CHNS 111: Intensive Introductory Modern Chinese

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About Classmates Assessment/Grading Chinese Table Disability Access

Instructor: Jianhua Bai bai@kenyon.edu (ASC 112, 427-5530)
Office Hours: 11:00-12:00, 2-4:00 M. W. and by appointment
Schedule: 9:10-10:00 (M.W.), 9:40--10:45 (T.Th.)
, ASC 126
AT Classes

Required Texts:
Integrated Chinese, Level 1, Part 1 (IC) by Liu, Yao et al.
Integrated Chinese Workbook, (ICW) Level 1, Part 1
Integrated Chinese Character Workbook, (ICCW) Level 1, Part 1

Access the audio files
http://kenyon.libguides.com/er.php?course_id=44951
In the search box on the front page, type in Bai, and click on the course number: KEN-CHNS111Y. Enter the password.

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Useful Links:

http://www.archchinese.com/chinese_english_dictionary.html

http://www.eon.com.hk/estroke/

Click here to go to a web site to use flashcards to practice characters.

Click here to do more exercises.

Click here for another web site to practice sounds and tones.

Click here for a vocabulary exercise

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Course Description
This is the basic introductory language course in Modern Standard Chinese (Putonghua). This course will develop students' basic communicative competence in the Chinese language and their understanding of the Chinese culture. Throughout the course, students develop their listening, speaking, reading and writing skills across the three communicative modes: interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational. In the first semester, the pronunciation and some basic grammar will be taught. The bulk of in-class work will be devoted to developing oral and aural skills. There will also be an introduction to the Chinese writing system.

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Weekly Routine
1. Explanation
    The instructor will introduce and explain the content. Content here refers to the communicative tasks and the vocabulary, grammar, and cultural information that are required for accomplishing the communicative tasks specified. In order to ensure effective instruction and learning it is crucial that everyone prepares well before class: learn the new words, go through the texts and listen to the tape-recordings of the chapter at least once. It is a good idea to work in pairs or small groups.

2. Practice
    A foreign language is acquired only as a consequence of using that language. The purpose of the practice classes is to build each week's new material into an increasingly versatile proficiency. Practice is the most important activity in this course. Every minute is valuable to you. Every class meeting contributes, cumulatively, to the attainment of your personal objective.
    To practice means to interact with all others in the class. Therefore active participation in the practice class activities is essential for our success in this course. In addition to the practice classes you will also have regular home assignment, either paper-pencil or on the computer.

3. Homework
You should  start on the writing of characters late Monday and submit the completed character workbook on Thursdays. Start the rest of the sections of the workbooks by Tuesday and turn them in during class on Mondays. Homework submitted late will earn no credits.

4. Evaluation
    Evaluation provides each student multiple opportunities to demonstrate incremental skill development over discrete segments of material. It provides feedback for both  teaching and learning. Each weekly evaluation is cumulative, including all previous material plus the most recent week's new material.

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Assignments and Evaluation
    The final letter grade assigned represents the judgement of the following aspects:
    1. Weekly evaluations 55%.
        ---the weekly quiz=15 points (listening, speaking, reading and writing)
        ---class participation=20 points (3.5 points for each day, 2 points for each AT class)
        ---assignments=20 points (Characters 5 (due Thur.), Listening 5, Reading, 5 and Writing 5, due every Monday. Late work will be corrected, but will earn no credits.)

    2. Two examinations: Mid-term (10/10) 20%; Final (6:30-8:30 pm, Dec.19) 25%.
Each examination will consists of listening, speaking, reading and writing. The following is a description of how the numbers convert to letter grade: A (95-100), A- (90-94.9), B+ (86-89.9), : B (82-85.9), B- (78-81.9), C+ (
75-77.9) C (72 -74.9) C- (68 -71.9), D+ (65 - 67.9), D (62-64.9), D- (60-61.9), F (0-59.9)


Guidelines for Preparing the Speaking Evaluation

The criterion for evaluating your speaking performance is to see how well you can accomplish the specified communicative tasks that require the following.  1) Good pronunciation and intonation (a good way for preparing for this is to listen to the tapes in addition to participating in the AT classes). 2) Correct use of vocabulary and grammatical patterns (A good technique is to practice the patterns with a classmate and correct each other whenever necessary). It is easy to read and understand the explanation in the text, but UNDERSTANDING the notes cannot ensure your accurate USE of the vocabulary and grammatical patterns). 3) Fluency, which does not equal speed; a fluent conversation should be natural, interactive and meaningful. 4) Quantity, which means you should always try and use as many as you can of the words and grammatical patterns we have learned so far.

   Guidelines for Preparing the Reading and Writing Evaluation

The criterion for evaluating your reading and writing is to see how well you can recognize the learned characters and how well you can use them in writing to communicate. Some of the test items will include 1) a dictation, 2) using words in your own sentences, 3) complete unfinished sentences, 4) put words into correct and meaningful orders, 5) read a passage and answer questions about the passage, 6) the formats that you find from the IC Workbook.

