rsfairman
New member
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2017
- Member Type
- English Teacher
- Native Language
- English
- Home Country
- United States
- Current Location
- United States
I have been paired with a native Chinese speaker as a "conversation partner," but it turns out that he doesn't speak much English at all, so I've been trying to help him learn English and I want to be as effective as possible. He is clearly a smart guy, and was fairly successful in China (from what I can gather) and is able to sort of puzzle out written English. He said that he had English classes 20+ years ago as a kid, but whatever he learned then is pretty rusty now. We are in a rural area, with very few non-native English speakers, let alone someone who speaks Chinese (other than his family, who don't speak English either).
So I hope that someone can recommend some books for him. The internet is a great resource, but he doesn't seem comfortable with it. Also, I think he had what might be considered a "classical" education in China. Chinese poetry is something he seems to know a great deal about. Maybe that's just their educational system; I couldn't say. At any rate, my impression is that he needs the written word to help him to learn.
The Oxford Picture Dictionary looks like a good way to quickly learn some words, but not so good for learning how to use them. So, what I'm looking for is a book that lays out the grammatical rules of English for a Chinese speaker in a concise way. Because I know zero Chinese and can't judge the book, I'm hoping someone here can help.
So I hope that someone can recommend some books for him. The internet is a great resource, but he doesn't seem comfortable with it. Also, I think he had what might be considered a "classical" education in China. Chinese poetry is something he seems to know a great deal about. Maybe that's just their educational system; I couldn't say. At any rate, my impression is that he needs the written word to help him to learn.
The Oxford Picture Dictionary looks like a good way to quickly learn some words, but not so good for learning how to use them. So, what I'm looking for is a book that lays out the grammatical rules of English for a Chinese speaker in a concise way. Because I know zero Chinese and can't judge the book, I'm hoping someone here can help.