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CHN10010

Academic Year 2025/2026

Chinese for Beginners (CHN10010)

Subject:
Chinese Studies
College:
VP for Global Engagement
School:
Irish Institute for Chinese St
Level:
1 (Introductory)
Credits:
5
Module Coordinator:
Dr Caitríona Osborne
Trimester:
Autumn and Spring (separate)
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

This is an introductory level course for students who have no (or very little) prior knowledge of Chinese language. The aim is, with guided study, to familiarize students with the basics of spoken and written forms of Chinese in order to help them acquire basic communicative competence. The course will cover pronunciation and tones, basic sentence structures, useful daily expressions, core vocabulary and high-frequency appearing characters.

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

On completion of this course, students will be able to:
1) Understand phrases and sentences on topics such as common greetings, oneself, family and friends, dates and time, directions and locations, and going shopping (when given adequate time and relevant cues);
2) Read simple texts, standardized messages, phrases and expressions on topics given above;
3) Achieve mastery of the Pinyin (Romanisation of Standard Chinese) system, and pronounce acquired vocabulary and short phrases with the correct tones;
4) Ask questions and make sentences involving learned material;
5) Write simple texts on the topics learned using characters;
6) Type in Chinese;
7) Build up a vocabulary of 150-200 words;
8) Achieve HSK level 1 proficiency.

Indicative Module Content:

The following is a guide and may be subject to slight change in timing of delivery.

Week 1: Introduction to the Chinese language, phonetics and greetings
Week 2: The interrogative pronouns "什么", "谁" and "哪"; The “是” sentence; Interrogative sentence with “吗”; The structural particle “的”; The interrogative particle “呢”.
Week 3: The interrogative pronoun "几" and "怎么"; Numbers below 100; “了” indicating a change; The interrogative phrase “多+大”; The modal verb “会”; Sentences with an adjectival predicate.
Week 4: Expression of dates; Sentence with a nominal predicate; "去"+place+ to do sth.; The modal verb “想”; The interrogative pronoun “多少”; The measure words “个” and “口”; Expression of money.
Week 5: The verb “在”; The interrogative pronoun “哪儿”; The preposition “在”; The interrogative particle “呢”.
Week 6: The “有” sentence indicating existence; The conjunction “和”; The modal verb “能”; Imperative sentence with “请”.
Week 7: Expression of time; Time word used as an adverbial; The noun “前”.
Week 8: The interrogative pronoun "怎么样”; Sentence with a subject-predicate phrase as the predicate; The adverb “太”; The modal verb “会”.
Week 9: The interjection “喂”; “在……呢” used to indicate an action in progress; The modal particle “吧”.
Week 10: “了” indicating occurrence or completion; The noun “后”; The modal particle “啊”; The adverb “都”.
Week 11: The structure “是…….的” used to emphasize time, place, or manner.
Week 12: Revision and exam preparation.

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Specified Learning Activities

36

Autonomous Student Learning

38

Lectures

36

Total

110


Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
Students will learn basic conversations on daily topics through interactive workshops, oral practice, vocabulary work and tutorials. The course also introduces students to learning Chinese with the assistance of computers, smartphones and other online resources.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations
Learning Requirements:

No prior knowledge of the language is required.

Learning Exclusions:

Students who are native Mandarin speakers, or those whose Mandarin Chinese level is equal to or higher than HSK level 1, are not eligible to take this module as an elective.

The lecturer reserves the right to assess the language competence of all students. Students whose competence is incompatible with the level of their chosen elective module will be advised to transfer to a more appropriate language module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Incompatibles:
LANG10020 - Chinese Gen Purp 1, LANG10160 - Chinese Gen Purp 2, LANG20140 - Chinese L & C 3, LANG20320 - Chinese L&C 4, LANG20420 - Chinese Gen Purp 3

Equivalents:
Chinese Language Experience I (BCHN10030)


 

Assessment Strategy
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Assignment(Including Essay): A typed self-introduction. This transcript will be used in your video project for the self-introduction. Week 7 Standard conversion grade scale 40% No
10
No
Exam (In-person): Final exam (reading, writing, speaking and listening) - scheduling to be negotiated with class Week 14, Week 15 Standard conversion grade scale 40% No
30
No
Individual Project: A video (max. 4 minutes) including: self-introduction, day-in-the-life diary and a conversation with a friend. Week 11 Standard conversion grade scale 40% No
30
No
Participation in Learning Activities: Participation in each class Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 8, Week 9, Week 10, Week 11, Week 12 Standard conversion grade scale 40% No
10
No
Quizzes/Short Exercises: One in-class test (reading, writing and listening) Week 4 Standard conversion grade scale 40% No
20
No

Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 

Remediation Type Remediation Timing
In-Module Resit Prior to relevant Programme Exam Board
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Not yet recorded.

Name Role
Dr Caitríona Osborne Lecturer / Co-Lecturer