Group Read! 天天中文/中文天天读

[Elizabeth_rb]

Hi!

 

Announcing a group read of the intermediate level readers: 天天中文, violet level!  So far, we have four members who've expressed an interest, this is the 'official' sign up, organising how we want to do it and so on post.  Please join in!

 

There's a Macmillan version called 天天中文 and also a Chinese published edition which is very similar indeed called 中文天天读, so participants are welcome to use either version depending on what they already have/can get hold of.

 

So, first, who'd like to join in??  Me, of course.

 

Also, which of the two readers in the violet level (中文天天读 3A and 3B) shall we start with?  My hubby (new user MRB) and I have already done the first two in 'Beijing's Courtyards', (Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com )  (which seems to be 中文天天读 3B), but we're happy to either re-do those with the group, or make a start on 'Teahouses in China'. ( Amazon.co.uk, can't see it on .com) What say you?

[roddy]

Good stuff, hope everyone enjoys it. 

 

For reference, I covered the cost of the books Elizabeth is using to do this. In exchange, she's doing this. Win-win. I've also added affiliate links to the post, although I am not expecting to retire on the back of this. Will be pleasantly amazed if it covers the cost of the books. 

[Geiko]

Count me in! I don't mind which book we begin with, 'Beijing's Courtyards' is ok. Should I start reading to catch you two up?   

[lechuan]

Cool. Never knew these readers existed. Thanks for pointing them out!

 

Some details if anyone is considering purchasing: http://www.macmillanenglish.com/uploadedFiles/wwwmacmillanenglishcom/Content/Courses/Tian_Tian_Zhongwen_Graded_Reader_Series/Tian%20Tian%20Readers%20Brochure.pdf

[Elizabeth_rb]

Are you joining in, lechuan? :-)

[lechuan]

Sure! Feel free to start without me, as I won't get the books for a couple weeks.

[Elizabeth_rb]

Great stuff!  We can start, or wait to start, any time.

 

How would folk like to work it?  How many (really quite short) stories per week/month??  Will we report back, or what?

[ChTTay]

I'm down. Any reason to read more.

I can find 3a and 3b on Amazon China but can't seem to find the teahouses one on there.

One a week would do for me.

Thanks

[Geiko]

ChTTay, Teahouses in China is (more or less) the same as Let's Get Married on August 8th (3A), only the latter has a couple more stories.

[ChTTay]

Awesome then. When we decide which book... I will order it.

3B would be my vote.

[Elizabeth_rb]

Ok, so shall we say 'Beijing's Courtyards'/3B then?

Any more thoughts on speed?

Also, what about some group discussion? Each short story has 2or 3 questions. Shall we do those together on forum?

[ChTTay]

Is that four people? I'm surprised more people aren't keen.

[li3wei1]

I'm in, I've got the books, haven't read the stories yet but shouldn't take long.

[tysond]

I have the books (went on a shopping spree on Amazon.cn last week!), happy to try.  

 

I went through a few chapters of 2A, the text is too easy for me, but I did enjoy reading the cultural explanations in Chinese.

Haven't cracked open 3A or 3B yet.

[Elizabeth_rb]

Great stuff!  That's 7 of us so far then, to my count.

 

Ideas on read speed etc please (also see my last post)

[Geiko]

I can read a maximum of one or two stories per day, but since I'm reading other things at the same time, it's ok with me if we read one per week as ChTTay suggested.

 

Also, I think tysond had a good idea: for those who find the texts easy or have spare time, we can also discuss about the cultural explanations in Chinese. They're more challenging, but provide the English translation.

[lechuan]

How do levels (2A/3A/3B) correspond to these books/colors? What "level" system are you using?

[Geiko]

There are two editing houses that print these stories: Macmillan and Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press (FLTRP). Macmillan has only two levels, turquoise and purple, whereas FLTRP goes from 1 to 5. The turquoise level corresponds to the 2nd of FLTRP, and purple is the 3rd. For example, A nice lady in Shanghai (turquoise) and Marvellous Chinese (2A) contain almost the same stories.  

[Silent]

level1 = ???= 500 vocabulary

level2 = turquoise series = 1000 vocabulary
level3 = violet series = 2000 vocabulary
level4 = ??? = 3500 vocabulary

level 5 = ??? = 5000 vocabulary

 

the fltrp version contains 5 or so extra stories over the McMillan version

afaik there's no difference in level between A and B, they just different books at the same level. I don't think there is a system behind the levels. Just differently graded books within the series. Imho you can't really compare the vocabulary as to me the level2 books felt quite a bit easier then Chinese breeze books (not sure any more or this was compared to 300 or 500 word levels)
 

[lechuan]

Thanks for the info!

Has anyone tried ordering from http://en.fltrp.com ? My order went through, but they didn't actually take my payment information (nor say how much shipping would be). Just trying to decide if I'm better off ordering from China or the MacMillan versions from Amazon.com. I live in Canada.