Mandarin Matrix YCT Stories

Mandarin Matrix YCT Stories has a launched a new level! The NEW YCT Level 4 has been published on the Mandarin Matrix Online Classroom on both the teacher and students accounts.

Here are some of the key highlights of the series:

The series aligns with the Youth Chinese Test (YCT) 1, 2, 3 and 4 and is creatively designed and illustrated based on the Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS) method. The series takes keywords and grammar places them in engaging reading material.

We have 15 books in YCT 1 and YCT 2, 25 books in YCT3, and 35 books in YCT 4, equally 90 story books in total. All books are available on the Mandarin Matrix Online Classroom (MMOC) in both Simplified and Traditional Chinese.

Printed materials are available in the following levels:

• YCT Stories: Level 1 – 3
• YCT Flashcards: Level 1 – 3
• YCT Teacher’s Pack: Level 1 – 3

Printed books can be purchased individually as part of discounted Combo Packs. Access sample pages here

#3 Systematic spiral pedagogy: Reinforcing vocabulary and learning points 

Key vocabulary and gramma points are repeated at different levels and are expanded to longer sentences and applied to deeper concepts.

For example: YCT 1 Book 07 is about Family Relationship:

YCT 2 Book 08 revisits the same family. We use the some of the same vocabulary and grammar points to create a new topic about Art and Hobbies

#4 Topics are explored in greater depth 

YCT 1 focuses on building up necessary language skills. More daily conversations and language is added in YCT 2 and 3. In YCT 4, we deeper concepts like Culture, Environment and Future Places are explored.

#5 ‘CAFE’ Teaching method supported

The most common way of teaching a language is to firstly teach vocabulary, followed by grammar points or sentence patterns and finally the hope that students can assemble these learned parts into coherent dialogues or passage. However, at Mandarin Matrix we are big advocates of the CAFE teaching method. 

This means we read a passage or story first, then disassemble them into key learning points so all the small parts serve a purpose in the original passage. We witness lots of successful cases using this method.

#6 Supporting materials available

• Printable worksheets for learners to feel the language by handwriting each character
• Teaching Packs highlight the main teaching points including key grammatical concepts and outcome assessments
• Multi-use, wipe-clean YCT Flashcards are an effective resource to help boost character recognition (only available in Print)

Now the new YCT level 4 is launched online on Mandarin Matrix Online Classroom. Score down and claim your free trial account to see sample books!