Any suggestion about good textbook for beginners?

[Iriscat]

Hi guys,

I am planning to teach mandarin to beginners in a local community school for adults. 

Does anyone know some easy, fun textbooks for adults to learn Chinese? 

 

Thank you so much! 

 

Best, 

 

Iriscat

[Bigdumogre]

New practical Chinese readers are my go to. They have a workbook,textbook and teachers edition for each volume.

[Shelley]

Have to add my vote to Bigdumogre suggestion.

 

There is also audio mp3s and videos on YouTube

 

It might help if you have a look at my blog reviewing how I use New Practical Chinese Readers (NPCR) and other learning materials you might find useful.

 

My blog-http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/blog/108-my-chinese-learning-blog/

[Iriscat]

Thank you Shelley and Bigdumogre.  

Will look it up. 

 

[Bigdumogre]

I always forget about the YouTube videos , they are very helpful when learning the lessons.

[Shelley]

And I always forget to mention its the first version of the NPCR that I am referring to.

[Xiao Kui]

Chinese Made Easier is pretty good.  I've used it to teach beginners, and a friend of mine is using it now for self-study and really likes it. http://www.chinesemadeeasier.com/

[TheBigZaboon]

At the risk of apostasy, I am going to suggest you look at some more popular, and maybe a bit more fun, texts like Chinese for Dummies, or Chinese Made Simple, if there are such books. They will have a higher explanation and background ratio than the textbooks suggested above. It's always a good idea to keep your audience in mind. Adult education courses often have a large number of casual learners and those who really want a phrasebook course before a planned trip to China.

If you are graced with any more serious students, you can counsel them separately. I often made my students miserable by imposing my learning standards and goals on them, when all they wanted was something interesting to fill their spare time.

Just my opinion.

TBZ

[ChTTay]

A lot of the teachers at my school who are beginners enjoy the "road to success" series of books. I found NPCR looks a bit dull but I've never actually used it to study.

[Iriscat]

Thank you all for you reply. I just read this topic at our forum. http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/37776-road-to-success-a-good-series-of-books/

I am anticipating that most my students will learn Chinese just for fun. So some of the suggestions above probably will be too much for them. The colloquial chinese looks quite interesting.