Comparison of Chinese Textbooks for Adult/Teen Students

Book Name	New Practical Chinese Reader	Integrated Chinese	Read & Speak Chinese for Beginners	Chinese for Today	Contemporary Chinese	Practical Everyday Chinese
Book Type	Textbook	Textbook	Textbook & CD	Textbook	Textbook	Textbook
Age Range	College/Adult	College/Adult	Adult	Adult	Adult	Adult
Number of Pages	242	249	96	447	219	274
Number of Lessons	14	11	8	35	8	12
Dialogues	yes	yes	no	y	y	y
Vocabulary	yes	yes	yes	y	y	y
Grammar	yes	yes	some	y	y	y
pinyin, zhuyin, or both	pinyin	pinyin	pinyin (no tones)	pinyin	pinyin	pinyin
Explanations in English	yes	yes	yes	yes	y	yes
Character instruction (traditional or simplified)	both (trad. reading only)	either (both in index)	some reading	both (reading only)	both (reading only, see character book)	no (see character book)
Illustrations (color, b&w, none)	monochrome	b&w	b&w	b&w	spot color	color
Class/Group Activities (games, songs, etc.)	no	no	yes	no	no	yes
Glossary - pinyin, zhuyin, hanzi, English	P, H, E	p, h, e	none	P, H, E	P, H, E	P, H, E
Index - pinyin, English, both	pinyin and hanzi	pinyin	none	pinyin	pinyin	pinyin
Textbook available	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
Workbook available	yes	yes	no	yes	yes	yes
Teacher's Book available	yes	yes	no	no	yes	yes
Practice Media Available (Tape, CD, CDROM)	cassette	cassette or cd	CD	CD	no	Tape
Cost - Textbook	19.95	25.95	16.95	45.95	24.95	31.2
Cost - Workbook	12.95	16.95		29.95	10.95	12.4
Cost - Character Book		15.95			18.95	16.2
Cost - Teacher's Manual	14.95	30.95			19.95	22.4
Cost - Student's Audio Tape/CD	34.95	39.95				22.4
Cost - Workbook Audio	17.95	20				12.4
Cost - Teacher's Audio
Cost - Video						35
Cost - CDROM						39.95
Package	T, W, A, WA	T, W, C, A	book & CD	T, W, A	T, W, C	T, W, C, A, WA
Package Cost	85.8	98.8	16.95	74.95	54.85	94.6
Notes		cd= A & WA