S3 Chinese — Classical Prose and Translation: Lesson-Prep Guide for Tutors (three-step translation, five function words)

2026-11-12

Tutor lesson-prep guides · Secondary Chinese

Students translate classical Chinese word by word and hand in a fluent sentence that says the opposite. This lesson locks translation into three written lines, and turns five function words into countable clues instead of guesswork.

Objectives — Students can: (1) choose the right sense of a polysemous content word using three context questions (what do the neighbouring clauses say, who performs the action, is that word class possible here); (2) give two common uses each for zhi, qi, er, yi and yu and point to which use appears in a given clause; (3) translate four sentences from a 140-character passage using punctuate, gloss word by word, reorder and supply the subject, with no word dropped and no meaning added; (4) answer an attitude question in three boxes (what the person did, what resulted, what tone the writer takes) while quoting one word of evidence.

01 Prerequisites (3-minute check)

If any of these fails, fix it before the lesson starts.

Skill	Quick check	Pass mark
Word classes	What two classes can zhi belong to?	Pronoun and particle; position decides which
Modern word order	Where does the predicate sit in a predicate-fronted clause?	Fronted; restore it before translating
Loan characters	What does shuo standing for yue illustrate?	A phonetic loan: read it as the original character, not its common sense

02 Lesson flow (45 minutes)

Time	Stage	Tutor does	Student does
0-5 min	Start from a wrong translation	Write a word-by-word translation and ask what is wrong	Notice it is fluent but reversed
5-14 min	Punctuating first	Mark slashes at particles and after first mentions of names	Split 140 characters into seven clauses
14-24 min	Five function words, ten cells	Table zhi, qi, er, yi, yu with one model clause each	Circle and name the use in the passage
24-34 min	Three-line translation	Model two sentences: punctuate, gloss, reorder and supply subject	Write in three lines
34-40 min	Attitude in three boxes	Fill did, resulted, tone on a short passage	All three boxes filled
40-45 min	Exit check	Collect three answers, mark live, name the act to reteach	Hand in three answers

03 Teaching script (read it out)

Scene 1: Act one: punctuate before you translate

“Classical Chinese arrives unpunctuated, so step one is a slash, not a dictionary. Three signals: a closing particle such as ye, yi, hu or zai almost always ends a clause; a personal name can be closed after its first mention; between two verbs there is usually a dropped subject, which is a natural break. A 140-character passage usually yields about seven clauses. Punctuate wrongly and everything downstream fails: split the governor returns and the guests follow in the wrong place and the guests become a different person. So slashes go on the board before any gloss.”

Slash first, about seven clauses, particles and names are the signals.

Scene 2: Act two: five function words, ten cells

“Zhi is a pronoun or a particle. Qi means his or that. Er is sequential or adversative. Yi means with or because. Yu means at or than. Two uses each is enough; read position first, since a noun after it usually means pronoun or preposition, a verb after it usually means conjunction. The commonest error is writing of for every zhi. In zhi jiu the zhi only fills the rhythm and is not translated; in song zhi it is a pronoun and means him. Get those two wrong and the sentence falls apart.”

Five words, two uses each; read position before meaning.

Scene 3: Act three: three lines, then reorder

“Three lines on the page. Line one: the original with slashes. Line two: a gloss under every character, names copied, loan characters shown as their original form. Line three: reorder, supply the subject, and join into readable modern Chinese. Two checks: every character has a counterpart, and nothing appears in the translation that is not in the original. Marking is usually four marks a sentence: two key words at one mark each, fluency two marks. Key words first, fluency second.”

Three lines: slashes, gloss, reorder; nothing dropped, nothing added.

04 Question types and worked steps

Type	Example	Steps	Answer
Content word senses	What does gu mean in these two clauses?	(1) Read the neighbouring clauses (2) ask who performs the action (3) test each sense for fit (4) state sense and word class	In the first, therefore, a conjunction; in the second, old knowledge, a noun
Function word use	Which use of er appears in learn and rehearse it in time?	(1) Decide whether the two halves continue or oppose (2) sequential means then (3) opposed means yet (4) name the class	Sequential conjunction, glossed as then or left untranslated
Sentence translation	Translate the clause how extreme your lack of sense is.	(1) Punctuate (2) gloss each character (3) restore order, predicate last (4) supply the subject and write a fluent sentence	You really are not very sensible (predicate fronted, restored before translating)
Attitude question	The main figure succeeds in the end. What is the writer’s attitude?	(1) What he did (2) what resulted (3) the tone, with one word quoted	Approving: he went and returned three times, finally won help, and the word finally carries the approval

Sanity check (teach this): Consistency check: (1) every function-word answer must name the word class, or half marks are lost. (2) A translation noticeably longer than the original usually adds meaning that is not there; 140 characters should not become 200. (3) Predicate-fronted clauses must be restored before translating, otherwise the English comes out unusable. (4) Marks add up: three sentences at 4, 4 and 6 marks plus six for attitude, twenty in total, with fourteen minutes for translation and eight for attitude. (5) Loan characters must be written as X standing for Y; the sense alone earns nothing.

05 Independent practice (3 questions)

Question	Answer	What to watch
What does yi mean in the two clauses below?	With, a preposition, in the first; because, a preposition, in the second	Whether the word class is stated, not just a single gloss
Translate the governor returned and the guests followed.	The governor went back and the guests followed him (supply the subject, er is sequential)	Whether the subject is supplied and nothing extra is added
What tone does the word finally carry?	Approval and closure: effort produced a result	Whether one word of the original is quoted as evidence

06 Common mistakes and what to say

Mistake	Student writes	Say this
Writing of for every zhi	“A long time of.”	“That zhi is a particle filling the rhythm and is not translated. Write of and the clause loses its ending.”
Keeping the original order	“How extreme, your lack of sense.”	“Predicate fronted. Restore it first: your lack of sense is extreme, then translate.”
Answering with the general sense	“Meaning: this person is stupid.”	“The question asks for a translation, not a summary. Every character needs a counterpart, names copied, loans shown.”
Inventing tone	“The writer thinks he is stupid, so the tone is sarcastic.”	“Is there any sarcastic word in the original? If not, do not add it. Quote one word for the tone you claim.”

07 Homework (paper, section and question numbers)

Secondary Chinese chapter index — All chapters for this subject
All lesson-prep guides — Same format in other subjects
Redo this chapter — Take another 140-character passage: seven clauses, circle five function words, translate four sentences in the three-line format

08 Exit check (last 5 minutes)

Question	Answer	Decision
Name the three translation steps.	Punctuate, gloss word by word, reorder and supply the subject	Cannot name them: reteach act three
Give two uses of er.	Sequential (then) and adversative (yet)	Only one: rerun the ten-cell table
What comes before translating a predicate-fronted clause?	Restore the normal word order	Copying the original order: return to act two

09 Tutor FAQ

Should S3 learn a table of loan characters?

No. Teach the two or three that appear in the passage, and insist on the format X standing for Y, since the format is lost more often than the meaning.

Students know the glosses but still lose marks. Why?

They skip punctuation and reordering and write a fluent sentence. Requiring three written lines makes the key words visible.

Is a modern translation useful for comparison?

Yes, but only after the questions are done. Doing it first turns the lesson into copying, and the three steps are never learned.

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A TutorZone lesson-prep guide. Written by the TutorZone team; questions and lesson flow are original and are not taken from any school or publisher material.