Learn a language for free with this superb app and site. Whether you are just starting out, or want to brush up your knowledge of foreign language, this is the biggest community of language learners on the web. A great resource for teachers and pupils of all ages. Check out the schools section to set up accounts for your class.
| mandarintools.com | I’ve been using this site for over 10 years. It’s not sophisticated, but it has a vast collection of Mandarin and Chinese cultural resources. |
| edu.ocac.gov.tw/lang/chineselearn | A great site for learning Mandarin with fun games. Some of the instructions are in Chinese. |
| newburypark.redbridge.sch.uk/langofmonth/mandarin/player.html | Listen to some basic Mandarin phrases with this great video resource. |
| chineseculture.about.com/od/thechineselanguage/a/Chinese-Name-And-English-Name.htm | Get your Chinese name based on your English name free, with over 6,000 English names translated into Chinese. |
| bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/a-typical-school-day-in-a-primary-school-in-china/6252.html | Watch a BBC video about typical school day for a primary school student in China. |
| bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/a-tour-in-beijing/6251.html | Watch a BBC video of a tour in Beijing. |
| bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/chinese-new-year/1347.html | Watch a BBC video about Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) |
| flickr.com/photos/56647790@N07/sets/72157625402051001/ | A set of great looking photos from around China on flickr. |
| hellomylo.com/Home/Chinese | Learn colours in Mandarin using this fun game from the MYLO website. |
| purpleculture.net | A commercial Chinese site with some useful free tools and resources. |
| ehaton.blogspot.com/2009/08/novelties-in-pablo-version-20.html | Download Pablo, a free Chinese-English dictionary with handwritten character recognition. An additional free dowload of CEDICT may be required when prompted. |
| learning.chinese.cn/en | A superb Chinese/Mandarin site packed with great resources and games. |
| chinese-fortune-cookie.com | Examples of fortune cookie message. Great when the children are writing their own. |
| digitaldialects.com/Chinese.htm | A nice flash based site for learning basic Mandarin. |
| i2pinyin.com | A useful online keyboard to input Chinese Pinyin, even when no other input software. |
| primaryschoolchinese.com/chapters/book1/book1.html | This is a great set of language resources and games for learning Mandarin Chinese. Topic range from greeting, family, eating, parts of the body and more. |
| mylearning.org/learning/yongs-china-quest-adventure-game-level-1/yong_level01.swf (Level 1) mylearning.org/learning/yongs-china-quest-adventure-game-level-2/yong_level02.swf (Level 2) mylearning.org/learning/yongs-china-quest-adventure-game-level-3/yong_level_final_1.swf (Level 3) | A superb adventure game set in China. Learn about this fascinating country while solving puzzles. There are three levels to complete. |
| chinese.yabla.com/chinese-pinyin-chart.php | A useful Mandarin resource. This Pinyin chart has audio so you can listen to each pronunciation with different tones. |
| youtube.com/user/choumeizai/videos | A great YouTube channel with hundred of video explanations of how Chinese characters have evolved over time. |
| english.chinese.cn/onlinelearning/ | A useful website for finding out about China and learning Mandarin for children and adults. |
| cctv.cntv.cn/lm/learningchinese/01/index.shtml | This site has a collection of many hundreds of video lessons for learning Mandarin Chinese from China’s national broadcaster. These videos introduce some Chinese culture and the first few programmes are for complete beginners, but by the end of the series, and after some hard work, your Mandarin will be éžå¸¸å¥½. |
| kidschinesepodcast.com | This is a superb site for finding downloadable podcast for kids to learn Mandarin. Not all the resources are free, but there are lots of really useful resource that are, including over a hundred audio files lessons and for learning pinyin. |
| fluentflix.com | This is a wonderfully designed site to learn Mandarin Chinese. It uses a huge collection of Chinese TV programmes and movie clips with interactive and dual-language subtitles. Click on a Chinese character is see the translation and hear the pronunciation. You can set your ability level and also what sort of media you are interested in. |
| bbc.co.uk/schools/primarylanguages/mandarin | The BBC Primary Mandarin site is a wonderful place to begin learning Mandarin Chinese with videos and other resources. |
| visualisingchina.net | This site provides a photo archive of 100 years of Chinese history from 1850-1950. Search by location, event, date and much more. |
| pinyinpal.com | This is a great game app for learning Chinese Pinyin, simplified Chinese and Mandarin. Play the Scrabble-like game by arranging your tiles on the board to form Pinyin words. Choose a character and the correct meaning to gain extra points. Play against friends on the web. |
| docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lHFEJaKadoFRhecfX2gxDvqG_DnM-UtS_VMsTRLeuJ0 | This is a simple list of English to Chinese names which I’ve build up over the years when my students have been looking at Chinese New Year. You can contact me to add more names to the list. |
| thechinesestaffroom.com/games/bignumbers.swf | A lovely resource to learn and practise Chinese numbers by listening to the Mandarin and typing the correct answers on the keypad. |
| meaa.org.uk/activity-zone/factscny.htm | An animated site about Chinese zodiac animals for younger children. |
| thatartistwoman.blogspot.com/2009/01/how-to-make-chinese-dragon-puppet.html | Instructions for making a Chinese dragon. |
| activityvillage.co.uk/chinese_new_year.htm | A good general New Year site with lots of resources to download and print. |
| learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/short-stories/my-favourite-day-chinese-new-year | A puzzle and an information animation about Chinese New Year from the British Council. |
| learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/sites/kids/files/short-stories-the-great-race.swf | Interactive animated story about how the 12 Chinese Zodiac Animals were chosen. |
| topmarks.co.uk/chinesenewyear/ChineseNewYear.aspx | A superb site packed with information, games and activities about Chinese New Year. |
| bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/lets-celebrate/watch/lets-celebrate-chinese2/ | A great video for young learners from the BBC which shows how one girl celebrates Chinese New Year. |
| youtube.com/watch?v=uhfHcJSNhYU | A high production YouTube video of the Chinese New Year legend of Nian – the monster that returns each year unless it is scared away with fireworks and firecrackers. The CGI cartoon is in Mandarin with English subtitles. |
| chinese-skill.com | A superb app for any one looking at learning basic Mandarin Chinese. Play the game to listen and see the language. There are many different types of questions, but most are multiple choice or click and drag from a selection of choices. Questions start out easy and there is support and ‘hint’ buttons to help you. You can download each lesson as you reach it, or download everything if you plan to use it offline. All the language you have met is stored in a word bank and use your microphone to compare your pronunciation to the recordings. |
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