Chinese Biographies: Ang Lee (audio & online resources available)

Chinese Biographies: Ang Lee is the sixth title in Cheng & Tsui’s Chinese Biographies series. The latest title in this award-winning series tells the story of the two-time Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee. Readers will learn how this contemporary cultural icon pursued his film-making dreams and overcame challenges on his path to success.

Chronicling the life of contemporary cultural icons with connection to the Chinese speaking world, the Chinese Biographies series combines compelling biographies and a unique approach to pinyin annotation that enhances reading comprehension and students’ knowledge of Chinese word patterns and sentence structures. Chinese Biographies’ resource-rich companion website contains mp3 audio downloads, comprehension exercises, vocabulary lists, grammar notes, sentence pattern exercises, and English translations that aid both classroom and independent learning.

About the Series
PINYIN ANNOTATED READERS TO IMPROVE CHINESE READING COMPREHENSION

Chinese Biographies chronicles the lives of pop culture icons with connections to the Chinese-speaking world. Learning about world-renowned personalities from fields such as sports, music, and fashion helps engage student interest, while reading practice will boost their confidence and enjoyment of the language.

Targeted at North American high school and college language learners, this award-winning series of readers focuses on international celebrities like Jay Chou, Lang Lang, Ang Lee, Yao Ming, Jeremy Lin, and Vera Wang to maintain a cultural context relevant to American students.

Pinyin annotation accompanies the simplified Chinese characters so that beginning-to intermediate-level students can read without the aid of a dictionary for pronunciation. Unlike other readers at this level the pinyin is separated by word rather than syllable, giving students a better understanding of how Chinese characters come together to form words and sentences.

These engaging biographies are designed for students who have mastered 1000-1200 vocabulary words. Each chapter is preceded and followed by comprehension questions to facilitate dialogue between teachers and students. The Chinese Biographies Companion Website includes additional exercises to improve students’ grammar and vocabulary as well as providing access to mp3 audios, class handouts, and vocabulary lists. Chinese Biographies are ideal readers for both classroom instruction and independent learning.

Online resources include:

-Audio Downloads
-Comprehension Exercises
-Grammar Notes
-English Translations
-Sentence Pattern Exercises
-Vocabulary Lists

Grace Wu is a Senior Lecturer in Foreign Language in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania, specializing in Chinese literacy and Chinese character teaching. Currently, Grace is the Chinese Reading and Writing Course coordinator at the Penn Chinese Language Program. Combining Grace's creativity and her 20-year experience in the field of Chinese language education, the Chinese Biographies series has been selected as the best grant project of 2012 for the School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania.