This set of multimedia materials, Video Clips of Survival Chinese, is designed for students of low intermediate level who want to improve their listening skills and to learn to function in various real-life situations in China. The materials make use of video clips, Chinese texts with pop up annotations, various types of listening comprehension exercises and suggestions for how the video clips be integrated with the training of other skills such as speaking and writing. The materials can be used independently or as supplementary materials with textbooks that emphasize the development of communicative competence.

When you click any title of the lessons from the main page you will go to a lesson which consists of a video clip, the transcripts of the video clip and various listening comprehension exercises. You can view the video clips as many times as you want by clicking the play button. Instructional feedback is provided when you do the listening comprehension exercises.

If you want to look at the transcripts while viewing the video clips you can do so by clicking the hot link below the video clip. The transcripts are annotated and you can click the colored words for definitions or explanations. If you can not see Chinese characters, sometimes you might need to set the encoding to Chinese: Click "View" and then move down to "Encoding" (IE) or "character set" (Netscape) and set it to Chinese GB or HZ.

After listening students are strongly encouraged to get together with a classmate and do a role play following the model of the video clip. Learn to function in real life situations and work on your control of the grammar, word usage, pronunciation, intonation, etc. Teachers or teaching assistants should provide opportunities for students to showcase their acquired competencies and help students refine their language skills.

When you are done with the lesson you can click the link of "Return to the Main Page" and go to another lesson.