Welcome to my new in-person Fall 2021 ALESN Mandarin I students!

I took a break for the past 2 years from teaching for ALESN, but I am back -- and hopefully, so are you. Faaaaaaaaaantastic...

While I wait for scheduling logistics and any Fall 2021 YMCA Covid policy concerns, I wanted to say hello to my new students as well as any returning students whom I might have taught in past years.

Hello.

For our textbook this year, we will be using Integrated Chinese Level 1 Part 1 THIRD EDITION Textbook, either Traditional or Simplified Characters -- your choice, because I will not be teaching characters. At all. As in, if you want to learn to read Chinese, please take a different intro class taught by a different teacher, most likely on Saturdays. In this particular Mandarin I intro class, we will be learning how to pronounce spoken Chinese and we will learn some very useful, very basic conversations about everyday tasks, objects, locations, and people.

Please note that we will be using the THIRD EDITION -- an older edition of this popular industry- standard beginner level college textbook. If you decide to purchase a copy, you need to make sure that you are buying THE TEXTBOOK, and NOT the workbook or the character workbook or the CD set or any other accompanying volumes from the same publisher. Because this is an older edition, you can find used hardcover copies of the Simplified version right now on Amazon for $21 plus shipping -- I just checked 5 minutes before typing this post.

Of course, many or even most of my students over recent years have found free PDF copies of this book floating around online. While I cannot encourage this -- AND I ASK YOU PLEASE TO NEVER ASK ME TO PERSONALLY GIVE YOU A FREE ILLEGAL COPY OF THIS BOOK -- if you are clever, you can find multiple PDF versions online for immediate download in under 1 minute via a standard Google search. 

The last time I taught Mandarin I for ALESN, several US universities had actually posted not only the complete textbook for free download to their Chinese students, but also all of the accompanying audio and video files designed to go along with the textbook. Once we start classes this fall, I am sure that links will be traded so that everyone can download all kinds of fun learning resources for free, if you so choose. I highly recommend the video rip of the accompanying DVD, if it is still available online (ahem, Rhode Island, ahem), because the skits are fun to watch; cover all dialogues and vocabulary items; and even include supplementary "Culture Notes" about daily international student life in Beijing circa 2005.

ONE LAST THING: In the interest of time, AND because Blogger's overall functionality is garbage, the only way for me to change the name of the label for my Mandarin I tab from "Mandarin I ALESN 2017-2018" to "Mandarin I ALESN" would be for me to waste 1-2 hours of my life individually changing every single post I have ever made to this category. I don't have time for that kind of nonsense, so going forward for 2021 and later, the Mandarin I menu tab's label will continue to state "2017-2018," but the actual archived contents of this section will extend from 2017 through 2021 and beyond, in reverse chronological order." Thanks for your kind attention!

See you all in class!