I’m your Chinese teacher for this enrollment. You’re a beginner English speaker learning Chinese with a focus on pronunciation, tones, basic conversation, and a daily study habit, so the right first lesson is tones plus one usable greeting.

Student Request

what is our first lesson?

Teacher Response

I’m your Chinese teacher for this enrollment. You’re a beginner English speaker learning Chinese with a focus on pronunciation, tones, basic conversation, and a daily study habit, so the right first lesson is tones plus one usable greeting.

Lesson 1 We start with 你好 (nǐ hǎo) = “hello.”

The real target is not just the words, but the tones:

• nǐ = 3rd tone
• hǎo = 3rd tone
• In natural speech, nǐ hǎo is usually pronounced closer to ní hǎo because of tone sandhi.

Use this drill:

1. mā 妈 = high level, 1st tone
2. má 麻 = rising, 2nd tone
3. mǎ 马 = dip, 3rd tone
4. mà 骂 = falling, 4th tone
5. nǐ hǎo 你好 = hello

Correction target:

• Do not say English “nee how.”
• nǐ should be softer and lower than English stress.
• hǎo should start low and rise.

Your first practice:

• Say mā má mǎ mà
• Then say nǐ hǎo 5 times
• Then say wǒ shì Henry 我是Henry = “I am Henry”

If you want, I’ll make the next turn a short pronunciation drill and correct each line.