Notes: C23

Summary: Listening comprehension is a vital part of language learning--but one that is frequently under-emphasized in Chinese textbooks except at the advanced level. To help fill that gap for beginning and intermediate students, here is Making Connections. It offers students an early start to develop strategies that will improve their listening comprehension. The dialogues in the recordings are all natural and unrehearsed conversations by native Mandarin Chinese speakers; each dialogue has extensive written exercises that guide students through the conversation, and focus on particular aspects of the language that surfaced in the dialogue. While this audio-and-book set is suitable for users of all first- and second-year textbooks, it will be especially helpful to users of the bestselling Integrated Chinese series. This is because in Lessons 1-23, Making Connections offers listening comprehension material that corresponds to the topics that are covered in Lessons 1-23 of Integrated Chinese ("Greetings," "Family," "Dates and Time," and so on). The second part, starting with Lessons 24 through 46, offers topics that are varied and situational. Since they are arranged in order of difficulty level, these lessons can be used totally independently or concurrently with Lessons 1-23. As the conversations and exercises become increasingly challenging, intermediate-level students will be able to strengthen their listening abilities dramatically. Whether it's used alone, with the Integrated Chinese series, or with other textbooks, Making Connections is the ideal resource for improving listening comprehension for beginning and intermediate students. Simplified or traditional characters, with pinyin and English