Textbook to accompany Spoonfed Flash cards

[TheSonarChicken]

Hi all, I'm relearning Simplified Mandarin and have been using the Spoonfed Flash cards which I found to be very good. Now I need an appropriate beginner textbook to accompany it, to really emphasise grammar and vocabulary. (Or do I really need one?) I know there's a plethora of books out there including the Integrated series but Mandarin is so complex and there're so many choices.

 

It'd really help if there's a textbook series which goes from Beginner to Advanced.

 

I apparently tried to relearn Mandarin years ago but gave up... the evidence is my username registered in 2011.

 

Thanks!

[stapler]

Any textbook is fine. They’re all the same and none have a silver bullet. The time

you spend researching which textbook to use will be better spent focusing on actually using the cheapest or most convenient one you can find 

[艾墨本]

Go pick up integrated Chinese along with the accompanying workbook. It's well suited for self-study. If you can manage someone to tutor you once a week, the developing Chinese series is good.

 

alternatively:

1st Yr Chinese Grammar

Chinese Grammar Wiki

and YouTube

 

[Shelley]

Or of course there is New Practical Chinese Reader, I use it and find it very good for the self studier. There are also audio CDs, videos on YouTube, workbooks and an instructors book. The word lists are available to use in several other apps and resources such as Skritter just for example.

 

I have written more about it and how I use it along with other learning materials in my blog, Link at the bottom of this reply.

[ChTTay]

I second Intergrated Chinese. Fantastic books. I used the beginner series. They do get expensive though they are very well put together

[TheSonarChicken]

Hmmm I'll probably look into both the New Practical and Integrated Chinese textbooks.

 

Ah, I heard the NP and IC workbooks are only okay. Is that true and anyone have better books for workbooks and character writing?

[ChTTay]

IC workbooks are great. Done

[TheSonarChicken]

Okay, btw where do you find the answer key for the IC 3rd edition workbook?

 

Not going to get 4th ed:  The bookshops in my country don't have this yet and shipping will be pricey.

[Shelley]

If you are going to use IC then I suggest you have a look at the companion website here http://ic.cheng-tsui.com/

 

You gain access to the added content when you purchase a book.

 

There are flash cards, further learning materials and if I remember correctly answer keys.

 

 

 

[Zegpoddle]

Be aware that Integrated Chinese is designed for teacher-led classes, not for self-study. Almost all of the practice activities in the textbooks are meant to be done with a partner. They consist mostly of prompts (often with pictures) that require you to construct a sentence or response using the grammar that has just been presented in that unit. Many of them are communicative and allow for some creativity, i.e. sometimes more than one answer is possible. I haven't been able to find answer keys for the workbooks anywhere. I just do the exercises at home and then show the answers I'm not sure about to my teacher (who inevitably finds a dozen mistakes I didn't even know I had made). 

 

The new 4th edition just came out, but I definitely don't recommend it. I had the good fortune to be in the classroom with my teacher when the department chair delivered an exam copy of the new edition. After perusing it, her comment was, "I don't see how this is any improvement over the 3rd edition. Everything is the same except for the pictures and the page numbering." It's true, the only revision of substance that we could find was the addition of a single new review activity at the end of each chapter. All of the other changes are cosmetic--and the fourth edition is actually printed on worse-quality paper, not the nice glossy pages of the 3rd edition. Save your money and search for a used copy of the 3rd edition online (in "like new" or "very good" condition if you don't want another person's answers and notes written on every page). Now that the publisher has come out with a 4th edition, prices for used copies of the 3rd edition will drop quickly. (Why do you think publishers come out with new editions so often? Not to "improve" the text...as this case clearly demonstrates, the "improvements" are often anything but. Textbooks move into a new edition when the publisher starts losing too much money because students are buying used copies from friends or online resellers. New editions a way to extract more money from a captive audience.)

[Publius]

The whole point of Spoonfed Chinese is that you dont need a textbook.