Recognize and distinguish the following elements:

• the remaining 12 finals (i.e., four triphthong finals and eight nasal compound finals); and,
• the formation of related syllables with specific tones in hanyu pinyin (see Appendix A).

Relate characters and phrases in familiar situations, such as:

• ‘工gōng’ means ‘work’ (verb);
• ‘工人gōngrén’ means ‘worker’ (noun); and,
• ‘工gōng作zuò’ means ‘work’ (noun).

Comprehend common sight words:

• Standard Chinese characters that sound alike, such as (音yīn 似shì 字zì) (e.g., 目mù，木mù，墓mù ；鸡jī 机jī，肌jī); and,
• Standard Chinese characters that look alike, such as (形xíng似sì字zì) (e.g., 人rén，八bā，入rù ; 士shì，土tǔ ；千qiān，干gàn).

Investigate the use of linguistic conventions in Mandarin and Standard Chinese communication, including:

• demonstrative adjectives/pronouns (e.g., “这zhè”, “那n à”, “这zhè些xiē”, “那n à些xiē”) with measure words in Standard Chinese;
• punctuations in Standard Chinese writing (e.g., 。and 、);
• auxiliary word (e.g., “得d é”) after verbs to complement or emphasize the actions taken;
• conjunctions (e.g., “和h é”, “跟gēn”) to combine two sentences into one;
• the difference between an action verb (e.g., + “了l e”) and an action verb (e.g., + “过guò”);
• transitional words (e.g., “但dàn是shì”, “可k ě是shì”, “不b ú过guò”) to combine two sentences;
• adverbs (e.g., “又yòu”, “再zài”, “重chóng 新xīn”) in a sentence to indicate a repeated action;
• alternative words (e.g., “或huò者zhě”, “还hái是shì”) to express choice;
• comparative words (e.g., “比b ǐ”, “比b ǐ较jiào”, “更gèng”) in a sentence; and,
• the superlative word (e.g., “最zuì”) in a sentence.

Discuss differences in formal and informal Mandarin, such as:

• the number “1” is pronounced differently by some; instead of pronouncing “1” as “yī” like in pinyin, it is read as “yāo”. The reason is to clearly distinguish “1” from “7” because “7” in pinyin is “qī”, which may sound alike over the crackling of a telephone conversation.