Free Chinese Lessons with PeggyLee on Youtube

Language Chinese Schools and Tutors
41

That was nice.

You will need though to get used to spelling the PINYIN exactly every time.

0 = ling2/linG
6 = liu4/ Liu
16 = shi2jiu2/shIjiU

The second system is better because it reflects the fact that the tone is something inherent to the word, rather than something tacked on top or on the end. It is a BIG difference as your students will one day learn to appreciate. EMPHASIZE THE TONES FROM THE VERY BEGINNING. Ask your students to perform a gesture as they say the words with you. I think you should teach the phrase “GEN (1) wo (3) jiang (3) GEN wo Zou”. You will be able to use it all the time. You could teach for example huan1ying2 guan1 ling2 (HUANyinG GUANlinG). Say it very clearly emphasizing the tones and then ask them to do it with you one time and then say “GEN (1) wo (3) jiang (3) GEN wo Zou,” and say it again, again with clear tones and gestures.

I would put pinyin that indicates the tones clearly and forget the characters for a long time. It is just too difficult.

There seemed to be some kind of mix up too with the display. I don’t think that it should “ever” read one thing while you are saying another.

You should develop a facial expression/body language that you apply consistently to the tones.

First = eyebrows raised a bit perhaps.
Second = eyes move up and right
Third = a bit of a nod up and down
Fourth = some sort of emphatic downward motion.

A person should be able to turn down the volume and easily guess what tone the word is that you are teaching.

Seriously, it’s all about recycling useful expressions and emphasizing the tones.

Don’t forget that your students speak English. They don’t need to hear slowed down English. You should just jive along in English the way you were doing. It is cute.

Your choice of numbers was a good idea, btw.

I hope I don’t seem to critical but it seems like you are actually following my advice so it is kind of a fascinating thing to watch and I’d love to see it the way I “think” it should be done, of course.

42

And make sure the Pinyin is correct. :wink:

I think using Hanyu Pinyin is better since any beginner picking up a book on the topic will encounter it.

43

Wow, this is pretty cool, I should’ve looked at this a while ago…
Although I’m missing the points of most of what people are saying here as my Chinese is pretty much on par with what you’re teaching here (making it ideal for me), the audio quality isn’t very good in the video’s I’ve had a look at. Is it possible to get a better mic or improving the audio before it’s uploaded to youtube? I’m hearing this hissing noise all the time and it’s a bit distracting and the audio also sounds like it’s coming from quite far away which means I have to turn up my speakers a bit too loud.

Thanks for taking the time to do this though.

44

Yup. It ain’t easy :wink: It would be easy if someone had pounded the tones into me from the beginning. Instead what happened was I studied for jiu (jiu3) years thinking the tones didn’t matter!

jiu with the diacritic (sp?) mark is probably what people will see and it is definitley better than jiu3. Problem is it is difficult to mark diacritics on a computer. Orthographics are the way to go when you get used to them. Problem is that nobody is used to them so you almost never see them.

45

The quality of the first few ones aren’t so good. I think the quality of my latest videos has been improved. I just bought some lights last night so it should look better in my next video.

As for the sound, I will try my best. All the videos(except for the first one) are recorded in my room. The sound probably came from outside while recording.

Thanks for pointing that out though! :slight_smile:

Peggy

46

Hey guys,
I understand Pinyin is really important. I’ve got all my Pinyin spellings from a dictionary on Yahoo website in Taiwan. I will be more careful and try to avoid typos. I always do examine my spellings and tones before I upload any videos though.

Thanks again for watching!

Peggy

47

The problem, bob, isn’t so much the tone as the fact that the number is [color=#FF0000]liù[/color], which you have it correct for 6, but then mysteriously decided to read it upside down for 16.

48

That is really freaking weird isn’t it. Anyway, uh, yeah… anyway.

Forgive us peggy for this brief foray into the whatever this is, numerical dyslexia?

49

Hey guys,
My new video this week is out! I will soon upload Part II of this week’s lesson as soon as I finish editing. :slight_smile: So make sure you watch both Part I and Part II.

youtube.com/peggyteacheschinese

Please support me by rating/ commenting and subscribing!

Many thanks!

Peggy

50

It’s “xiaojie*” dear.

51

Oops!

52

If I could make a suggestion for another “telling time” class it would go like this:

Set: Wherever.

Prop: “Big” clock.

Focus in so that just yourself and the clock are in frame.

Say: ni hao JINTIAN women* Yao ZHIdao* XianZai ji Dian ZHONG.

