社区帮手
Shèqū bāngshǒu — Community Helpers
Out of the school and into the neighbourhood. Students name the jobs around them and learn a sentence pattern that will serve them for the rest of the program: someone is something.
Unit objectives
- Name seven jobs
- Use 他是医生。 to state what someone does
- Ask 你爸爸做什么工作？
- Read and write eight new characters
Key vocabulary
医生 护士 警察 司机 厨师 农民 工作 做
When to use 是 and when not to
This is the clearest rule in beginner Chinese, and Grade 2 is the right moment to state it plainly:
她是医生。 She is a doctor. — noun, so 是
她很高。 She is tall. — adjective, so 很, never 是
Who does what
Seven jobs
Flashcards, then a miming game — one student acts out a job, the class names it in Chinese.
He is a…
The 是 sentence, contrasted directly with Grade 1’s 很 sentence so the difference is explicit.
What does your family do?
Interviewing a family member at home, then reporting back in two Chinese sentences.
Jobs written into the characters
Several job words say what they mean if you look at the pieces. 医生 is roughly “healing-life.” 农民 is “farming-people.” 消防员, firefighter, is “extinguish-guard-person.” Chinese builds most of its vocabulary by combining characters this way rather than borrowing new roots, which is why a student who knows 900 characters can often guess at a word they have never seen. Grade 2 is where children start noticing that, and it’s worth pointing out every time it happens.
Unit 6 progress check
A light, no-pressure way to see what’s sticking:
- Can your child name four jobs?
- Do they use 是 with jobs and 很 with adjectives?
- Can they say what someone in their family does?
The 是 / 很 distinction is the real content here — the job words are the vehicle.