讲给我听
Jiǎng gěi wǒ tīng — Tell Me About It
The narrative unit. Grade 4 taught students to say an action was finished; this unit teaches them to string many finished actions into a story someone else can follow — with a beginning, a turn, and an end.
Connectors come in pairs
Chinese usually says both halves of a logical connection, where English drops one. It feels redundant at first and is simply correct:
因为…所以… because… therefore…
虽然…但是… although… but…
不但…而且… not only… but also…
如果…就… if… then…
Four pairs. Mastering them is what turns a list of sentences into a paragraph that holds together.
Unit objectives
- Narrate a past event in 8–10 connected sentences
- Use four connector pairs correctly
- Sequence events clearly with time expressions
- Retell a story they heard, in their own words
Key vocabulary
故事 发生 最后 突然 那时候 虽然 而且 如果 结果 从来没
Six lessons to tell a story
Reviving 了 and 过
Grade 4’s aspect markers, checked and repaired before anything is built on top of them.
Because… therefore
The first two connector pairs, joining sentences students can already write separately.
Although… but
The other two pairs, plus the deliberate error hunt: finding the missing second half in sample sentences.
And then suddenly
Dramatic sequencing — 突然, 结果. Every story needs a turn.
Retell it
Hearing a short story and retelling it — not reciting it. Different words, same events.
Something that happened to me
Eight to ten sentences about a real event, written and then told aloud.
Four characters, one whole story
Chinese has thousands of 成语 — fixed four-character idioms, each compressing a story or fable into four syllables. 亏株待兔, “guard the tree stump waiting for a rabbit,” is a farmer who saw a rabbit run into a stump and die, and then waited by that stump forever instead of farming — it means relying on a fluke. Educated speakers use these constantly and a well-placed one is genuinely impressive. Grade 7 learns four. They are also, usefully, the most efficient vocabulary in the language: four characters, one complete idea.
Unit 1 progress check
A light, no-pressure way to see what’s sticking:
- Can your child tell a story about their week in eight sentences?
- Do they say both halves of a connector pair?
- Can they retell someone else’s story in their own words?
Dropping the second half of a pair is the standard error. It usually goes away with a term of gentle prompting.