Draft 1

Following is a draft outline of the planned Vietnamese Wikibook. These planned articles are pitifully out of order – I'd like them to be ordered by difficulty, and have one lead into the other, like an academic course would.

Note: This list has been modified and placed in a Table of Contents.

I plan to use some of the content on Học với Tôi, one of my websites, in this textbook.

Draft 2

This time, I'm going to aim at a more structured plan. The current Vietnamese book will be split into three levels, according to difficulty and amount of usage. Each book will have a goal (preliminary goals are stated below).

Each book – often more than once within the book – the same topic is repeated. Each time it is repeated, it is either a review, or a deeper look at the topic.

In the end, I'd like each chapter to have a title in Vietnamese, at least three exercises (or should the goal be two exercises until the next draft?), and

This plan won't take effect until the current book gets a decent amount of lessons started (half of them?). It'll probably also require that someone else helps me out.

I'm basing this plan on the experience I've had for three years so far, learning Spanish. If you have any questions, reservations, doubts, clarifications needed, comments, compliments, or flames – just kidding – feel free to respond on this page's Talk Page.

Level 1: Chào!

This book will get you started. It will focus on basic phrases, vocabulary, and structure. By the end, you should know enough to visit a Vietnamese community (not necessary in Vietnam) for a day and be able to minimally communicate with the people there.

Introduction

About the authors
History: do we really need this at the intro level, or can we have this as a cultural note later on?
Pros & cons

The Basics

The essential stuff that you need to know before you begin with vocabulary and grammar. Lessons:

Alphabet
- Consonants
- Vowels
Tones: just an introduction to tones and tone marks; we'll build on this lesson extensively later on
Numbers (single-digit)
Colors

Chào!

Starting a conversation by introducing yourself. Lessons:

Greetings
Introducing yourself
Saying goodbye

Cultural note:

The handshake: taking a look at shaking hands with others, as opposed to the tradition of bowing

Tôi Là... (?)

Describing yourself.

Age
- Numbers (double-digit)
Physical characteristics (height, build, hair, facial characteristics)
Clothes: just enough to describe someone (red shirt, blue jeans, white cap)
Nationality

...

Cái Gì?

Asking questions. Lessons:

Interrogative pronouns (question words)

...

Level 2: Hàng Ngày

This intermediate-level book will expand on the vocabulary and structures introduced in Level 1. It will focus on everyday situations and tasks. By the end, you should be able to spend a few weeks (is that too much?) in Vietnam, communicating with the people around you.

Phòng Ngủ

The bedroom.

Phòng Tắm

(Or should we call it Phòng Cầu Tiêu?) The bathroom, its fixtures, toiletries, and so on.

Fixtures
Toiletries & associated actions

Phòng Bếp

The kitchen.

Appliances & associated actions

Ngon Lắm!

Learning about Vietnamese food. This is basically a cultural chapter (but it, of course, has tons of vocabulary), and an extension of possible cultural notes that could appear well before here.

Rice dishes
Soup
Sandwiches
Snacks
Beverages

This section should be so good that everyone who takes a course using this book should look forward to this section in particular. This would be a good opportunity for an instructor using this course to take the students on a field trip to a Vietnamese restaurant

Cultural note: We'll take a look at how the Vietnamese typically do not assign specific dishes to certain meals during the day (for example, eating phở or cháo (porridge) for breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner).

Nhà Hàng

Eating at the restaurant. (Or could we call it Tiệm ăn?)

Ordering food
Payment: we'll likely introduce the money topic earlier on

Level 3

This is the advanced academic-level book. By the end, you should be able to study various subjects in Vietnamese, such as mathematics and science.

Level 4

This is the highly-advanced book. By the end of this book, you should be able to read modern Vietnamese literature and study in Vietnamese.