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.