CHI 1100 Chinese Language I

Reason:
With China playing an increasingly more important role in world affairs and economy, proficiency in the Chinese language is in higher demand. In order to meet this demand a course in the Chinese language and culture is highly necessary.

 Course Description:
"Chinese Language I" is a semester-long course designed for students with no previous knowledge of Chinese; it introduces students to the official Chinese language--Mandarin. The course aims to help students obtain an adequate mastery of basic language skills in both spoken and written Chinese and lay a good foundation for further study of this language.

Credit Hours:  3.0

Student Learning Outcomes:
Upon completion of the course students are expected to

1. Master a set of essential sentence patterns;
2. Have a vocabulary of more than 300 Chinese characters;
3. Be able to talk with native Chinese speakers in daily-life settings;
4. Be able to write on simple topics; and
5. Have a better awareness of Chinese culture and society.

Topics:
In this course, through a variety of in-class activities such as sentence pattern practice, vocabulary-in-context, listening and reading comprehension, dialogue and role-play in groups and/or in pairs, students will learn to apply to various real-life scenarios their newly-learned vocabulary, language points, and sentence patterns.  Specifically, students will learn how to use Chinese in speech and writing on common topics such as the following:

1. Greetings;
2. Family;
3. Dates and Time;
4. Hobbies;
5. Visiting Friends;
6. Making Appointments;
7. School Life;
8. Talking about Weather;
9. Shopping and Travel.

Textbooks:
Yao, Tao-chung et al.  Integrated Chinese: Textbook, Level 1, Part 1, 2nd ed.  Boston:
   Cheng & Tsui, 2005.

---.  Integrated Chinese: Workbook,  2nd ed.  Boston: Cheng & Tsui, 2005.

---.  Integrated Chinese: Character Workbook, 2nd ed.  Boston: Cheng & Tsui, 2005.

Requirements and Evaluation:
The course requirements and final grade will be made up of the following components:

1. 2 tests = 200 points;
2. 10 quizzes = 200 points;
3. Homework =100 points; and
4. Final Exam =100 points.

Grading Scale:
A: 92 to 100%; A-: 90 to 91%;
B+: 88 to 89%; B: 83 to 87%; B-: 80 to 82%;
C+: 78 to 79%; C: 73 to 77%; C-: 70 to 72%;
D+: 68 to 69%; D: 60 to 67%;
F: 0 to 59%.