The lessons encompass communicative functions such as “Making an appointment” and “Planning a trip”, as well as about 800 new words and 60 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.
Prerequisites:
None
Method of presentation:
Written and oral assignments
Required work and form of assessment:
Four exams (15-20% each), homework
(20%), participation (15%)
content:
Week 1
Communication: Greetings; making acquaintances; talking about food.
Grammar: Questions with “吗 (ma)”; sentences with an adjectival predicate, with a verbal
predicate, with a nominal predicate, etc.
Culture: Meeting people
Week 2
Communication: Asking about price, place, location; talking about studying
Grammar: Word order in Chinese; polite requests; affirmative-negative questions, etc.
Culture: Manners and habits
Week 3
Communication: Shopping, taking buses, changing money.
Grammar: Verbs of existence; numeral-measure compounds acting as attributives, etc.
Culture: Bargaining in China
Week 4
Communication: Telling time; giving directions.
Grammar: Nouns of locality; the structural particle “的 (de)”; expressing dates and time;
sentences indicating existence, etc.
Culture: Family
Week 5
Communication: Explanations, introductions.
Grammar: The modal particle “吧 (ba)”; reduplication of verbs; modal verbs; simultaneous
attributes; asking about family, professions, age, etc.
Culture: Meet Chinese college students and discuss their way of life.
Week 6
Communication: Telling time, giving directions.
Grammar: Ways of telling time abd date; setences with a nominal predicate; nouns of locality;
sentences indicating existence, etc.
Culture: Chinese daily life
Week 7
Communication: Introductions, explanations.
Grammar: the “的 (de)” construction; alternative questions; counting money; reduplication of
verbs; a little bit/some “一点儿／有一点儿 (yìdiặnr/yŏu yìdiặnr)”; both ... and ... “又…… 又…… (yoù …yoù …)”, etc.
Culture: Chinese habits and customs
Week 8
Communication: Making suggestions, asking for directions.
Grammar: Tag question “……，好吗 (..., hặo ma)”; sentences with a predicate verb taking two
objects; the construction “……是…… (... shì ...)”; questions with the interrogative adverb “多
(duō)”; the approximate number; indicating choice with “还是……吧 (háishì ... ba)”, etc.
Culture: Chinese food
Final Exam
Required readings:
汉语口语速成入门篇 (Hànyǔ kǒuyǔ sùchéng rùménpiān)
Short-term Spoken Chinese
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.
The lessons encompass communicative functions such as “Making an appointment” and “Planning a trip”, as well as about 800 new words and 60 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.
None
Written and oral assignments
Four exams (15-20% each), homework
(20%), participation (15%)
Week 1
Communication: Greetings; making acquaintances; talking about food.
Grammar: Questions with “吗 (ma)”; sentences with an adjectival predicate, with a verbal
predicate, with a nominal predicate, etc.
Culture: Meeting people
Week 2
Communication: Asking about price, place, location; talking about studying
Grammar: Word order in Chinese; polite requests; affirmative-negative questions, etc.
Culture: Manners and habits
Week 3
Communication: Shopping, taking buses, changing money.
Grammar: Verbs of existence; numeral-measure compounds acting as attributives, etc.
Culture: Bargaining in China
Week 4
Communication: Telling time; giving directions.
Grammar: Nouns of locality; the structural particle “的 (de)”; expressing dates and time;
sentences indicating existence, etc.
Culture: Family
Week 5
Communication: Explanations, introductions.
Grammar: The modal particle “吧 (ba)”; reduplication of verbs; modal verbs; simultaneous
attributes; asking about family, professions, age, etc.
Culture: Meet Chinese college students and discuss their way of life.
Week 6
Communication: Telling time, giving directions.
Grammar: Ways of telling time abd date; setences with a nominal predicate; nouns of locality;
sentences indicating existence, etc.
Culture: Chinese daily life
Week 7
Communication: Introductions, explanations.
Grammar: the “的 (de)” construction; alternative questions; counting money; reduplication of
verbs; a little bit/some “一点儿／有一点儿 (yìdiặnr/yŏu yìdiặnr)”; both ... and ... “又…… 又…… (yoù …yoù …)”, etc.
Culture: Chinese habits and customs
Week 8
Communication: Making suggestions, asking for directions.
Grammar: Tag question “……，好吗 (..., hặo ma)”; sentences with a predicate verb taking two
objects; the construction “……是…… (... shì ...)”; questions with the interrogative adverb “多
(duō)”; the approximate number; indicating choice with “还是……吧 (háishì ... ba)”, etc.
Culture: Chinese food
Final Exam
汉语口语速成入门篇 (Hànyǔ kǒuyǔ sùchéng rùménpiān)
Short-term Spoken Chinese
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.