For students with abolutely no background in Chinese. (Even if you think your Mandarin is minimal, you should take a Placement Test, or you will be asked to drop the course, often by which time it will be too late for you to add another course or to let someone else get in this course. If you are asked to drop the course at any point in time in the semester, you cannot use the excuse to stay in class that it is too late for you to DROP&ADD another course and that you need to maintain a certain number of credit hours in this semester.)
Students will learn the Pinyin spelling system, pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammatical patterns necessary for basic communicative tasks. Students will learn to write approximately 250 Chinese characters (both the traditional and the simplified will be presented, but the student is required to stick to just one system in all his/her written assignments that involve characters). The course emphasizes on acquiring conversational ability in Mandarin. Chinese culture will be introduced. Weekly laboratory assignment and tutorial participation are required to receive full credit. |