Collection of open educational resources for Mandarin Chinese (& Russian)
I saved a bunch of open educational resources a while ago and then promptly forgot about them. Haven't really looked over them in detail, but hey, why not share them in case they are useful to you?
Chinese Reading Modules by Yan Li https://ceas.ku.edu/chinese-reading-modules
These reading passages are intended for students at the intermediate to advanced level in their study of Chinese. They were developed with funding from the KU Center for East Asian Studies.
Ting Yi Ting by Sheree Willis & Yan Li https://opentext.ku.edu/tingyiting/
An online guide that enables learners to hear and identify phonemic categories in Mandarin (including lexical tones) in a variety of phonetic contexts, and to associate those phonemes with Pinyin orthography. Includes extensive audio examples and computer-graded comprehension checks.
Russian Aspect in Conversation by Stephen M. Dickey, Kamila Saifeeva, and Anna Karpusheva https://opentext.ku.edu/russianaspect/
This resource is aimed at demystifying some important uses of imperfective verbs for learners of Russian at the intermediate level and above. It focuses on patterns of imperfective usage in infinitives, imperatives and the past tense that involve single completed actions and that are difficult for foreign learners to grasp.
Elementary Chinese I by Wenying Zhou https://openbooks.lib.msu.edu/chs101/
This open textbook is designed for those who are learning Chinese as a second/foreign language in their first semester. It has eight chapters, covering topics including a brief introduction about the Chinese language, greetings, and self-introduction, hobbies, nationalities, family members and occupations, inviting friends to dinner, talking about food and beverage, making phone calls, and talking about classes and exams.
Elementary Chinese II by Wenying Zhou https://openbooks.lib.msu.edu/chs102/
This open textbook is designed for those who are learning Chinese as a second/foreign language in their second semester. It has six chapters, covering topics including describing school life, shopping in stores and online, transportation means, reporting weather and climates, ordering foods, and asking and giving directions.
Elementary Mandarin by Carl Polley https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/elementary-mandarin
This course is designed for learners with no background in Chinese. It introduces basic structures of the Mandarin Chinese language with emphasis on listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. Students will gain these four skills in standard Mandarin Chinese, attaining approximately the Novice-High level on the ACTFL-ETS (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) proficiency scale. Topics of conversation include basic greetings, names, family, work, study, and hobbies.
开源中文 EverFlow Mandarin by Runqing Qi, Yingjie Li, and Yu Zhang https://www.colorado.edu/project/everflowmandarin/
EverFlow Mandarin is a textbook aimed at enhancing the language proficiency of Chinese learners at the intermediate level as determined by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). It is designed for students who have completed two years of Chinese language courses in comprehensive universities in North America. After studying the content of the ten lessons in this textbook, students' Chinese proficiency can reach the levels of either Intermediate-High or Advanced-Low as determined by the ACTFL.
Various Chinese resources by Wen-Hua Teng https://coerll.utexas.edu/coerll/materials/language/chinese/
Learning Chinese: A Foundation Course In Mandarin (汉语基础教材) by Julian K. Wheatley https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/res-21g-003-learning-chinese-a-foundation-course-in-mandarin-spring-2011/pages/online-textbook/
This online textbook represents materials that were used in the first four semesters (two years) of the Mandarin program at MIT. They eventually formed the basis of a print textbook of the same name, published by Yale University Press (elementary level available 2011, intermediate level due late 2011 or early 2012). Information about the Yale edition, plus online materials that could supplement the OCW material with some allowances. The Yale website also includes extensive audio-clips (numbering over 40 by July 2011, up through Unit 4), which cover much of the same ground as the OCW version.
IChineseER from Pomona College https://lchineseer.sites.pomona.edu/
Diverse Russian: A Multicultural Exploration by Anna Tumarkin and Shannon Donnally Quinn https://wisc.pb.unizin.org/diverserussian/
This textbook invites students to explore the diverse Russian-speaking communities across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and North America. It highlights the rich cultures and histories of Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Indigenous populations of Russia, the Baltic states, Georgia (Sakartvelo), and Russian-speaking communities in the United States. Supported by the Less Commonly Taught and Indigenous Languages Partnership and funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, this OER textbook provides a unique, immersive experience that seamlessly integrates cultural understanding with practical language skills.
