CHNS 111: Intensive Introductory Modern Chinese

Instructor: Jianhua Bai bai@kenyon.edu (ASC 112, 427-5530)
Office Hours: 10:10-12:00 M.W. 10:00-11:00 T.R. and by appointment
Schedule: 9:10-10:00 (MWF) and 8:40 -- 9:30 Tue and Thur in CHL 114 (the MLL lab in the library)
AT Classes: 4:10 and 7:10
Required Texts:
Integrated Chinese, Level 1, Part 1 (IC) by Tao-chung Yao et al.
Integrated Chinese Workbook, (ICW) Level 1, Part 1
Integrated Chinese Character Workbook, (ICCW) Level 1, Part 1
Concise English-Chinese, Chinese-English Dictionary
Home Course Description Weekly Routine Weekly Calendar
About Classmates Assessment/Grading Chinese Table Disability Access

Daily Schedules for:
8/27---8/31 9/3---9/7 9/10---9/14 9/17---9/21 9/24---9/28 10/1---10/5 10/8---10/12 10/15--10/19
10/22--10/26 10/29---11/2 11/5-11/9 11/12--11/16 Vacation!

Last 3 Weeks 

Review Guide for:

Week 1

 Week  2  Week 3  Week 4

Week 5

 Week 6  Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

     

Click here to listen to the recordings of the text and do more exercises.

Click here to practice your vocabulary.

Click here to listen to the recordings (on Kenyon Server)

Click here to go to a web site to practice your sounds and tones.

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

Click here to go to a USC webpage to practice chracters.

Click here to learn more about the Chinese language (UCLA).

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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. Class meetings range from 8 to 9 hours per week in the first semester to 7 hours per week in the second. There will be required Self Language Practice as well. Enrollment limited to 15.

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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 get the two sections, Character , done and turn it in Wednesday and then get the other three sections, listening, reading and writing, done and turn them in Friday. On Fridays when we have a written quiz we will spend the first 10-15 min. of the Friday class to go over the reading and writing sections and make sure you have time to ask questions that you may have from the workbook.

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 60%.
        ---the weekly quiz=15 points (listening, speaking, reading and writing)
        ---class participation=20 points
        ---assignments=20 points (Characters 5, due Wednesday; Listening 5, Reading, 5 and Writing 5, due every Friday. Late work will be corrected, but will earn no credits.)
        ---Regular listening activity=5 points (You can listen to the recordings in the listening lab or on a computer. Every weekly quiz consists of one section to evaluate your listening ability.)
    2. Two examinations: Mid-term (10/13) 20%; Final (1:30-3:30, Dec.18) 20%.
Each examination will consists of two parts: 1) Listening and speaking and 2)Reading and writing. The two parts will be taken on separate days.

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 Tuesday from 5:30 to 6:30 at Place TBA.

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Calendar for Week One
Dates During-class Activities Post-class Tasks
8/27 Intro. to the course
Chinese sounds and tones and learn to say "hi."		 Read IC pp1-14
8/28 Sounds and tones Practice
Learn to say "goodbye"		 Read IC pp15-20
8/29 Sounds and tones Practice
Chapter 1		   I and II of ICW
8/30 More practice of tones and sounds
Learn to greet each other and describe oneself.
Introduction to the writing system and more speaking practice.		 Practice writing of characters of IC1
8/31 Chapter 1
Learn to describe oneself and carry one a small talk.

More practice of tones and sounds
Speaking practice: dialogue 1 and 2		 Listen to IC 1
Prepare for IC 2

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Daily Schedule of Week 2
Date Pre-class Work During-class Activities Post-class Assignments
9/3 Study and learn the new words of the first half of IC 2.
Listen to the first dialogue once.		 Review of IC 1: greeting, names, nationalities, saying good bye, etc.
The first half of IC 2: talking about families		 Character practice (first half) of ICCW, 
Practice the dialogue.
9/4 Study and learn the new words of the second half of IC 2.
Listen to both dialogues of IC 2.		 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, 
9/5 Study IC2 and come to class with questions if you have any. 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
9/6 Listen to the text untill you can understand the dialogue without looking at the book. Talking about Families: pattern drills, vocabulary exercises and role play. Review of IC 2
9/7 General Review of IC 2 Comprehensive review and a speaking quiz Study the new words of IC 3.

