The following learning steps are suggested for you to organize your online learning. The suggested time is minimum for each unit. Your learning outcomes depends on, among many other factors, how much time you spend on each unit.If you are a total beginner in Chinese we suggest you have an orientation in basic Mandarin by clicking on Mandarin pronunciation, and reading/writing.

Move the cursor on pinyin and find out the meaning of each word; click on pinyin then listen and repeat till you are able to say the word confidently and understand the meaning of all the words in each scene.

Master the following key words:

春天	Spring	夏天	Summer
秋天	Autumn; Fall	冬天	Winter
下雨	raining	下雪	Snowing
大雨	Heavy Rain	小雨	drizzling
大雪	Heavy snow

Step 2. Key Sentences (Suggested time: 15 minutes)

Click on the "Play" at bottom bar to listen to the conversation while watching the flash. Generally speaking, Chinese and English share similar sentence structures. Master the following key sentences:

今天多少度？ - What is the temperature today?

今天天气很冷。- It is very cold today.

下雨了吗？ - Is it raining now?

今天比昨天冷。- It is colder today than yesterday.

Step 3. Character Study (Suggested time: 1 hour for each unit)

Method
In this session you are going to learn to read and write Chinese characters. By learning reading and writing Chinese characters you are becoming a more patient person. Don't be too ambitious when you first learn Chinese characters. We suggest you pick up maximum 10 characters to study in each unit. If you can learn 5 characters in each unit you are already doing very well. We do not expect you to master all of the characters in the unit. You can practice writing the characters by using your mouse. Point your cursor in the box below the flash and draw the character stroke by stroke. A stroke is a continuous movement of the pen without lifting it. Please pay attention to the sequence of the strokes and make sure that you follow the stroke order. Writing Characters in the correct stroke order is the secret weapon for native Chinese to master Chinese characters. We suggest you follow the suit.

Objectives
Master the following Chinese characters:

春 - Spring

夏 - Summer

秋 - Autumn

冬 - Winter

雨 - Rain

雪 - Snow

冷 - Cold

热 - Hot

Step 4. Story (Suggested time: 15 minutes)

Click on "English" at the bottom bar to change the sentence Pinyin into English and then listen to the whole conversation 3 times make sure that you understand the conversation.

Objectives
Understand how the Chinese words and sentences are used.

Step 5 (15 minutes)

Click on "Test" at the bottom bar and do the test when you finish the contents in each unit. It is a checklist. If you can pass all of the test it means you have mastered the essence of this unit and you are ready to move to the next unit.