You can try sequence sentences. for example China is big. 中国很大. zhōngguó hěn dà. as you can see from the sentence the tone pattern goes first second third and forth. it's also a good way to practice the tones. you can try to make a list of words you know and put them into groups. like the first and second tone group, all the words you know that are first and and second tone like 中国。 second and third, forth and forth etc. try to memories study habit sentences with tones. sentences you would use everyday. for example: what do you want to eat? 你想要吃什么？ I feel tired today. 今天我很累 do you have hobbies? 你有爱好吗？ what country are you from? 你是那国人？ etc. at the beginning tones are a pain. but once u have been studying for a while they just become natural. Do you know sometimes chinese native speakers even mess up their tones when speaking.haha I've seen it a couple of times then other chinese native speakers correct them. good luck in your studies.

i use flash cards with hanzi and tones and pinyin on them at first then I move the pinyin and tone marks to the back of the card with the English word. Hand gestures are also very helpful as are gestures like raising etebrows stampint feet, swaying the head for third in a upward arch..hmm hard to explain what i do for 3rd. Tones are a nightmare though, even after two years i still struglle loads with them. It really is just about going over each word time and time again and dont forget sometimes words will change thier tone, depending on what comes after that really drives me crazy. And yes as others say try to concentrate on the tune of the sentence too rather than just indvidual words.

http://hanyu.iciba.com/hanzi/3953.shtml try this, you can put the Chinese character in this, it will tell you how to pronounce

Tones are indeed quite complicated.Even we chinese people often mess up.So take it easy! PS:I think chen's tip is vivid and helpful.You can have a try.

To a advantive foreigner who want to learn Chinese, authough the four tone is very importent, the most importent point is that express your opinions or words wholly ,for a native audience, he absolutely can understand what your said! so don't worry about your tone, unless you are a announcer on TV or brodcast ! Speak out ,you will be success! believe me!