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Daily Schedule of Week 3
Date Pre-class Work During-class Activities Post-class Assignments
9/10 Study and learn the new words of the first half of IC 3.
Listen to the IC3 dialogue once.		 Review of IC 2: greeting, names, nationalities, family, etc.
First half of IC 3: "Inviting someone out for dinner." 
Learn more numbers and days of the week		 Character practice, first half of ICCW
Practice the dialogue.
9/11 Study and learn the new words of the second half of IC 3.
Listen to both dialogues of IC 3.		 Review of the first part of IC 3
Second half of IC 3: asking time and etc.		 Reading and writing exercises of Part One of ICW.
Character practice, second half of ICCW.
9/12 Study IC3 and come to class with questions if you have any. Recycle/practice IC 3
Practicing reading and writing of the characters of IC 3		 Reading and writing exercises of Part Two of ICW.
9/13 Listen to the text untill you can understand the dialogue without looking at the book. A role play that integrates IC1-3
Listening activities of ICW		 Review of IC 3
Do Listening exercises of IC3
9/14 General Review of IC 3 Comprehensive review and a written quiz Study the new words of IC 4.

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Daily Schedule of Week 4

Date Pre-class Work During-class Activities Post-class Assignments
9/17 Study and learn the new words of the first half of IC4.
Listen to the IC4 dialogue once.		 Review of IC 3: greeting, nationalities, family, telling times, inviting etc.
First half of IC 4: "talking about hobbies." 		 Character practice, first half of ICCW
Practice the first dialogue.
9/18 Study and learn the new words of the second half of IC 4.
Listen to both dialogues of IC 4.		 Review of the first part of IC 4
Second part of IC 4: talking about family and hobbies		 Reading and writing exercises of Part One of ICW.  
Character practice, second half of ICCW.
9/19 Study IC 4 and come to class with questions if you have any. Recycle and practice the grammar of IC 4
Practicing reading and writing of the characters of IC 4		 Reading and writing exercises of Part Two of ICW.
9/20 Listen to the text untill you can understand the dialogues without looking at the book. Review of IC4
A role play that integrates IC1-4
Listening activities		 Reciew of IC4
Do Listening exercises of IC 4
9/21 General Review of IC 4 Comprehensive review and a speaking quiz Study the new words of IC 5.

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Daily Schedule of Week 5

Date Pre-class Work During-class Activities Post-class Assignments
9/24 Study and learn the new words of the first half of IC 5.
Listen to the IC5 dialogue once.		 Review of IC 4: greeting, family, telling times, inviting, hobbies and etc
Part 1 of IC 5: "visiting friends" 		 Character practice, part 1 of ICCW
Practice the first dialogue
9/25 Study and learn the new words of the second half of IC 5.
Listen to both dialogues of IC 5.		 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 One of ICW.
Character practice, second part of ICCW
9/26 Study IC 4 and come to class with questions if you have any. Recycle/ practice IC 5

Practicing reading and writing of the characters of IC 5		 Reading and writing exercises of Part Two of ICW.
9/27 Listen to the text untill you can understand the dialogues without looking at the book. Review of IC5
A role play that integrates IC1-5
Listening activities of ICW5		 Review IC5

Do Listening exercises of IC5
9/28 General Review of IC 5 Comprehensive review and a written quiz General review

