Course Description
This course is designed for students who have completed MODL 1191 or its equivalent. It is designed to strengthen basic oral and written communicative skills through the study of vocabulary, grammar and culture. Chinese is used in class as much as possible.
Course Content
Systematic introduction of:
- Basic syntactic structures (daily expression and some idiomatic phrases)
- Basic lexicon (to a minimum of an additional 200 lexical items)
- Basic strokes and components of Chinese characters
- The phonological system of Mandarin (Pinyin or romanized Chinese, phonetic transcription including tones)
- Some aspects of Chinese culture
Learning Activities
The functional and communicative approach is used where appropriate. Classroom activities include: presentation of material by the instructor, practice in pairs and small groups, listening comprehension, audio-visual presentations, on-line materials and conversation in labs in small groups with a Native Language Assistant.
Means of Assessment
Written Evaluations
(May include but not limited to writing and reading exercises, chapter tests, paragraph writing, written homework, preparation, Final Written Exam) |
60% |
Oral Evaluations
(May include but not limited to oral tests, oral presentations, listening comprehension, conversation lab, attendance, preparation, class participation, Final Oral Exam) |
40% |
No single evaluation will be worth more than 20%.
Learning Outcomes
The student will be expected to demonstrate proficiency in Mandarin at the basic level in:
- Aural comprehension of simple discourse
- Reading comprehension of simplified texts, in both Pinyin and Chinese
- Speech delivery: cope with everyday situations, tell stories in the equivalent of the present, the past and the future tenses
- Written expression: simple guided paragraphs in Chinese characters
- Understanding target cultures