CHINA Course Descriptions

Chinese (2009-2010)

An introductory course for students who have little or no prior background in writing, speaking, or understanding any dialect of the Chinese language to develop basic listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. Practical oral and written exercises are used to provide a firm grammatical foundation for further study.

With the completion of the study of the rudiments of phonetics (as provided in CHINA 101R), the emphasis in this course shifts to grammar and character writing. Vocabulary will be expanded to between 500 and 700 words.

Equivalent to 101R and 102R but covered in one term. This introductory Chinese course is designed for two major groups of students who have different initial advantages in learning Chinese: 1) students who have substantial aural-oral proficiency but limited ability in reading and writing Chinese characters and 2) those who know characters but cannot speak Mandarin (Putonghua).

Development of speaking, writing, reading, and listening skills. This course and its follow-up (CHINA 202R) include a survey of grammar, complex sentences and logical stress.

The study of Chinese characters will receive more emphasis. Grammar instruction includes comparisons and different kinds of complements. The course includes topics of interest to students, illustrating cultural differences between China and the West. Upon completion of CHINA 201R and 202R, the student should have a reading vocabulary of 1,600 Chinese characters and have learnt about 300 key sentence patterns.

A course to consolidate, expand, and deepen the understanding of lexical items and sentence patterns. Besides introducing more vocabulary and grammar, this course concentrates on complex sentences and paragraphs not emphasized in earlier textbooks.

A continuation of China 301R to further students' ability to comprehend and communicate at a higher level in Chinese. In addition, it introduces aspects of Chinese society, highlighting traditional and contemporary cultural life.

A course to develop comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing of Mandarin specifically related to the Chinese business environment. This course is designed for students who are already familiar with Chinese characters and Mandarin tonality.

A course to develop Chinese language skills in conversation, reading, writing, and critical thinking in both practical and cultural situations through contemporary films, television programs, newspapers, magazines, and literary works. Selected important issues and themes in Chinese culture and history will be considered.