Online Lessons Targeting the Most Common Pronunciation Issues

If you’re at all familiar with AllSet Learning, you should know that we’re serious about pronunciation. Pronunciation of Mandarin Chinese is one area where extra effort in the beginning can pay off massively in the long run. That said, it’s a little more work than 20 minutes practicing with an app, but it’s totally worth it! If you’ve seen our Chinese Pronunciation Wiki, then you know that we want everyone to learn pinyin really well in the very beginning. Once you’re at the A2 (elementary) level, though, there will almost always still be some lagging issues (and no, we’re not talking only about tones). This course focuses on those lagging issues… AND those TONES!

Targeted A2 Pronunciation Points

We know which A2 pronunciation points give most western learners the most trouble and we put them on the Chinese Pronunciation Wiki. We strongly urge you to go check those out, listen to the audio, repeat the sounds, watch the videos, and practice, practice, practice… But at some point you’re going to need some clear feedback. This course will give you the practice and the feedback you need.

What the A2 (Elementary) 10-Lesson Pronunciation Course covers:

• Tough Sounds (basic): c-, z-, s-sh-, c-ch-, z-zh-, x-sh-, q-ch-, j-zh-, r-, -an-ang, -e, -ou-uo, -ü-u, -un

• Tone Change Rules: consecutive third tones, 不 (bù), and 一 (yī)

We cover all of these pronunciation issues systematically, with regular follow-up review over the course.

Naturally, we’ll also provide the relevant Chinese Pronunciation Wiki links for all study material in advance, along with instructions and exercises you can do ahead of time. This way you can study up before each lesson and maximize the practice time with your teacher.

What You’ll Get

• 10 online lessons, 30 minutes each, targeted at your level

• 1-3 custom-design pronunciation exercises for each lesson, covered at an optimal pace (no rushing!)

• A range of pronunciation exercises designed to be flexible and responsive: the higher your level, providing more time spent on focused conversation rather than simpler drills if you don’t need them

• Experienced, trained AllSet Learning teachers patiently guiding you

We recommend that you do 2 or 3 lessons per week to maximize progress.

How You Will Study Each Lesson

Your assignment for each lesson will be posted to the AllSet Learning Hub, our platform for managing our clients’ studies. There you will see what you need to prepare in advance, as well as the exact material your teacher will cover with you during each lesson.

In each 30-minute lesson, the following material will be covered by your teachers:

• Vocabulary Review (from your previous lessons)

• Main Pronunciation Points of the Lesson (using our flexible 3-tier system–see below)

• Sum-up and Assess (before we move on to the next module, how well have you mastered the current pronunciation points?)

Our Adaptive 3-Tier System

Every learner can’t be at the exact same level, so we can’t simply design a course for the “ideal” learner. Instead, we’ve designed a flexible 3-tier system which gives the lower-level learners more practice with the basic isolated sounds, and the higher-level learners more time with longer, more complex sentences.

1. Isolated Sound Exercises. We start with these to make sure you can handle the basic sounds. These are easiest, and they’re a good place to start if the pronunciation points cause difficulty. If the pronunciation point has already been mastered, you will quickly breeze through these.

2. Sentence-Level Exercises. Longer sentences require more focus, and sounds you could previously pronounce correctly may suddenly once again elude you. We focus on useful sentences which are also challenging rather than useless tongue-twisters.

3. Improvisational Exercises. While still providing part of a sentence, we’ll expect you to come up with the rest. This is a bit more cognitively demanding, and the additional load on your imagination and vocabulary make correct pronunciation that much more difficult.

Our Teachers

All of AllSet Learning’s teachers have been trained by John Pasden in person in Shanghai. They encourage communication, correct pronunciation, and hold our clients to a higher standard. They’re also quite engaging to talk to!

To guarantee flexibility and schedule coverage as full as possible, each of our clients will have multiple teachers. Teachers coordinate and follow their clients’ studies through the AllSet Learning Hub.

Lesson Policies

We offer flexible scheduling and a money-back guarantee. Check out the details on our policies here.

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