CHIN110: INTENSIVE BEGINNING CHINESE

                                       (6 credits; no prerequisite)

Instructors:

 MW 9:20-10:20 and 
by appointment

 T 10:00-11:00 and
by appointment

Course Description:

This course is designed for students with no prior knowledge of Chinese. CHAPTER 1 – CHAPTER 10 of the main textbook are covered. The course focuses on developing basic four skills in language and culture necessary to communicate orally and in writing with native mandarin Chinese speakers. It includes practice in writing Chinese characters using essential vocabulary and elementary grammar for oral and written communication, exploring aspects of Chinese culture and society, and comparing between the Chinese language and culture and those of the students. In addition, authentic text or audiovisual materials are used to enhance development of communicative competence.

Objectives:

Language Objectives

o        Be able to read and write pinyin form premier Chinese and to recognize 350 characters.

o        Be able to understand and use essential vocabulary words introduced in Chapters 1 to 10.

o        Be able to understand basic sentence structures introduced in Chapters 1 to 10 and make your own sentences using those structures.

Communication Objectives

o        Be able to carry out oral and written communication in a culturally appropriate manner.

o        Be able to understand communicative situations in the authentic text or audiovisual materials presented in class.

Culture Objectives

o        Learn to appreciate manners of communication unique to Chinese people.

o        Learn about aspects of Chinese daily life (e.g., family, hobby, shopping, college student life).

Cognitive Objectives

o         Be able to compare and contrast between Chinese and your own language and culture.

o         Develop greater insight into your own language and culture.

o         Explore, develop, and use learning strategies, critical thinking skills, and skills in technology.

Text books (includes Textbook, Workbook and Character Workbook)
Integrated Chinese: Level 1 Part 1 (2^nd Edition) by Tao-chung Yao and Yuehua Liu. Boston: Cheng & Tsui Press, 2005.

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Recommended Dictionary:
The Oxford Chinese Dictionary. New International Edition. Chinese-English/ English-Chinese. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Course Requirements & Rules

Attendance (http://www.gmu.edu/catalog/apolicies/)

Don’t miss or be late for class meetings. Also don’t leave early without permission. Unexcused frequent tardiness and early departure will be taken as a certain number of absences adjusted to the number of such occurrences. Be aware that attendance accounts for 15% of the final grade. Excused absences include serious illness with medical certificates, personal and family emergency with written notification and proof, religious observances with written notification, and the like. Excuses such as oversleeping, busy work with other courses, and problems with an alarm clock, transportation and parking will not be accepted..

You must submit a written excuse for your absence (email notice is acceptable).

         If you are absent without written notification, you will be penalized for it regardless of reason.

         If you submit a written excuse with an official document (e.g., medical certificate) or any other kinds of proof (e.g., memorial service notice) that supports your excuse and if your instructor approves it, you will not be penalized for your absence.

         If you submit a written excuse with an official document or any other kinds of proof that may support your excuse and if your instructor does not approve it, you will be partially penalized for your absence.

Preparation & in-class performance. Thorough preparation of the materials to be covered in each session as well as in-class performance will be graded on a four-point scale.  Students who come in well prepared and perform well will get four points each day. Those who are not well prepared, do not participate, do not pay attention, or disrupt the class, will receive lower scores accordingly. Absence, of course, scores a zero. Students are expected to prepare beforehand the material to be covered in class, such as new vocabulary, grammar, and sentence patterns.  A detailed session-by-session schedule is provided for this purpose. Pagers and cell phones should be turned off before the beginning of class.

Quizzes and Tests. There will be a dictation quiz before each class covering the lesson of the day’s vocabulary and grammar, testing both listening and writing skills. There will also be tests after the completion of every lesson. These tests will cover listening, reading, and writing skills, as well as knowledge of grammar and cultural aspects. Lesson 5 and Lesson 10 will be separately tested as part of the written Mid-term and Final Exams. Each student’s two lowest test scores during the semester (including zero for a missed test) will be dropped when calculating his/her final grade. There will be no make-up tests or tests taken in advance, unless the student has a legitimate reason and informs the instructor in a timely fashion. Each student’s lowest three quiz scores during the semester will be also dropped when calculating the final grade.

 Homework (includes workbook and character workbook).  Homework will be due on the due day. We’ll do the listening and speaking exercises in the Homework Book together in class. Students are responsible for sections of the reading comprehension, grammar and usage, and translation for which help is available from the course website (http://mason.gmu.edu/~kzhang/homeworkanswers.html). The last section of essay writing listed in the workbook is optional and just for extra credits. Late homework will be corrected, but penalized 50% of the possible score.

Honor Code. The George Mason University Honor Code is in effect throughout the entire duration of the course and applies to all course work carried out inside and outside the classroom. It is the responsibility of each student to be familiar with the GMU Honor System and Code as laid out in the Student Handbook. Please refer to http://www.gmu.edu/mlstudents/handbook/honor.html for detailed information.

Preview and review each lesson by listening to the corresponding audio tapes before and after class.

Oral Exam. There will be two different kinds of oral exams given at the end of the semester.  One is a 5 min oral presentation for which each student will be required to give in front of the class on a topic of his or her choice.  Students should try to incorporate as much of the studied material/ grammar/vocabulary as possible, be creative in devising the form and content of their presentations. For example, the presentation can be a role-play, the telling of a story, the description of a picture or scene related to the lessons covered during the semester. The other is an oral proficiency test. You will be asked to come to your instructor’s office to conduct a conversation with her/him in Chinese for around fifteen minutes on the topics we have covered in class. Also, you will read a text of your choice in the character form for your instructor, who will then assign you randomly another text for you to read. Also, the instructor will then check your character workbook and all the chapter homework corrected and returned to you during the semester.

Mid-term Exam and Final Exam
There will be a written mid-term and a final exam. 40% of the midterm exam will cover Lessons 1 to 4, and 40% of the final exam will cover Lessons 6 to 19. 60% of the midterm Exam will cover L5, and 60% of the final will cover L10. The comprehensive exams will test each student’s listening, reading, and writing skills, and knowledge of grammar and cultural aspects. More details will be given in class.

Grades

Students’ final grades are composed as follows:

Class Participation   15 %
Homework               15 %
Quizzes and Tests    30 % (Quizzes 10%；Tests 20%)
Oral Presentation   10 %
Oral Test               10 %
Midterm Exam        10 %
Final Exam            10 %

Session Schedule