Today we want to know what time it is.

ni hao JINTIAN women* Yao ZHIdao* XianZai ji Dian ZHONG
…

XianZai ji Dian ZHONG? (do the tones with your body!) Say Xianzai (now) ji (how many) Dian (point) ZHONG (hour)

XianZai ji Dian ZHONG?

(Point at the clock it reads one o’clock ask.) "XianZai ji Dian ZHONG?

XianZai YI Dian ZHONG ma?

(wait)

Dui, dui, dui. XianZai YI Dian ZHONG.

XianZai SAN Dian ZHONG ma*

(wait)

bU Shi XianZai bU Shi SAN Dian ZHONG. XianZai YI Dian ZHONG.

(move the hand to two o’clock)

Do the whole thing again, what time is it? is it two or three is it four? what time is it etc. until you get all the way round the clock, then start on five after ten after until you get all the way around the clock again.

That is exactly how I teach time telling. It works.

…

Act out the tones PULEEEZE. :notworthy: I beg you. You don’t need to do it everytime but definitely the first few times with every new word. [i]The tones are the music of the language. Acting out the tones should feel a little like dancing. It should look a little like dancing. My guess is you are a good dancer.

Human beings remember music better than anything else[/i].

I’ve taught people English who really had no apparent chance of learning. Too old, not particularly gifted, too busy, unmotivated, a little bit alcoholic perhaps, forgetful, kind of lazy, somewhat uncoperative…

I brought them to a pretty reasonable conversational level and in every case I would say one of the keys things that made it possible was that I exagerated the musical qualities of the spoken language.
…
The last video was ingenious by the way. You found a funny way to recycle. Nice, nice.

53

Bob, you surely got all the good ideas in your head! :wink: Thanks alot!
Well, but the thing is, the second part of this week’s lesson has already been made yesterday so I’m still gonna post that one on YouTube first. But yeah, I will probably try your idea to make another video next weekend.

Thank you!

Peggy

54

Actually, I just edited my last post. If you read the last few paragraphs again I think you’ll find some changes. This subject fascinates me, your project fascinates me. I’ll help in any way I can.

I really hope you notice this…

[quote]The tones are the music of the language. Acting out the tones should feel a little like dancing. It should look a little like dancing. My guess is you are a good dancer.

Human beings remember music better than anything else. [/quote]

55

You were right! Gee, I just unconsciously neglected the whole tone part as I’m a little bit under a pressure of making short but supposedly impressive videos. So it’s like I’m try to say as much as I can within 3 or 4 minutes, did you notice even my speaking is speeding up!

Ok, I won’t forget the tone again and will try to rock with it! lol.

Peggy

56

Yup, it’s the most natural thing in the world to forget that your students don’t know anything! I do it all the time. I catch myself and wind it all back down again. Slow down my speech but maintain the qualities and rhythm of natural speech. I act it out if I can. And if it is a long word I pound out the rhythm, sort of like a person playing the drums. You won’t be able to do it like a drummer because it’s Chinese, more like an orchestra conductor maybe. Or maybe that’s too old fashioned. I dunno. My guess is that you’ll come up with better ideas than I could. The thing is you want their bodies to learn the tones and if you want that to happen you have to move yours in exact time with the tones. If you do that and they watch they’ll eventually be able to do it themselves and if that happens you’ll some day be known as one of the best teachers around. That’s my bet. I think you will need to develop a verbal and physical style that would allow people to guess the tone of the word “without sound,” not all the time of course because it would be too slow. You can and should speak faster and faster, but only if you are using vocabulary and structures that you have really taught before.

57

Free 30 mins Chinese tutor lesson with Peggy on Skype!!!

Check my latest video: Free Chinese Lesson for my 100th subscriber @

youtube.com/peggyteacheschinese

Thanks!

Peggy

58

I like your hair :lovestruck:

(I don’t know anything about learning Chinese so that’s the best comment I could come up with)

59

Thank you. :slight_smile:

60

If you do that in order to boost your number of subscribers, you’re gonna miss since ppl will wait to be the 100th.

Your vids are pretty well done, but I’m always uneasy about these sort of things. What do you expect by putting these lessons online, what is the final goal?
Obviously, it’s kinda made to give sluggish english teachers some peace of mind. I mean, why would someone bother following these vids while he hasnt even had a glimpse at his 2 pages LP phrasebook (except for staring at your beautiful eyes) ?

Anyway I’m not judging the quality of the vids which is very good imo. If you to that in order to get noticed for a tv show or whatever then it’s all good.