Sinosplice Presents:

Chinese Language Resources

  • The following free resources were created by applied linguistics grad student John Pasden.

  • Pronunciation of Mandarin: Setting the Record Straight

    A response to the glut of bad information on the harder points of the pronunciation of Mandarin.

  • Mandarin Chinese Tone Pair Drills

    Exercises developed by John Pasden specifically designed to target problems with the pronunciation of tone combinations.

  • The Process of Learning Tones

    If you've decided to learn to speak Chinese and you're anything like me, this is what you can expect.

  • The 5 Stages to Learning Chinese

    I have been aniticipating a future in applied linguistics for some time, so I have been very cognizant of the learning processes of myself and others. Here is where I recount them.

  • An Insider's Look at ChinesePod

    Tips and insight on the famous free service from John, one of the key academic developers at ChinesePod.

  • Chinese Study Book Reviews

    Recommendations on books for learning Chinese based on personal experience. These reviews are especially useful for those in China, as many of the books reviewed were bought here.

  • Chinese Vocabulary Lists

    A collection of vocabulary lists you won't find in most textbooks. For example, instead of country names in Chinese, you will find Western alcohol names in Chinese.

  • Shanghainese Soundboard

    Although it's far from a complete course in Shanghai's dialect, this soundboard should give you some idea of the sound of Shanghainese, with Mandarin for comparison.

  • The Moon Represents My Heart

    It would behoove any student of Chinese to learn this classic Chinese song. (In Chinese characters, pinyin, and English.)

 

Sinosplice Presents:

TEFL Teaching Resources

  • I taught "Spoken English" for three and a half years at a university in Hangzhou, China. I taught kindergarteners in Shanghai for a year. I have extensive tutoring experience. Through it all, I have taken careful note of what works and what doesn't.

  • Teaching in China: A Guide for the Uninitiated

    A lot of curious individuals come to China with little more than an adventurous spirit, and they're expected to become "teachers." Some have training, but no hands-on experience. Some people have been in China a while and just kind of get lost and disillusioned with the process. Whatever the reason for your confusion, you may find it helpful to read this Sinosplice original.

 

Sinosplice Language:

Author's Note

Language is my passion. I'm in China now to master Mandarin Chinese. I have been achieving this goal by teaching English, which I also happen to really like. My interest in languages also extends to: English, my native language, Spanish, which I studied throughout high school and also in Mexico during college, Japanese, which I started studying on a whim in my freshman year in college, but ended up majoring in. I studied for a year in Osaka, Japan, while living in Kyoto. I absolutely loved it.

When I realized in Japan that languages and linguistics were for me, I also decided to begin studying Chinese. I had to take the courses for my major and two minors for my remaining two years at UF, but I was still able to squeeze in three semesters of Mandarin Chinese. Early in my junior year, I was already planning on coming to China after graduation from UF. Now that I'm here, I spend a lot of my free time studying Chinese and practicing my speaking with my Chinese friends. I don't have any trouble with normal conversation anymore, but I still strive to build on my vocabulary, and my reading and writing needs further work as well. I started Shanghai Normal University's graduate program in Applied Linguistics in Fall 2005.