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Parent guide · Grade 3 Mandarin · Unit 3

Lesson 3.1 多少钱? How Much Is It?

Written for the parent. The Read aloud parts are written to your child; read them as they are. Do this parts are for you. Answers for you are marked Listen for.

At a glance

Time
3 sessions of 20–30 minutes
Goal
Say 钱 (money), 块 (yuan, spoken), 毛 (ten cents) and 多少钱?; Say prices like 五块 and 三块五.; Remember where our real treasure is.
You need
  • Small items or pictures
  • Paper price tags
  • Play money (paper slips with 一块, 五块, 十块, 五毛)
  • A King James Bible
Print
Worksheet A · the lesson page (it also has a short video (9:12))

Steps

  1. Do this together: Set out a few things with price tags in dollars. How do you ask how much something costs? Chinese has a short, handy question for it.

  2. Read aloud: The big idea. To ask a price, point and say 多duō少shao钱qián? (how-much money?). Or name the thing: 这zhè个ge多duō少shao钱qián? The answer: 五块 (five yuan).

    Read aloud: Money words. The written unit is 元 (yuán), but people say 块kuài. A tenth of a yuan is 角 in writing and 毛máo in speech. ¥3.50 is 三块五毛, or just 三块五. Taiwan uses the New Taiwan dollar (新台币) and Hong Kong the Hong Kong dollar (港币), and people there say 块 and 元 too.

    Read aloud: Shopping words. 太贵了! (tài guì le, too expensive!), 便宜 (piányi, cheap), 我要这个 (I want this one).

  3. Do this: Say each word clearly; your child says it back twice. Point to a picture or the real thing when you can.

    • 钱 (qián) [chyen (rising)]: money
    • 块 (kuài) [kwai (falling)]: yuan (spoken)
    • 毛 (máo) [mao (rising)]: ten cents (spoken)
    • 多少 (duōshao) [DWOH-shao]: how much; how many
    • 贵 (guì) [gway (falling)]: expensive
    • 便宜 (piányi) [PYEN-yee]: cheap
  4. Four round bronze coins with square holes in the middle and Chinese characters around the holes, and a long bronze knife-shaped coin with a ring at the end, on graph paper.
    Old Chinese coins, photograph by 5snake5, coins from various periods. Image: Wikimedia Commons, public domain

    Do this: Look at the picture together for a quiet minute before anyone talks.

    Read aloud: For more than two thousand years, Chinese coins were round with a square hole, so they could be strung together on a cord. The biggest coin here reads 天下太平, “peace under heaven.” The long one is knife money, an even older kind of coin shaped like a little knife. Some coins like these are later copies.

    Point and find:

    • Why do you think the coins have square holes?
    • Find the characters on each coin. Do you know any?
    • Which coin is shaped like a knife?
    • Which coin is the smallest?

    Ask:

    • “How would you carry a thousand of these coins?”
    • “Jesus said our treasure should be in heaven. What does that mean?”

  5. Show: Say ¥12.80 in spoken Chinese.

    Say this: “12 = 十二, then 块.”

    Say this: “8 tenths = 八毛.”

    Answer: 十二块八 (毛).

    Show: Ask how much an apple costs.

    Say this: “An apple = 苹果.”

    Say this: “How much money = 多少钱.”

    Answer: 苹果多少钱?

  6. Do this: Ask out loud. Let your child try first; help only after a real try.

    Ask: What does 多少钱 mean?

    Listen for: How much money? How much is it?

    Ask: Say ¥20 in spoken Chinese.

    Listen for: 二十块.

    Ask: Say ¥6.50.

    Listen for: 六块五 (毛).

    2 more on the lesson page.

  7. Read aloud: Run a little shop with Chinese price tags.

    Steps:

    1. Make price tags in characters: 三块, 十块五.
    2. One person is the shopkeeper, one the customer.
    3. Customer: 这个多少钱? Shopkeeper: 三块.
    4. Customer pays and says 谢谢; shopkeeper says 不客气.

    Tips for you:

    • Try 太贵了! and see if the shopkeeper gives a better price.

    Done when your child can say:

    • I asked 多少钱 five times.
    • I paid the right amount.

  8. Read aloud: China was the first country to use paper money, about a thousand years ago in the Song dynasty, because heavy strings of coins were hard to carry.

    • Saying 元 in speech. People say 块.
    • Saying 两块 vs 二块: for 2 yuan say 两块.

  10. Show a picture of something. Each player guesses its price in Chinese (in 块). Closest guess without going over wins.

  11. Say this: “Tell me what you learned today.”

    Listen for: Say 钱 (money), 块 (yuan, spoken), 毛 (ten cents) and 多少钱?; Say prices like 五块 and 三块五.; Remember where our real treasure is.

  12. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

    Matthew 6:21 (KJV)

    Chinese Union Version (和合本): <span class="zh-block" lang="zh-Hans">因为你的财宝在哪里，你的心也在那里。</span><span class="py-line">Yīn wèi nǐ de cái bǎo zài nǎ lǐ, nǐ de xīn yě zài nà lǐ.</span> Jesus said our hearts follow our treasure. Store up treasure in heaven.

Spread over the week

3 sessions of 20–30 minutes. Stop while it is still going well.

  1. Session 1. Warm-up, then read and teach the new idea and the new words. Picture study and show how.
  2. Session 2. Practice together, then start the project. Finish the project, then the sketchbook.
  3. Session 3. Narration, the game and the Scripture.