All the resources you need for Mandarin — one story at a time
Invigorate your Mandarin lessons with our award-winning, program developed for language learners.
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Engage + Motivate every student
Excite your Mandarin class with the magic of stories. -
Build + Grow Mandarin skills
Enjoy fun, interactive opportunities to develop vocabulary and comprehension. -
Monitor + Succeed with results
Track progress on all modalities:
reading, listening, writing & speaking.
Nurture a love of Mandarin and the mastery of essential skills
StoryWorld supports students with word-by-word audio, embedded translations, and pinyin on/off toggle.
Engage + motivate every student
- Captivate your Mandarin class with compelling interactive stories on a wide variety of themes to build vocabulary and language comprehension.
- Support your Mandarin learners with word-by-word audio support and translations in context so everyone can learn correct Mandarin pronunciation and participate fully.
- Reward your students with games and points to create excitement and build language confidence.
Build + grow Mandarin skills
- Strengthen your students’ Mandarin language skills by integrating all domains: listening, reading, speaking and writing.
- Grow vocabulary naturally through stories—all supported by memorable images - to reinforce learning and language recall.
- Deliver instruction in a wide variety of environments–whole class, small group, independent learning.
Monitor + succeed with results
- Track progress through our easy-to-use dashboard covering vocabulary, reading, listening, writing and speaking—the key components of language proficiency.
- Implement with ease according to different instructional approaches using abundant print resources in Mandarin that accompany each story.
- Succeed in building a life-long love of Spanish for every student—one story at a time.
“I’ve never seen anything like this—it models what a teacher does.”
—Teacher participant in WestEd Research
Discover a Diverse Collection of Mandarin Stories
Assign stories to multiple classes or sections and choose from 24 themes, including science,
social studies, and culture. All stories are leveled and have language scaffolds.
Seamlessly blend into any Mandarin curriculum
StoryWorld’s interactive library is flexible to use and covers some of the most common language themes and topics, such as animals, clothes, family, or school. Storybook genres cover cultural myths and legends as well as non-fiction.
Over 100 interactive Mandarin storybooks and wordbooks
Storybooks begin with basic vocabulary and eventually introduce more sophisticated words and concepts. Wordbooks cover 40 of the most important verbs, 40 common adjectives, and over 300 commonly used nouns to give your students the vocabulary they need to start speaking right away—one story at a time.
After class: extra audio for Mandarin language support
After class, students can listen again to the story read aloud by a native Mandarin speaker, and click any word or phrase to hear the correct pronunciation or translation on demand.
These supports help to build students’ confidence—one story at a time.
Games reinforce vocabulary and pronunciation
Hundreds of different multi-sensory vocabulary games with images offer abundant opportunities to reinforce key Mandarin vocabulary and correct pronunciation.
Games provide a perfect way to continue to motivate students—one game at a time.
Easily assign stories to multiple classes or groups of students
Pick any story—or group of stories—and assign in an instant to a class or group of classes.
The stories you assign will show up at the top of each student’s own library, so they’ll see it right away and can start reading and learning—one story at a time.
Try us FREE for 2 months
Experience StoryWorld with your students for free for 60 days. After that, you can purchase or keep using our gift of 8 ebooks.
Mandarin stories activate learning in all modalities: listening, reading, speaking, and writing
StoryWorld includes practice in all domains to strengthen language proficiency and support a well-rounded approach to Mandarin instruction.
Listening
Students listen to the story read aloud by a native Mandarin speaker. This builds vocabulary, develops listening comprehension, and allows learners to absorb the natural cadence and richness of the language.
Speaking
Students build oral fluency in Mandarin by recording a passage aloud, retelling the story and answering audio prompts. Inference, depth-of-knowledge, and opinion questions encourage learners to think “beyond the text.”
Reading
Students read the story aloud to practice reading fluency. Every character is clickable with correct Mandarin pronunciation. Characters are translated accurately in context so no need for a dictionary or translation tool.
Writing
Students respond to open-ended questions – online and off-screen. These questions provide opportunities for creative expression in Mandarin. Printable activity sheets that accompany each story continue to encourage writing practice.
Challenge learners with quizzes that strengthen proficiency
After each story, five quiz sections strengthen Mandarin language comprehension and measure vocabulary, listening, reading, speaking, and writing skills.
Begin with Spanish comprehension questions that focus on vocabulary, listening, and reading
Students demonstrate basic comprehension in Mandarin through multiple choice questions that focus on core vocabulary, listening, and reading.
Go deeper with speaking and writing assessments
Your students then record their answers and write responses to questions that go beyond the text, such as retelling a story, reading it aloud, and answering depth-of-knowledge, inference and opinion questions.
Reward students with points–while you get their data
Throughout all activities, your Mandarin students will collect motivating points. All their responses are recorded for progress monitoring in the StoryWorld Dashboard.
