我的朋友
Wǒ de péngyou — Describing My Friends
Students turn outward. Until now every sentence has been about themselves or their family; this unit gives them the words to describe somebody else — tall, short, kind, funny — and the sentence frame that carries an adjective.
Unit objectives
- Describe a person using 他很高 — “He is tall”
- Use 他 and 她 correctly for he and she
- Use six descriptive adjectives
- Introduce a friend to the class in three sentences
Key vocabulary
他 她 高 矣 聪明 好看 友好 很
Chinese adjectives don’t need “is”
With an adjective, Chinese skips 是 entirely and uses 很 as a kind of placeholder:
他很高。 He is tall. (literally “he very tall”)
Saying 他是高 is a classic beginner mistake. Teach 很 and the adjective as one unit and it never takes hold.
Words for other people
He and she
他 and 她 sound identical — only the written character differs. A useful early lesson in why characters matter.
Tall, short, friendly
Six adjectives with the 很 frame, practised by describing classmates kindly.
Meet my friend
A three-sentence introduction: their name, their age, one thing about them. Spoken to the class.
He and she are the same word
Spoken Mandarin makes no distinction at all — 他 and 她 are both tā, first tone. The written difference is relatively recent, introduced in the early twentieth century under European influence; before that one character covered everybody. This is why fluent Chinese speakers sometimes mix up “he” and “she” in English — not carelessness, just a distinction their first language never asked them to make out loud.
Unit 8 progress check
A light, no-pressure way to see what’s sticking:
- Can your child describe someone in a full sentence?
- Do they include 很 rather than reaching for 是?
- Can they write 他 and 她 differently?
Keep descriptions kind — the unit is deliberately stocked with friendly adjectives rather than ones children could use to tease.