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

This course is designed for students who have at least one semester of college-level Chinese language study. The primary aim of this course is to continue building a solid foundation in modern Chinese language through the integration of all 5 skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and cultural skills. Characters, vocabulary and grammatical patterns are learned through communicative and collaborative contexts.

The course combines several integrated approaches aimed at developing your skills. Most in-class time, driven by the textbook and supplemental texts, is devoted to speaking and practicing Chinese with exposure to the Chinese characters, grammatical structures, language functions and vocabulary. In order to help you develop your linguistic and intercultural skills, instructors involve many group-based and individual activities into the class, such as independent presentations, case studies, group discussions & projects, 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 Shanghai old town, the Art District and a Chinese Medicine clinic. 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 course learning objectives. Though you may not understand every word said in class, you should look/listen for patterns and contextual clues in order to gain a global understanding of the situation and the sense behind it. Learning to derive global meanings from speech and text that you may not entirely understand is a powerful tool that will hone your ability to understand 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 a wide range of daily-life topics such as introducing oneself, describing an object or a place, explaining a process, discussing daily routines and travel plans, making appointments, and to read and write short and basic contexts. You will expand your ability to express your feelings and preferences.

Previously coded as CHN112