Step Up with Chinese for Beginners is a standards-based secondary textbook for beginning learners designed by North American educators in collaboration with Chinese language specialists at the Beijing Language and Culture University. Developed in accordance to ACTFLa s 5Cs, each lesson was created to teach Chinese in a real-life context while incorporating the three communicative modes. This beginner text encompasses 10 units to be covered in one academic year. Eschewing the traditional text-vocabulary-grammar centered approach, each unit is broken down into small chunks of pattern to learn and practice. Each step builds upon previously learned vocabulary and sentence patterns in a systematic way. Students will learn all the necessary material to engage others in meaningful communication and gain a better understanding of the Chinese culture. Step Up makes an excellent first textbook for secondary learners with little or no Chinese background. Program Components The accompanying workbook features a wide variety of different types of exercises to enhance studentsa proficiency in all four language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. The video on DVD, featuring studentsa lives in authentic settings, shows how some of the sentence patterns introduced in the textbook are used in real life contexts. The booka s companion site (http://stepup.cengageasia.com) offers interactive vocabulary flashcards, free mp3 audio downloads, printable character practice sheets, and password-protected instructorsa resources including teachera s guide, dialogue tape scripts and answer keys.
