Course Syllabus

CHIN 1010 Elementary Chinese I

Course Description

This course provides an introduction to the Chinese language and the cultures of Chinese-speaking peoples. It is designed for students with no previous Chinese study. During the course, students develop basic oral and listening communication skills by participating in activities that require them to use Chinese in a variety of situations. As a result of developing these skills, they also acquire the ability to read and write Chinese at a basic level. Students learn to communicate about topics that are most familiar to them (e.g., self, family, home, school, daily and recent activities), and they learn to appreciate ways of life different from their own. This course is interactive with a focus on learner participation and basic conversation practice in Chinese.

Justification

This course is a pre-requisite for CHIN 1020, which satisfies the foreign language requirement for the Associate of Arts degree at Snow College. It is also a prerequisite for intermediate and advanced study of the language. Students are introduced to the language, cultures, and values of Chinese-speaking peoples, the largest linguistic group in the world. Globalization has increased the influence of the Chinese language and its culture in many areas, including business, communication, manufacturing and technology, art, and education. A knowledge of Chinese and Chinese culture benefits college students in their future personal lives, as well as in their academic and professional careers.

General Education Outcomes

1. A student who completes the GE curriculum has a fundamental knowledge of human cultures and the natural world. Students demonstrate fundamental knowledge of sinophone cultures through in-class presentations that include research on specific cultural topics or practices and a description/demonstration of an aspect of one or several of these cultures (e.g., cooking, music, games, dance, art, architecture).
2. A student who completes the GE curriculum can read and research effectively within disciplines. Students are exposed to Chinese language and sinophone cultures through video, text, and audio sources on the Internet and through music. They demonstrate their ability to read and interpret Chinese texts through structured online tasks, as well as written homework assignments and written quizzes and exams, and subsequently evaluate its meaning and cultural significance.
3. A student who completes the GE curriculum can draw from multiple disciplines to address complex problems. Students are introduced to perspectives different from their own and learn through readings, discussions, and their own research how people from other countries and regions of the world address problems in unique ways that meet their needs. These experiences allow students to draw on international perspectives when facing complex problems. Students are assessed during in-class discussions, on homework assignments, and on written quizzes and exams.
4. A student who completes the GE curriculum can reason analytically, critically, and creatively. Students develop critical thinking skills as they learn Chinese, where they must draw clues based on their own experience from the aural and visual input they receive. Students complete verbal and written assignments that demonstrate the ability to reason analytically and creatively evaluate the cultures, facts, and values of sinophone peoples. Students are assessed during in-class discussions, on homework assignments, and on written quizzes and exams.

General Education Knowledge Area Outcomes

1. Integrated Explorations: Students must work with partners weekly to complete brief conversation exercises in Chinese during class. Students have pair/group work and presentation(s) for Chinese language and culture on a regular basis, in class, to learn the skill of effective team work. Students demonstrate this skill throughout their pair/group activities and presentations in class. Integrated Explorations: Students must work with partners weekly to complete brief conversation exercises in Chinese during class. Students have pair/group work and presentation(s) for Chinese language and culture on a regular basis, in class, to learn the skill of effective team work. Students demonstrate this skill throughout their pair/group activities and presentations in class.

Student Learning Outcomes

1. Interpretive Listening: Students will understand some everyday words, phrases, and questions about themselves, their personal experiences, and their surroundings, when people speak slowly and clearly or there is repetition.
2. Interpretive Reading: Students will understand some familiar words and characters, phrases, and simple sentences.
3. Interpersonal Spoken: Students will interact with help using words, phrases, and memorized expressions. They will be able to answer simple questions on very familiar topics.
4. Presentational Spoken: Students will provide information about themselves and their immediate surroundings using words, phrases, and memorized expressions.
5. Presentational Written: Students will be able to write and read a small number of Chinese characters.
6. Cultural Opportunities: Students will seek opportunities to learn about and experience new cultures outside of class.
7. Cultural Understanding: Students will demonstrate a basic knowledge of cultural traditions, customs, and values in Chinese culture.

Course Content

This course will combine a communicative approach with a more structured approach based on textbook, workbook, as well as audio materials. During this semester approximately the first half of the text will be completed. This course will cover commonly used vocabulary, a certain number of Chinese characters, basic grammar rules, and practice with Pinyin and tones. There will be greater emphasis on oral skills than on written skills. This content is delivered through interactive lecture, multimedia presentation, partner and group work, and instructor modeling of concepts. This course addresses cultural differences overtly during cultural lessons (see topics above) and indirectly via images presented to the class during everyday lessons that represent Chinese-speaking peoples from different ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, abilities, etc.