I'm currently living in China and study by myself mostly with the New Practical Chinese Reader and Skritter

I have a student listen to me speak for a couple hours during the week, and then a Chinese teacher tutors me using the text for a couple hours on Saturday.

This, and Skritter, are pretty much everything I use. What else do people use to study? I'm just starting to learn particles like "ba" 把 which is pretty difficult. Do you use any grammar workbooks, or exercise books, to drill this stuff?

Thanks in advance!

Next to using NPCR, I use 'Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar" by ao Claudia Ross. I find it working well for me to have the same topic explained by more than one author.

The book I mentioned above comes as a practical guide and a workbook.

Have you checked out chinesepod.com?

Yeah I've checked out Chinese Pod, but for learning the language, I want to mainly use the NPCR.

I'm looking for supplementary resources that help with a particular aspect of the language; grammar, for example. I was a Spanish major, and there is a huge market of books for drilling different aspects of grammar. Obviously the Mandarin market is a lot smaller, but I'm still looking for the same thing.

I'll check out the Claudia Ross grammar book - thanks for the suggestion! I'm not sure if I'll be able to find it in Zhangye, Gansu, but next time I'm traveling around in a big place I'll take a look. Thanks!

Alex

http://english.cri.cn/08chinese/

In my first couple of years of learning, I found these short audio lessons very helpful. There are a couple of different sets, but I like the "learn Chinese now".
The dialogue is corny, but it's well structured.

Have also done short courses and Skype lessons. Presently I'm working with a series called "Boya Chinese" and also reading any easy Chinese books with relatively simple language, such as children's books.