Syllabus

Goals

On completing this course, students should be able to:

• know more words and become familiar with more formal structures used in writing
  
• develop more sophisticated speaking skills and write short essays on familiar topics
  
• comprehend simple written materials (in either type of characters)

Class Format

Classroom activities will include discussing the content of the texts, using the texts as the basis for short role playing and performance, practicing some of the relevant grammatical patterns, sight reading of supplemental materials, and almost daily quizzes.

Textbooks

1. Chou, C. P., Perry Link, and Xuedong Wang. Oh, China! Elementary Reader of Modern Chinese for Advanced Beginners. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
2. Reading handouts.
3. (optional) Concise Chinese-English English-Chinese Dictionary. Commercial Press/Oxford.
4. http://www.zhongwen.com (On-line dictionary)

Pinyin and Characters

To assist with the learning of pronunciation and to allow you to note down and keep track of language more easily, we teach, along with characters, the official phonetically based writing system known as Hanyu pinyin. Students with no knowledge of Hanyu Pinyin can visit http://web.mit.edu/~jinzhang/www/pinyin to learn it.

The differences between jianti and fanti characters are not as significant as might be imagined, so we will get used to reading both. For writing, you may choose either one. 

Grading

Attendance and Class Performance, 20%.

Based on being prepared and punctual for class, student leadership and active participation in discussion, and attendance, which is assumed. Since class discussion in Chinese is essential to learning, and given the cumulative nature of language learning, more than 3 absences lowers your grade, and more than 6 (two weeks) results in a failing grade. It is advised that you save your absences for when you really need them - ie when you are ill, have job interviews, have two major exams on a single day, etc. Exceptions should be supported by a doctor's note or a note from your academic advisor.

Vocabulary Quizzes and Dictations, 10%.

When each lesson is finished, there will be a dictation of required new words and phrases. And before the start of each new lesson, there will be a vocabulary quiz. You will be asked to read a sentence with new words in it, translate it into English, and also transcribe it into Pinyin with tone marks. Lowest two of each will be dropped.

Oral Report, 5%

Students will take turns giving a 3-minute oral report at the beginning of each class.

Bi-weekly Tests, 25%

Jiantizi and Fantizi alternate for all quizzes, big or small. NO make-ups. If you have a test conflict, please consult with the instructor beforehand and arrange an early test.

Final Project, 20%

A video project based on collective efforts. See deails under Final Project below.

Homework, 20%

You will need a portfolio to keep all your work, including all quizzes, homework, and the final project. You need to make revisions each time you get your homework back, and hand in the revisions together with your new homework next time. Late homework will be graded but will receive no credit. Uncorrected homework gets half credit. To make it easier to make corrections, please write on every other line for homework. (12%)

You will also need to do some on-line exercises in the course web site and post your corrected compositions on the course discussion board. (4%)

Preview exercises like short response questions will be assigned to some units to get your thoughts and reactions together for class discussion. (4%)

Correction marks:

Circled character: character written wrongly, or wrong character
Circled item number: bad grammar/logic; re-write the whole sentence
Underlined section(s) of a sentence: bad grammar; re-write the underlined part(s)

Other factors may come in to play, e.g.: improvement versus stagnation or deterioration over the course of the semester, and progress relative to starting level.

Final Project

What to do?

A video on one of the topics covered this term:

1. Mandarin and dialects
2. Chinese characters
3. Chinatown and being Chinese
4. Chinese in America
5. Learning Chinese in America
6. Eminent figures in Chinese history

Format?

Documentary or News Probe. Save your work on a DV tape and a CD-R in Quicktime or RealPlayer format. (DV tape and CD-R will be provided by instructor, and must be returned at the end of the semester.) You may use a DVD-R for personal record.

Language?

Chinese. Provide Chinese interpretation for interviews in English or dialects of Chinese! Use the new words and structures we learned before and will learn this semester.

How long?

Around 10 minutes, of which at least 8 must be accompanied by narration in Chinese.

Important dates?

Week 5: Inform me of the topic of your choice in person or via email.

Week 10: Preliminary plan due. (including an outline of the video program, group work, and individual responsibilities, and important dates.) (One-on-one consultation on LANGUAGE or group consultation with me available by appointment) Always keep me posted about any substantial changes to your plan.

Week 14: Last day for submitting script for review. 

Week 15: Screening of your videos.

Grading (20% of class grade)

8% from instructor (good language?/informative?/clear?/interesting?)

12% from fellow students (good language?/ informative?/ clear?/ interesting?) 

Advice on Approaching the Class

Engaging in a language class shouldn't feel like a chore that you resent having to perform. If it does, you should probably do some serious thinking about why you are enrolled. A language is a discipline to be studied with attention and dedication. It requires a high level of concentration, and a systematic, steady approach. It is in fact a never-ending process, which involves a consistent accumulation of data (vocabulary) to be applied within a complex framework (grammar). As such, learning a foreign language is often frustrating and so it should be dealt with patiently. But the result of understanding of a language provides lifelong satisfaction. If you approach this course by wondering how little work you can do and still get by, or if you approach this class by thinking only about what grade you are getting instead of what you are learning, then you will not succeed. If, however, you approach this class with dedication and a positive attitude, you will surely be rewarded with the satisfaction that comes from the genuine acquisition of knowledge and skill.