A. Pronunciations:

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Initials: zh, ch, sh,
Finials: -i, ua, uo uai, uei, uan, uen, uang, ueng

B. Practice the following with the four tones:

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zi, ci, si, ri, zhi, chi, shi,
hua, zhua, shua, wa,
duo, tuo, huo, ruo, nuo, luo,
zuo, cuo, suo, zhuo, chuo, shuo, wo,
huai, chuai, shuai, wai,
dui, zui, zhui, cui, chui, sui, shui, wei,
nuan, luan, zuan, zhuan, cuan, chuan, suan, shuan, wan,
hun, lun, cun, chun, wen, huang, zhuang, shuang, chuang, wang, weng

C. Notes:

1. When initials “zh, ch, sh, r, z, c, s” are used separately in a syllable, “i” is used to stand for the vowel sound final. It is not pronounced as “i” (in the final table), but just the prolonged sound of these initials, so “–i” is used to differentiate the other “i”.

Initials zh, ch, sh, r are retroflex consonants with tongues rolling up, while z, c, s are with tongues flat.

2. If there is no initials at the beginning of a syllable, “W“ is used to replace “u” — wo (uo), wa (ua), wei (uei), wai(uai), wan(uan), wen(uen), wang(uang), weng(ueng) but the single “u” is remained — wu (u).

3. Following initials, ”iou, uei, uen” are changed into “iu, ui, un“
e.g. niú, duì, lún

4. Tone marks should be signed on the top of the main vowels in the order of: a, o, e, i, u, ü. e.g. tā, xuān, piāo, běi, zǒu, xìng, but: duì, jiù (because ui from uei，while iu from iou)

5. Except for the four tones, there is another tone called soft-tone without tone mark, which is usually used in natural speech. e.g. nǐmen 你们 (you), wǒmen 我们 (we, us), tāmen 他们 (they, them).

D. Vocabularies:

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zhǐ 纸 (paper), zhīdào 知道 (know), chǐ 齿 (tooth), chīfàn 吃饭 (eat),
shī 师 (teacher), shìjiè 世界 (world), huā 花 (flower), jìhuà 计划 (plan),
zhuǎ 爪 (claw), zhuāzhù 抓住 (seize), shuā 刷 (brush), shuǎlài 耍赖 (act shamelessly),
wǎ 瓦 (tile), qīngwā 青蛙 (frog), duō 多 (many), duǒcáng 躲藏 (hide),
wāi 歪 (crooked), wàiguó 外国 (foreign country), wèi 味 (gout), huìyì 会议 (meeting),
wān 弯 (bend), wǎnshàng 晚上 (evening), wén 文 (language), wèntí 问题 (question),
wàng 旺(prosperous ), shàngwǎng 上网 (on line), wèng 瓮(urn), lǎowēng 老翁 (old man)