Our unique methods
Meridian has many years of teaching Mandarin Chinese especially to students in the UK. We have taught all levels and all age groups and academic backgrounds. It is this extensive experience that has allowed us to develop our own range of proven methods, tools and materials – already being used by many teachers across the world – to help you learn better Chinese faster.
What is TDR™?
TDR is a method used to explain the structure of the Mandarin Chinese language. The advantage of the TDR method over others is its use of aspects of traditional Chinese culture to explain the Chinese language. This makes it much easier for students to grasp the simplicity of Chinese grammar whilst simultaneously helping them understand the culture that lies behind the language.
T stands for “Tian” meaning Heaven or Time
D stands for “Di” meaning Earth or Location
R stands for “Ren” meaning Man/Human/Person’s activities or Natural Events.
The Natural Order
This is the fundamental concept that underlies the Chinese view of the world – a natural order or sequence, emphasising large over small, universal over specific, mankind over the individual. This philosophy is reflected in the way Chinese people think, speak and write and understanding it is the key to learning Chinese quickly and successfully.
A standard Chinese sentence always follows the TDR sequence. In other words, the sentence begins with WHEN something is happening, then WHERE, then WHAT.
The TDR method includes in its system a number of simple but powerful tools and techniques to help the learner to grasp more quickly how the Chinese language works. For example the ‘Fingers’ tool helps learners to use their own hand to memorise and decode the five main sentence types or patterns in Chinese.