Details
Target Audience (Age): Middle School, College, Adults
Threshold of Chinese Culture, a series of general teachingmaterials on Chinese culture designed for overseas Chinese learners, issuitable for overseas learners who are preparing for exams such as HSK, IB orAP, or enthusiasts who have a strong interest in Chinese culture. Thresholdof Chinese Culture (vol. 1 and vol. 2) consists of four units, totally 16lessons, with each unit named after a Chinese character, "美"(beauty), "智"(wisdom),"礼"(etiquette) and "和"(harmony). Starting with the first unit "美" and ending with the fourth unit "和", the four Chinese characters take learnerson a journey through Chinese culture from the shallow to the deep, as well asfrom the outside to the inside. The content, all-embracing but not opaque,covers geography and landscape, architectural design, painting and porcelain,literature and music, clothing, food, housing and transportation, ancienttechnology, etiquette and rituals, and Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. Inaddition to providing an in-depth reading experience, we have also designed alarge number of cross-cultural comparisons and exercises, hoping to seekcommonalities while preserving differences in mutual understanding, and tocultivate learners' global perspective and mindset. As a cultural textbook, thewhole book includes texts in both Chinese and English in order to lower thereading threshold.
Except for the papermaterials, Threshold of Chinese Culture comes with an online learningapplet, which includes not only teaching materials, videos, animations, games,atlases and other resources related to the material, but also learningmicro-lessons specifically produced for the book. Delivered by real teachers,the 5-to-8-minute-long micro-lessons also include the refinement andsupplementation of the content of the paper textbook, which can deepen thelearners' secondary understanding of cultural knowledge.
About the Author
The authorgroup and main editors of Threshold of Chinese Culture are as follows:
Shangguan Xuena, planning editorand associate editor of Beijing Language and Culture University Press, hasplanned and published a series of teaching materials and teaching aids, such as A Kaleidoscope of Chinese Culture, Multimedia Lecture Series of Narrationof China, Series for Young Readers of Meet China and Smart Cat-GradedChinese Readers. Her products have been awarded or nominated for the ChinaExcellent Publication Award three times.
Ruan Luna, associateprofessor in the School of International Education of Beijing University ofChemical Technology, has taught at the Confucius Institute in Miskolc, Hungary.Her research mainly focuses on second language teaching and Chinese cultureteaching.
Editorial Review
Considering the characteristics ofour readership, Threshold of Chinese Culture, a series of introductorymaterials on Chinese culture designed for overseas Chinese learners, haspresented on an application in addition to the conventional carrier of paper.If you are overseas and have certain limitations in purchasing paper books, youcan first check out our applet by scanning this QR code.
After entering this applet, youwill find that it can cover most of the content of the paper book, as well asthe online micro-lessons with real teachers, which allows you to complete theinitial self-study at home by yourself.
There is a complementaryrelationship among the applet, live micro-lessons and textbook as follows.Paper textbook has the special ability to present cultural content as a whole. Appletcan add interactive features such as games, exercises, and recordings tofurther improve the functions of paper textbook. And the live micro-lessons,with understandable expressions, are like the warm sun of spring, illuminatingyour journey through Chinese culture.
Suggestion
This book can be used in cultural optional courses or cultural courses at international schools. Suitable for young Chinese learners aged 15 and above and adult Chinese learners.
Each lesson takes 4 class hours, with vol. 1 and vol. 2 for one academic year.
