I am a Chinese language teacher and a freelance writer. I write what I think and I teach what I know. Through writing I make my thought clear and when I teach I learn something. Now I am writing about how to study Chinese language efficiently. 

I have been thinking about this topic for years. When I was making a course plan or answering a student’s question, I thought about this topic. In class, the textbook and teacher only show students the target of their study. However, good learners always seek greater knowledge about what they are learning and how to learn. They need to see a whole map, so they can choose a route and then design a good travel plan. Such students are not blind learners but wise learners.

In this thought, I have summarized my teaching experiences into 36 points. I use them to draw a whole map of the Chinese language for the learners. The 36 points will show what the Chinese language is and how to manage it efficiently. I hope that it can help the learners to make their learning journey with less cost and more gain. Also I like to share my discoveries and knowledge with my colleagues.

These 36 points are just an outline of my book. They give a rough sketch of the Chinese language, and provide necessary background knowledge. To truly master each point, however, the learner needs to take lessons. My philosophy of learning is that you must know first where you are and what goals you have, and next must find your pathway, and then begin your journey. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

My good friend and English coach Ms. Maureen Tripp has encouraged my teaching and writing. She twice visited China and adopted two Chinese girls from orphanages in remote provinces of China. Now her two girls are seven and five years old. Both are students at an elementary school in the United States and becoming lovely American girls.  As a librarian and two little girls' mom, Ms. Tripp is very busy everyday. However, she has never given up learning the Chinese language. She keeps learning Chinese not only because she is interested in Chinese culture and helping to raise two Chinese children, but also because she wants to extend her love to a larger world. Ms. Tripp told me that in the New England area there are more than one thousand American families who have adopted children from China. In the entire United States there are more than fifty thousand American families who have adopted Chinese children.

What great love this is!

This website is dedicated to Ms. Tripp and all those American families who give abandoned Chinese children a warm home.

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  36 Ways of understanding Chinese language

   Part one: Overview 
1 A little history of the Chinese language
2 Why are there such names in Chinese language
3 Character and Sound
4 Seven dialects
  
     Part two: Pronunciation
5 Pinyin tells you how to pronounce Chinese
6 Pinyin has 21 consonants and 36 vowels
7 How pinyin works
8 Four tones with two functions
    
    Part three: Character
9  The same character has eight different figures
10 Eight basic strokes and writing in order
11 Characters are created by four different ways
12 Constructions of Characters
13 Characters are written Chinese language

    Part four: Vocabulary
14 The definition of word
15 Parts of speech
16 Master 300 words and 50 sentence patterns
17 Short expressions are used often

     Part five: Sentence
18 The six parts of a sentence
19 Patterns of sentence structure
20 Use symbols to analyze sentence structure
21 Negative sentence
22 Time expression
23 Interrogatives
24 Passive sentence and Ba sentence

     Part Six: Daily topics 
25 The five basic topics
26 Practical topics
27 Further practical topics
28 Repertory for chance conversations 

     Part Seven: How to teach yourself 
29 From inspiration to a goal 
30 You must have a teacher at the beginning
31 Be the driver, not a passenger, on your learning journey
32 Learning means asking questions and solving problems
33 Remember a word by its pronunciation or by its character
34 Manage 300 basic words and basic grammar
35 How to find a partner to practice
36 Write journal daily and talk to yourself often