

Standard Mandarin, is designed for overseas Mandarin-speaking children learners or Chinese immigrant children who have some Mandarin background. The textbook's colourful illustrations and photos provide meaningful context to words and situations, making each lesson authentic and appealing to children. The series includes a total of nine systematic levels, each level with its own textbook and two pre-designed homework books. Bilingual version, CDs and cassettes are also available at all levels.
For: Mandarin-speaking children

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Learn Chinese as a second language (Children)

Chinese Paradise, introduces Chinese to young children with colourful illustrations, conversations, rhymes, songs, fun activities, and more. Designed for non-native students who want to learn Mandarin Chinese as a second language, the series features many age-appropriate in-class activities and interactive lessons. It consists of six books with three levels, with both a student’s book and teacher’s guide. Flash cards and CDs are available at each level. Learning Chinese is fun and easy!
For: non-Chinese speaking children
Happy Mandarin, is sponsored by the China National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (NOCFL), and targeted at overseas middle school students (12-15 yrs) who want to learn Mandarin as a foreign language from a beginner level. It consists of six books with three levels, with student's book, teacher's guide, flash cards, wall map and listening materials for each level. Both the content and the format emphasize teenagers’ developmental characteristics and their topics of interest. This series aims at developing an intermediate level of competency in communicating in Chinese, as a solid foundation for further study in Chinese language and culture.
For: non-Chinese speaking children
Learn Chinese with Me, is a series of textbooks especially designed for teenagers who want to learn Mandarin Chinese as a foreign language starting at a beginner level. It includes four levels of learning with student textbooks, teacher’s guides, CDs and workbooks for each level. The series features colourful illustrations and cover the topics of basic communication in daily life, school life, food and health, the environment, transportation and geography, and traditional Chinese culture. The series is aimed at developing elementary to intermediate communication competency in Mandarin and an interest in Chinese culture.
For: non-Chinese speaking teens

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Mandarin for Adult Learning

Conversational Chinese 301, focuses on daily communication and presents the 301 most essential conversational sentences for quick learning. It is intended to be a short-term intensive course book for beginners, ideal for tourists and travelers planning a trip to China. Credited as the world-wide best-selling Chinese textbooks for overseas adult learners, the book emphasises practical daily communication, integrated with the basic grammatical structure and most-commonly used vocabulary in real life situations, thus helping learners to master the 301 basic conversational sentences quickly and acquire the ability to carry on simple conversations in a matter of weeks.
For: beginner learners
Short-term Spoken Chinese, is published by Beijing Language and Culture University for non-Chinese adult Mandarin learners. The systematic learning materials include four progressive levels: introductory, elementary, intermediate and advanced level textbooks and associated CDs. With a strong focus on practical Mandarin conversational skills for daily life, learners will achieve the ultimate goal of speaking Mandarin at a very comfortable level for daily use.
For: intermediate to advanced learners
A Business Trip to China- Conversation & Application is designed for adult learners at an intermediate level of Mandarin, interested in doing business or having a career in a Chinese speaking community. The two-volume series offers a practical approach to learning Chinese for business. Each chapter covers a specific topic in the journey, e.g. arriving at the airport and at the hotel, going to the bank, attending a business meeting and banquet, shopping, negotiating and signing a contract, visiting the factory. The book employs an interactive and communicative approach to teaching with many practical tips in linguistic-cultural conventions that you can use in almost every single business situation.
For: “Business Mandarin” learners

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In-House Supplementary Materials

Chinese Reader (Level 1-6), series introduces Chinese to young children with colourful illustrations, conversations, rhymes, songs, fun activities and more. Designed for non-native elementary students who want to learn Mandarin Chinese as a second language, the series features many age-appropriate, in-class activities, interactive lessons. It consists of six books with three levels, with both a student’s book and teacher’s guide. Flash cards and CDs are available at each level. Learning Chinese is fun and easy!
Kaixin Pinyin, is the ultimate Mandarin phonic book for beginner learners. Together with CD, VCD and flash cards, the book incorporates many engaging activities such as colouring pictures, games, stories and rhythmic songs to make language learning more fun.
Fun with Chinese Characters, Chinese characters are fun and easy to learn despite their unique features. This book aims to help students at an intermediate Level of Mandarin to better understand the structure of the Chinese characters and further develop their vocabulary. For example, from the single Chinese word ‘青’ , you can expand it into many other related characters by adding different radicals, such as“清，情，晴，睛，请“. All these words are related in “sound”, but different in “meaning”. This helps students to connect several words by comparing and identifying the differences and similarities among different characters, thus help them to memorize and learn new words.
Chinese Creative Writing (Level 1-9) At Toronto Mandarin School, we focus on developing four aspects of Mandarin skill. Starting at Kindergarten level, we encourage students to write one sentence and gradually move into making paragraphs and writing stories while they develop higher competency in Mandarin. We create many fun and interesting writing templates to encourage students of different age groups to practice their writing.

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