This class is intended to be a Chinese language course as part of IES Shanghai Program for non-Chinese speakers who have not taken any Chinese classes before. The semester will begin with a week-long intensive “boot camp” designed to give students basic tools that are immediately useful. The following lessons then encompass communicative functions, such as “Making an appointment” and “Planning a trip”, as well as about 650 new words and many fundamentals of Chinese grammar. It places emphasis on improving the ability of the learner to use Chinese for communication. Class activities include making dialogs, presenting narratives, performing skits, etc. Through these exercises, students will master basic conversational sentences, and on that basis, they will acquire the ability to carry on simple conversations with native Chinese speakers.
Method of presentation:
Written and oral assignments.
Required work and form of assessment:
Mid-term exam (15%)
Final exam (15%)
quizzes (10%)
homework (15%)
participation (10%)
Attendance (15%)
Dictation (15%)
Presentation (5%)
content:
Week 1
Communication: Greetings; talking about food
Grammar: Phonetic rules; finals and initials; tones; Questions with “吗(ma)” and “什么 (what)” , etc.
Culture: Meeting people
Week 2
Communication: Survival Chinese; Greetings; making acquaintances; Asking about price, place, location; counting numbers.
Grammar: Finals, initials and spelling Questions with 多少 (how much) and 哪 (where) , etc.
Culture: Meeting people; Bargaining in China.
Week 3
Communication: Make an introduction; Inquire health
Grammar: Word order in Chinese; affirmative-negative questions, etc; sentence with “ 是” and
negative form; sentence with a “subject-predicate” predicate, etc.
Culture: Meeting people, greetings.
Week 4
Communication: Talking about family, school and country.
Grammar: sentences with an adjectival predicate, with a verbal predicate, with a nominal predicate, Culture: Family
Week 5
Communication: Talking about time, place and directions.
Grammar: ways of telling the time; modal particle “吧” and “啊”; nouns of locality; sentence indicating existence, etc.
Culture: Manners and habits.
Week 6
Communication: In shop and market, buying things.
Grammar: modal particle “了”; “的” construction; reduplication of verbs; “一点儿” and “有一点儿” , etc.
Culture: Manners and habits; daily life communication.
Week7
Communication: Talking about restaurant. Grammar: Tag question “…, 好吗？” , etc.
Culture: Restaurant Review and Midterm Exam
Week8
Communication: Asking the way; making plan for a trip.
Grammar: Questions; numeral-measure phrases as attributive; interrogative pronouns; questions with the interrogative adverb “多 (duō)”, the progressive aspect of an action, etc.
Culture: Meet Chinese college students and discuss their way of life.
Week 9
Communication: Narration, description; asking about situations.
Grammar: Aspect particle “了”; modal verbs; the construction “要……了” , etc.
Culture: Talking about personal experience.
Week 10
Communication: Introductions, explanations, making suggestions.
Grammar: Complement of degree; modal verbs; time-measure complement; adverbs, etc.
Culture: Sports and hobbies.
Week 11
Communication: Making suggestions, introductions and descriptions.
Grammar: The aspect particle “过”; the construction “是……的,除了……以外”; the action-measure
complement; the continuous aspect of an action; reduplication of adjectives, etc.
Culture: Manners and habits
Week 12
Communication: making telephone calls; making daily conversations.
Grammar: The resultant and directional complement; pivotal sentence; the construction “要是……
就”, etc.
Culture: Telephone conversation.
Week 13
Review and Final Exam
Required readings:
: 《汉语口语速成入门篇-上》《汉语口语速成入门篇-下》
Short-term Spoken Chinese -Threshold Vol.1
Short-term Spoken Chinese -Threshold Vol.2
Notes:
This course is offered during the regular semester and in the summer. For summer sections, the course schedule is condensed, but the content, learning outcomes, and contact hours are the same.
Beginning Chinese
This class is intended to be a Chinese language course as part of IES Shanghai Program for non-Chinese speakers who have not taken any Chinese classes before. The semester will begin with a week-long intensive “boot camp” designed to give students basic tools that are immediately useful. The following lessons then encompass communicative functions, such as “Making an appointment” and “Planning a trip”, as well as about 650 new words and many fundamentals of Chinese grammar. It places emphasis on improving the ability of the learner to use Chinese for communication. Class activities include making dialogs, presenting narratives, performing skits, etc. Through these exercises, students will master basic conversational sentences, and on that basis, they will acquire the ability to carry on simple conversations with native Chinese speakers.
Written and oral assignments.
Week 1
Communication: Greetings; talking about food
Grammar: Phonetic rules; finals and initials; tones; Questions with “吗(ma)” and “什么 (what)” , etc.
Culture: Meeting people
Week 2
Communication: Survival Chinese; Greetings; making acquaintances; Asking about price, place, location; counting numbers.
Grammar: Finals, initials and spelling Questions with 多少 (how much) and 哪 (where) , etc.
Culture: Meeting people; Bargaining in China.
Week 3
Communication: Make an introduction; Inquire health
Grammar: Word order in Chinese; affirmative-negative questions, etc; sentence with “ 是” and
negative form; sentence with a “subject-predicate” predicate, etc.
Culture: Meeting people, greetings.
Week 4
Communication: Talking about family, school and country.
Grammar: sentences with an adjectival predicate, with a verbal predicate, with a nominal predicate, Culture: Family
Week 5
Communication: Talking about time, place and directions.
Grammar: ways of telling the time; modal particle “吧” and “啊”; nouns of locality; sentence indicating existence, etc.
Culture: Manners and habits.
Week 6
Communication: In shop and market, buying things.
Grammar: modal particle “了”; “的” construction; reduplication of verbs; “一点儿” and “有一点儿” , etc.
Culture: Manners and habits; daily life communication.
Week7
Communication: Talking about restaurant. Grammar: Tag question “…, 好吗？” , etc.
Culture: Restaurant
Review and Midterm Exam
Week8
Communication: Asking the way; making plan for a trip.
Grammar: Questions; numeral-measure phrases as attributive; interrogative pronouns; questions with the interrogative adverb “多 (duō)”, the progressive aspect of an action, etc.
Culture: Meet Chinese college students and discuss their way of life.
Week 9
Communication: Narration, description; asking about situations.
Grammar: Aspect particle “了”; modal verbs; the construction “要……了” , etc.
Culture: Talking about personal experience.
Week 10
Communication: Introductions, explanations, making suggestions.
Grammar: Complement of degree; modal verbs; time-measure complement; adverbs, etc.
Culture: Sports and hobbies.
Week 11
Communication: Making suggestions, introductions and descriptions.
Grammar: The aspect particle “过”; the construction “是……的,除了……以外”; the action-measure
complement; the continuous aspect of an action; reduplication of adjectives, etc.
Culture: Manners and habits
Week 12
Communication: making telephone calls; making daily conversations.
Grammar: The resultant and directional complement; pivotal sentence; the construction “要是……
就”, etc.
Culture: Telephone conversation.
Week 13
Review and Final Exam
: 《汉语口语速成入门篇-上》《汉语口语速成入门篇-下》
Short-term Spoken Chinese -Threshold Vol.1
Short-term Spoken Chinese -Threshold Vol.2
This course is offered during the regular semester and in the summer. For summer sections, the course schedule is condensed, but the content, learning outcomes, and contact hours are the same.