Printable resources with every story
There’s no need to spend extra prep time searching for support materials. All of our online Mandarin language Storybooks and Wordbooks come with companion printable activity sheets that engage students in creative work off-screen as they practice and reinforce new skills.
Reinforce Mandarin vocabulary through writing
Key Chinese characters are emphasized to help students build confidence and master important vocabulary.
Promote Mandarin language comprehension
Questions assure students fully comprehend the text. Exercises prompt students to reflect on the story and practice writing.
Build Mandarin grammar skills with sentences
Students construct sentences from key Mandarin vocabulary. Drawing activities support learning recall.
Develop creativity with original storytelling
Students are encouraged to use their new Mandarin language skills as they write and illustrate their own related short story.
Everything you need to succeed with your Mandarin classes!
StoryWorld adapts easily to diverse proficiency levels, interests, and classroom environments.
Educator-friendly dashboard shows progress in Mandarin proficiency
Our Formative Evaluation Dashboard shows the progress of each learner as they work their way toward proficiency:
- At-a-glance insights save time evaluating progress.
- Review progress in vocabulary, reading, listening, writing, and speaking.
- Identify specific Mandarin language challenges
- Easily assess students according to ACTFL standards.
StoryWorld works on any device connected to wifi: computers, chromebooks, tablets, & phones.
Versatile for whole class, small group & independent learning
StoryWorld can be used effectively in a wide variety of learning environments—no individual devices needed.
- Whole-class instruction
- Small groups
- Whole-class instruction
- Independent or remote learning
- After-school tutoring
Professional learning with every school purchase
We include a virtual 60-minute introductory Professional Learning session with every school or district purchase. Each session covers:
- Overview of program and resources
- How to roster your classes
- When and how to incorporate print materials
- How to assign stories
- Monitoring progress through the dashboard
“StoryWorld was a reinforcement of everything we were working on in class: sequential language, translating words, retelling a story, asking further questions, reading the story out loud, and then writing about it.”
— Teacher participant in WestEd Research
Try us FREE for 2 months
You and your students can use our entire library FREE for 60 days. After that, you can choose to purchase a premium subscription (or keep using our gift of 8 online stories).
Developed with support from the U.S. Department of Education
StoryWorld was developed with R&D funding from the U.S. Department of Education with 3-years of research provided by WestEd.
Supports independent learning
“Students using StoryWorld performed as well as those with a book and teacher support...the program allows students to learn independently in formal and informal settings.”
Encourages a love for reading
“Students demonstrated statistically significant increases in their motivation to read, Self-Concept as a Reader, and Value of Reading. Students eagerly read multiple books in a single session, going beyond the prescribed requirement of only one book.”
Quickly integrates into curriculum
“Teachers articulated that the StoryWorld product would be a very useful tool in their classrooms and could be integrated into their curriculum for ELA or ELD support.”
“StoryWorld incorporates the ideal approaches that research shows are the ways to make language learning come to life.”
Dr. Jenni Trujillo
Dean of the School of Education at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado
Voted #1 Literacy Solution by Superintendents
Get started in 1 minute
- Sign up for a 60-day free trial with all content—no obligation.
- Use your free trial to try StoryWorld with your students.
- Contact us to purchase before your trial ends!
FAQs
Find answers to all your questions on our main FAQ page or reach out to our friendly team in the form below.
Can I get StoryWorld free for my class?
Yes. When you sign up for a teacher account, you will get our Premium service at no cost for 2 months. After 2 months, your can choose to upgrade to Premium or continue to use your free account.
What grade levels are best for StoryWorld?
StoryWorld supports early literacy for all students in grades K-2 and includes special features specifically designed for ELL/MLLs appropriate for grades K-5. StoryWorld can be used for middle or high school students because basic vocabulary and English competency in all modalities apply to every language learner.
Does StoryWorld align with my state standards?
Reports on our Formative Evaluation Dashboard align with the following standards: ELPA-21, ACTFL, WIDA, CCSS, CA-ELD/CA-CCSS, NY-ELA, and TexasELPS. If you do not see your state standards listed, contact us in the form below and we will add it to the program.
What makes StoryWorld different from other programs?
To our knowledge, no other ebook library offers word-by-word translations in both text and audio. This kind of instant support enables learners transfer their language skills from their home language to a new language—an approach backed by academic research.
Does StoryWorld support the Science of Reading?
Yes. StoryWorld supports explicit instruction in the 5 Components of Literacy: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension through the magic of stories and a blend of online and off-screen activities that engage all language modalities.
Does StoryWorld qualify for Title I, Title III, and other funding?
Yes, StoryWorld qualifies for most state and federal funding. Our program qualifies for Title III because it can be used in after-school settings, and StoryWorld’s bilingual scaffolds encourage parent involvement at home.
Everything you need for language and literacy—one story at a time.