Beginner level books\courses\sites with a lot of exercises?

[vivea]

I'm studying Chinese at the moment, but I feel like there aren't enough exercises for me to really practice word usage and grammar. I even start to forget what I learnt the previous week, even though I'm using SRS, and I feel really unsure about my grammar. So basically what I really learnt are Chinese words and I can write them in hanzi and I can read and understand sentences with them... but I feel like that's all I'm really learning, and I have a problem speaking and writing myself, it's too slow and I don't feel confident that my grammar is correct. So I need something with a lot of exercises and preferably answer keys available. Something that would make me actually practice speaking\writing a lot.

 

Suggestions, please?

[Shelley]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

 

There are lots of things available, its hard to suggest them all. I will start you off with a some and maybe others will add their ideas.

 

I would highly recommend HelloChinese. This is an app for android or iOS. The basic app is free but you can pay for premium content which I don't think is too expensive but you can start without it and decide for yourself. This has lessons on different subjects with practice for speaking, listening, writing, and reading with excellent grammar notes. Have a look here http://www.hellochinese.cc/

 

You don't say which SRS you are using, I would suggest Pleco for its dictionary capabilities and its excellent flashcards. http://www.pleco.com/

 

Lastly I would suggest using a text book. Work through all the lessons, workbooks and exercises, listen to the audio and shadow it. I really like New Practical Chinese Reader. In my blog (link below) I describe how I use it and more about all my learning methods and materials.

 

Hope this helps. 

[vivea]

Oh sorry, I didn't explain what I'm doing well enough.

 

Hello Chinese I already have, and pleco and memrise and tofulearn (I greatly prefer this one, it teaches me how to write hanzi). I'm also going through an online Chinese course, but a serious one, unlike those they offer at coursera and edx. It's not in English, though. It' nice, it's hard, and graded tasks are complex. To help myself I have a textbook, too, the one most famous in my country, with audio and all.

 

But what I miss is... well, not enough exersises. The course has graded tasks, fine, but you do them just one and that's it. The textbook has them, too, but it's still not enough. I think the problem is that there's no classroom experience, in class people do speak, roleplay dialogues and all, and they don't need more exercises b\c they've already practiced what they've learnt through speaking. I feel like I need something like that, more practice of what I'm learning, but classroom is not an option, so I thought doing lots of written exercises could help. Alas, I'm struggling to find anything. Most textbooks only have that much, they're all meant to be used in the classroom.

[DavyJonesLocker]

Basic Chinese grammar and intermediate Chinese grammar by yip po Kim ( I think) are very good. There s a huge amount of exercises at the end of every chapter.

Also HSK standard course 1 to 6 all have workbooks I believer with answers that can be downloaded from the blcu website

 

Finally as Shelly said New practical Chinese reader volume 1 to 4 each has a work book which is excellent. With a bit of googling you can find the answer online.

[Shelley]

If what you lack is speaking practice then seek out someone to speak to, on Skype, Wechat or other similar. There are dedicated websites for swapping language practice, sorry I can't remember the names, I am sure someone here will know.

 

It sounds like you are doing well with everything else but are lacking speaking to reinforce what you have learnt. There is no substitute for actually speaking to someone and having to listen and reply in a conversation. 

[vivea]

DavyJones, thanks, that's very helpful! ☺️

Shelley, I think it's probably to early for me to use WeChat... People will laugh at my Chinese! I've found something online to practice speaking, though, it's a freely available FSI Standard Chinese. It's a bit too easy for me, at least from what I've seen in module 1, but the cassettes do provide a lot of room for speaking practice. It's almost like you really are in the actual classroom.

Sorry I don't know why the text is bold. And I can't un-bold it with B for some reason.