Some of the useful learning techniques include 1) the use of flash cards. 2) Semantic map, putting semantically similar words together on one page for effective memorization. For instance you can put words about family together. 3) Learning to relate to the parts of the new words to the parts of words that you already know. 4) Reading and listening repeatedly to the lessons. 5) Sentence Anagram: taking the sentence apart into different phrases and put the parts back together into meaningful sentences.  6) Talking to yourself such as composing interesting dialogue that systematically recycle the words that you have learned.
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Chinese Table
    Students and teachers of Chinese have dinner together every Wednesday from 5:30 to 6:30 downstairs of Pierce Dining Hall..

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Calendar for Week One
Dates During-class Activities Post-class Tasks
8/30 Intro. to the course
Chinese sounds and tones and learn to say "hi."

Read IC pp1-17

9/3

Sounds and tones Practice
Chinese sounds and tones and learn how to do greetings.

Start ICW (workbook)
9/4   Sounds and tones Practice
Integrated Chinese (IC) 1
Practice writing of characters of IC1 and do listening, reading and writing exercises of ICW.
9/5 More practice of tones and sounds
Learn to greet each other and describe oneself.
Introduction to the writing system and more speaking practice.
 
9/6

Review

Review and a trial speaking quiz.

 
9/7

Review of IC 1: greeting, names, nationalities, saying good bye, etc.

Review and a trial written quiz.

Complete workbook (due Monday).

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Daily Schedule of IC 2
Date During-class Activities Post-class Assignments
9/10

The first half of IC 2: talking about families.

Character practice (first half) of ICCW (IC2), 
Practice the dialogue.

Study and learn the new words.
Listen to the dialogues of IC 2.

9/11

Review of the first part of IC 2: talking about family members
Second half of IC 2: taking about family and profession/occupations.

Reading and writing exercises of Part One of ICW.
Character practice (second half) of ICCW.

Study IC2 and come to class with questions if you have any

9/12

Talking about Families: pattern drills, vocabulary exercises and role play.

Recycle/practice IC 2
Practicing reading and writing of the characters of IC 2.

Reading and writing exercises of Part Two of ICW.
Do Listening exercises of IC 2

9/13

No Class today (made up Friday 9/7)

Review of IC 2

Listen to the dialogues untill you can understand the dialogue without looking at the book.

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Daily Schedule of IC 3
Date During-class Activities Post-class Assignments
9/17

Review of IC 2: greeting, names, nationalities, family, etc.

a written quiz (Lessons 1 and 2)

Character practice, first half of ICCW
Practice the dialogue.

Study and learn the new words.
Listen to the dialogues of IC 3.

9/18

First half of IC 3: "Inviting someone out for dinner." 
Learn more numbers and days of the week

Reading and writing exercises of Part One of ICW.
Character practice, second half of ICCW.
9/19

Review of the first part of IC 3
Second half of IC 3: asking time and etc.

Reading and writing exercises of Part Two of ICW.

9/20

A role play that integrates IC1-3
Listening activities of ICW

Recycle/practice IC 3
Practicing reading and writing of the characters of IC 3

Review of IC 3
Do Listening exercises of IC3

Listen to the text untill you can understand the dialogue without looking at the book.

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Daily Schedule of IC 4

Date During-class Activities Post-class Assignments
9/24

Review of IC 3: greeting, nationalities, family, telling times, inviting etc.

Comprehensive review and a speaking quiz

Character practice, first half of ICCW
Practice the first dialogue.
9/25

First half of IC 4: "talking about hobbies." 

Reading and writing exercises of Part One of ICW.  
Character practice, second half of ICCW.
9/26

Review of the first part of IC 4
Second part of IC 4: talking about family and hobbies

Reading and writing exercises of Part Two of ICW.

9/27

Recycle and practice the grammar of IC 4
Practicing reading and writing of the characters of IC 4

Reciew of IC4
Do Listening exercises of IC 4 and Study the new words of IC 5

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Daily Schedule of IC 5

Date During-class Activities Post-class Assignments
10/1

Review of IC 4: greeting, family, telling times, inviting, hobbies and etc
A role play that integrates IC1-4
Listening activities and Comprehensive review and a written quiz

Character practice, part 1 of ICCW
Practice the first dialogue
10/2

Part 1 of IC 5: "visiting friends" 

Reading and writing exercises of Part One of ICW.
Character practice, second part of ICCW
10/3

Review of the first part of IC 5, visiting-friends protocol
The remaining part of IC 5: narrating, telling a story etc.

