Goals
On completing this course, you should be able to:
- read Chinese aloud from pinyin and both complex and simplified characters with standard pronunciation,
- comprehend simple, unedited colloquial written texts (in either type of characters),
- write simple articles about your own experiences and,
- be more familiar with everyday life and issues in Chinese communities.
Class
For each lesson, the general rule is that you should be able to first read (rather than write) the text in characters before coming to the first class. That will allow us to make good use of valuable classroom time. Once you are very familiar with the material, and can read it without effort, you should start to learn to write it. Classroom activities will include discussing the content of the texts, using the texts as the basis for short role playing and performance that may involve writing, practicing some of the relevant grammatical patterns, etc.
Texts
- Teng, Shou-hsin and Perry, Lo Sun. Taiwan Today: An Intermediate Course.
- Yu, Ning. Spotlight on China: An Intermediate Chinese Course.
Grading
Full attendance is assumed. You are allowed only three absences without a medical note. More than eight absences = failing grade.
Class Performance (attendance, preparation, punctuality, and participation) 25%
Dictations and Vocabulary Quizzes 10% (lowest 2 of each will be dropped)
Bi-weekly Tests 25%
End-of-term project 20% (Report in last week)
Assignments 20%
- 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.
- There are NO MAKE-UPS for quizzes and tests. If you can not make the quizzes on time, you should talk to the instructor to make arrangements for you to take the quizzes before your classmates do.
- Full attendance is expected; exceptions should be supported by written medical report or a note from your academic advisor.
- You should get a pocket portfolio for all your written assignments, dictation and vocabulary quiz slips, and bi-weekly quizzes. For each assignment, you should hand in your homework at the time indicated in the detailed schedule. The instructors will then point out your mistakes. And when you get the homework back, you should make necessary corrections and hand in the portfolio with the corrected homework together with your next written assignment in it. Please keep all your homework, dictation and vocabulary quiz slips, and bi-weekly quizzes in the portfolio because you should hand in the portfolio with your end-of-term project at the end of the term.
- Late homework will be graded, but will receive no credit. And homework that is not corrected receives half credit.
- Also, to make it easier to make corrections, please write on every other line for homework.
- Correction marks:
1. Circled character: character written wrongly, or wrong character.
2. Circled item number: bad grammar/logic; re-write the whole sentence.
3. Underlined section(s) of a sentence: bad grammar; re-write the underlined part(s).