Inspire Mandarin learners through the Magic of Stories

Invigorate your Mandarin lessons with our award-winning program.

The Learning Science behind StoryWorld

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.

Develop fluency with on-demand audio by native speakers

Find the perfect book from a searchable theme-based leveled library for your Mandarin class

Themes cover topic stories, science, social studies, and culture. All stories are leveled according to difficulty by Lexile®

Stories activate learning Mandarin 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 or phrase is clickable with the correct Mandarin pronunciation. Characters or phrases 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.

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 storybooks and wordbooks in Mandarin

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.

Printable resources in Mandarin 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.

Over 1000 games in Mandarin to practice vocabulary and grammar.

Never run out of learning opportunities with learning games that accompany each interactive ebook - all in Mandarin.
The games are fully supported by audio, encouraging practice in key vocabulary, pronunciation, and sentence construction.
As students play, they reinforce core language structures to make learning Mandarin an even more rewarding experience.

Versatile for whole class, small group & independent learning

StoryWorld can be used effectively in a wide variety of learning environments — no individual devices needed.

StoryWorld works on any device connected to wifi: computers, chromebooks, tablets, & phones.

Everything you need to succeed with your Mandarin classes!

StoryWorld adapts easily to different 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:

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:

Backed by Research

“StoryWorld motivates students to read."

Students experienced statistically significant gains in reading outcomes in less than one month. (WestEd)

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.

See Research

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.” (WestEd)

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.” (WestEd)

Highly rated by teachers

“Teachers articulated that the StoryWorld product would be a very useful tool in their classrooms and could be integrated into their curriculum.” (WestEd)