在饭馆
Zài fànguǎn — At the Restaurant
The most immediately usable unit in the whole program. Students order a full meal, ask for the bill and handle everything in between — a conversation they could have for real this weekend.
Unit objectives
- Order food and drink for themselves and someone else
- Ask for the menu and then the bill
- Say they don’t eat something — useful and occasionally important
- Run an eight-turn restaurant conversation from start to finish
Key vocabulary
菜单 服务员 点菜 买单 菜 饺子 汤 茶 好吃 饱
The conversation, start to finish
服务员，请给我菜单。 Waiter, the menu please.
我要一盘饺子。 I’d like a plate of dumplings.
我不吃肉。 I don’t eat meat.
服务员，买单。 Waiter, the bill.
A meal from door to bill
Reading a real menu
An actual restaurant menu. Students hunt for characters they know — and find more than they expect.
Ordering
我要 plus a measure word plus a dish, ordered for themselves and then for a friend.
I don’t eat that
Allergies, dislikes and dietary restrictions — a genuinely practical lesson, taught carefully.
Restaurant role-play
Tables, menus, waiters. The whole conversation performed twice, swapping roles.
Fighting over the bill
Splitting the bill evenly is unusual in Chinese dining. One person — whoever invited, or the eldest, or whoever is quickest — pays for everyone, and a certain amount of genuine competition to do so is part of the ritual. The expectation is that someone else will take the next meal. Offering to pay your share can read as distancing rather than fair, which is a useful thing for a student to know before they ever sit down at such a table.
Unit 6 progress check
A light, no-pressure way to see what’s sticking:
- Can your child order a dish and a drink?
- Can they ask for the bill?
- Can they say one thing they don’t eat?
If there’s a Chinese restaurant nearby, this is the unit to go and use. Nothing else motivates a ten-year-old like ordering successfully.