🀄 Day 8 — Pinyin Compound Finals (Part 1)
Phase: Phase 1 | Milestone: Foundation — Sound & Script
⏱️ Today’s Session (1 Hour)
| Block | Time | Activity |
|---|---|---|
| Review | 0:00–0:15 | Anki / Pleco SRS flashcards |
| New Content | 0:15–0:45 | Today’s lesson + exercises |
| Listening | 0:45–0:55 | Audio immersion / shadowing |
| Output | 0:55–1:00 | Speak or write original Chinese |
📖 Review (15 min)
- Anki: “SpoonFed Chinese” — 15 cards
- Pleco: All initials + simple finals + tones. 40 reps.
🆕 New Content (30 min)
Diphthongs (ai, ei, ao, ou)
| Final | Sound | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| ai | ”eye” | ài / lái | love / come |
| ei | ”ay” in “say” | měi / fēi | beautiful / fly |
| ao | ”ow” (more open) | hǎo / gāo | good / tall |
| ou | ”oh” + slight ‘u’ | dōu / kǒu | all / mouth |
Nasal Finals (an, en, ang, eng, ong)
| Final | Sound | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| an | ”ahn” (NOT “pan”) | kàn / sān | see / three |
| en | ”un” in “under” | hěn / mén | very / door |
| ang | ”ahng” | cháng / fàng | long / put |
| eng | ”ung” (unrounded) | néng / fēng | can / wind |
| ong | ”oong” (rounded) | zhōng / dōng | middle / east |
✏️ Exercises
- Diphthong Glide: Say each slowly: aaaa-eeee → ai, eeee-eeee → ei, aaaa-oooo → ao, oooo-uuuu → ou. 10× with 4 tones.
- Nasal Contrast (-n vs -ng): an vs ang (bān/bāng), en vs eng (bēn/bēng). The tongue tip touches for -n; back of tongue touches for -ng.
- Speed Reading: “nǐ hǎo, wǒ ài nǐ, tài hǎo le, méi wèn tí” — fast, correct tones.
🎧 Listening (10 min)
🎧 ChinesePod Newbie — focus on hearing diphthongs and nasal endings.
🗣️ Output (5 min)
📱 Record: āi ái ǎi ài, āo áo ǎo ào, ān án ǎn àn, āng áng ǎng àng.
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