Beginning Chinese I Intensive Chinese Language & International Business Program Summer 2016 June 5-Week 1 Course - Shanghai

This course is designed for students who have no or little previous knowledge of Chinese language. The primary aim of this course is to establish a solid foundation in modern Chinese language through the integration of five core skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and cultural understanding. Characters, vocabulary and grammatical patterns are learned through communicative and collaborative activities.

The course combines several integrated approaches aimed at developing your skills. Most in-class time is driven by the textbook and supplemental texts and is devoted to phonetic English spelling (Chinese spelling system known as Han Yu Pin Yin) with exposure to the Chinese characters, grammatical structures, language functions, vocabulary and spoken Chinese. In order to help you develop your linguistic and intercultural skills, instructors integrate group-based and individual activities into the class, such as independent presentations, case studies, group discussions & projects, vocabulary competitions & workshops and language exchanges with local Chinese students. Lessons also focus on a wide range of contemporary cultural themes through the use of diverse materials such as traffic signs, posters, pop internet words and movie episodes.

Taking the city of Shanghai as the extended classroom, the course provides ongoing opportunities to connect with local Chinese and do personally encounter their linguistic and cultural idiosyncrasies through a combination of field exercises, project-based assignments, and excursions to places such as theatres, museums and temples. These out-of-classroom activities build practical language and communication skills while opening a window onto the Chinese?their society, values, social divisions, and cultural achievements.

Conducted mostly in Chinese, this class requires daily preparation as well as a high level of engagement on your part. Your constant attention and dynamic participation are indispensable to mastering the course learning objectives. Though you may not understand every word said in class, you should look and listen for patterns and contextual clues in order to build understanding and meaning. Learning to derive global meaning from speech and text patterns that you may not entirely understand is a powerful tool for understanding and appreciating your environment as you navigate your way through Chinese-speaking cultures, both literally and figuratively.

By the end of the course, you are expected to be able to carry out simple conversations on topics such as introductions, discussing daily routines and travel plans, shopping & bargaining, or ordering in restaurants. You will also read and write short and basic phrases and grow confident in using Chinese for expressing feelings and preferences and for describing simple objects.

Previously coded as CHN111