Reading and writing exercises of Part Two of ICW.
10/4 Practicing reading and writing of the characters of IC 5 Review IC5

Do Listening exercises of IC
5

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Daily Schedule of Midterm Review

Date During-class Activities Post-class Assignments
10/8 Review for Midterm Exam Review
10/9 Mid-term speaking Evaluation (in pairs) Review
10/10 Review and Mid-term written exam
 
10/11,12 Oct. break Study IC 6

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Daily Schedule of IC 6
Date During-class Activities Post-class Assignments
10/15

IC 6: "making a phone call/appointment"

 
10/16

IC 6: "making a phone call/appointment"

Reading and writing exercises of Part One of ICW.  
Character practice, second half of ICCW.
10/17 Review of the first part of IC 6
Finish  IC 6: appointments, asking for help etc
Reading and writing exercises of Part Two of ICW.
10/18 Finish IC6  

Daily Schedule of IC 7

Date During-class Activities Post-class Assignments
10/22 Review and a speaking quiz Character practice is optional from now-on. 
Practice the first dialogue.
10/23

IC7:, talking about studies and daily routine
Do the first dialogue of IC 7

Reading and writing exercises of Part One of ICW.  
10/24 Recycle and practice the grammar of IC 7
Practicing reading and writing of the characters of IC 7
Reading and writing exercises of Part Two of ICW.
10/25 Comprehensive review
 
Review of IC 7
Do Listening exercises of IC7
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Daily Schedule of IC 8
Date During-class Activities Post-class Assignments
10/29

review and a written quiz

 
10/30

Review of IC 7: how well people do things and etc.
First part of IC 8: "talking about school life" 

Practice the first part and Listen to IC8.
10/31

Review of the first part of IC 8
2nd dialogue of IC 8 "writing a letter"

Reading and writing exercises of Part One of ICW.  
11/1 Recycle and practice the grammar of IC 8
Practicing reading and writing of the characters of IC 8
Reading and writing exercises of Part Two of ICW.
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Daily Schedule of IC 9
Date During-class Activities Post-class Assignments
11/5

Review and a speaking quiz 

Listen to IC9.
Practice the dialogue.
11/6

The first dialogue of IC 9: "shopping"

Reading and writing exercises of Part One of ICW.  
11/7

The second dialogue of IC 9: "shopping"

Reading and writing exercises of Part Two of ICW.
11/8 Review of IC 9 "shopping"  
Practicing reading and writing of the characters of IC 9
Review of IC 9
Do Listening exercises of IC9
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Daily Schedule of IC 10
Date During-class Activities Post-class Assignments
11/12

Roleplay of shopping. Comprehensive review and a written quiz

IC 10 : the "weather stuff" 

Listen to IC10.
Practice the dialogue.
11/13

Review of the first part of IC 10
2nd part of IC 10

Reading and writing exercises of Part One of ICW.  
11/14

Recycle and practice the grammar (comparison) of IC 10

 
11/15 Review of IC 9 and 10 Happy Fall Break!!
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Daily Schedule of IC 11
Date During-class Activities Post-class Assignments
11/26-30 Review of IC 8, 9 and 10 and one extra lesson
 
  Practice the dialogue.

Daily Schedule of the Last 2 Weeks

  12/3-13

Final Review

Final Speaking Assessment (see test guidlines): each pair will have 15 minutes for this comprehensive cummulative test. This is 20% of the final exam.

Listening, reading and writing Reviews (handouts)
Stories: we will learn a story this week; class activities include practicing new words and sentence patterns, story retelling, role play and etc. Not all the new words are glossed, so it is a good idea to carry your dictionary around for these classes.

 

 

Listening to tapes and do reading and writing review. You should go over the exercises you have done so far and redo 1) those that you missed and 2) those that you didn't do correctly.

12/19 Final Written Exam 6:30-8:30 pm (Wedn.)  

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Disability Access Statement
If you have a hidden or visible disability which may require classroom or test accommodations please see me as soon as possible during a scheduled office hour. If you have not already done so, you must register with the Coordinator of Disability Services (Erin Salva, salvae@kenyon.edu, x5145), who is the individual responsible for coordinating accommodations and services for students with disabilities. All information and documentation of disability is strictly confidential. No accommodations will be granted in this course without notification from the Office of Disability Services.

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Academic Honesty

Kenyon College is, at the core, an intellectual community of scholars – students and faculty – engaged in the free and open exchange of ideas. Critical to this lively exchange and deep engagement with ideas is the academic integrity of our work, both inside and outside the classroom. At Kenyon we expect all students, at all times, to submit work that represents these standards of academic integrity.  It is the responsibility of each student to learn and practice the proper ways of documenting and acknowledging those whose ideas and words you have drawn upon (see Academic Honesty and Questions of Plagiarism in the Course Catalog).  Ignorance and carelessness are not excuses for academic dishonesty.  

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Title IX

Kenyon College seeks to provide an environment that is free of bias, discrimination, and harassment.  If you have been the victim of sexual harassment/misconduct/assault we encourage you to report this.   If you report this to a faculty member, she or he must notify our college's Title IX coordinator about the basic facts of the incident (you may choose whether you or anyone involved is identified by name).  For more information about your options at Kenyon, please go to: http://www.kenyon.edu/directories/offices-services/office-of-equal-opportunity/sexual-assault-and-harassment/


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