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Daily Schedule of Week 6

Date Pre-class Work During-class Activities Post-class Assignments
10/1 Study and learn the new words of the first half of IC 6.
Listen to the IC6 dialogue once.		 Review of IC 5: greeting, nationalities, family, telling times, inviting etc.
begin IC 6 		 Character practice of ICCW
10/2 Study and learn the new words of the first half of IC 6.
Listen to the IC6 dialogue once.		 Review of IC 5: visiting, and talking about family,  hobbies etc.
Pp 109-112 of IC 6: "making a phone call/appointment" 		 Reading and writing exercises of Part One of ICW.
10/3 Study and learn the new words of the second half of IC 6.
Listen to both dialogues of IC 6.		 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.  
Character practice
10/4 Study IC 6 and come to class with questions if you have any. Recycle and practice the grammar of IC 6 such as "directional compl."
Practicing reading and writing of the characters of IC 6		 Revew of IC6
10/5 Listen to the text untill you can understand both dialogues without looking at the book. Review IC6
A role play that integrates IC1-6 and some computer work
Do Listening exercises of IC6

Daily Schedule of Week 7

Date During-class Activities Post-class Assignments
10/8 and 9 Reading Days
Click here for the review guidlines.		 Review
10/10, 11, 12 Review and Mid-term exam Prepare for IC 7

Mid-term Speaking Test Description
1. The Setting
A visits B in his or her home.

Content

1. A knocks on B's door and B welcomes A and offers something to drink.
2. Mutual greetings and small talk (family, what they do and what their hobbies are)
3. Asking each other what he/she did the previous evening (zuo2tian1 wan3shang4). The response should be a 3-sentence "narration".
4. Natural disengagement (such as xian4zai4 ji3dian3 le? Wo3 you3 shi4, or wo3 yao4 qu4 tu2shu1guan3 zai4jian4.)
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Daily Schedule of Week 8

Date Pre-class Work During-class Activities Post-class Assignments
10/15 Study and learn the new words of the first half of IC 7.
Listen to the IC7 dialogue once.		 Review of greeting, family, telling times, inviting, hobbies, making appointment and etc.

New dialogue: "studying Chinese" 		 Character practice is optional from now-on. 
Practice the first dialogue.
10/16 Study and learn the new words of the second half of IC 7.
Listen to both dialogues of IC 7.		 Review of the first part of IC 7, talking about studies and daily routine
Do the second dialogue of IC 7		 Reading and writing exercises of Part One of ICW.  
10/17 Study pp 133-137 of IC 7 and come to class with questions if you have any. 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.
10/18 Listen to the text until you can understand the dialogues without looking at the book. Pattern drills, vocabulary exercises of IC7
A role play that integrates IC1-7
Listening activities of ICW7		 Review of IC 7
Do Listening exercises of IC7
10/19 General Review of IC 7 Comprehensive review Review of IC 7 and study the new words of IC 8.
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Daily Schedule of Week 9
Date Pre-class Work During-class Activities Post-class Assignments
10/22 Study and learn the new words of the first half of IC 8.
Listen to the IC8 dialogue once.		 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.
10/23 Study and learn the new words of the second half of IC 8.
Listen to both dialogues of IC 8.		 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.  
10/24 Study the lesson again and come to class with questions if you have any. 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.
10/25 Listen to the text untill you can understand the dialogue without looking at the book. Pattern drills, vocabulary exercises of IC8
Describing your studies and "your busiest day"
Listening activities		 Review of IC 8
Do Listening exercises of IC8
10/26 General Review of IC 8 Comprehensive review and a speaking quiz Review of IC 8 and study the new words of IC 9
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Daily Schedule of Week 10
Date Pre-class Work During-class Activities Post-class Assignments
10/29 Study and learn the new words of the first half of IC 9.
Listen to the IC9 dialogue once.		 Review of IC 8
The first dialogue of IC 9: "shopping" 		 Listen to IC9.
Practice the dialogue.
10/30 Study and learn the new words of the second half of IC 9.
Listen to both dialogues of IC 9.		 Review of the first part of IC 9
2nd dialogue of IC 9 "buying shoes"		 Reading and writing exercises of Part One of ICW.  
10/31 Study the lesson again and come to class with questions if you have any. Recycle and practice the grammar of IC 9
Practicing reading and writing of the characters of IC 9		 Reading and writing exercises of Part Two of ICW.
11/1 Listen to the text until you can understand the dialogue without looking at the book. Pattern drills, vocabulary exercises of IC9
Roleplay of shopping		 Review of IC 9
Do Listening exercises of IC9
11/2 General Review of IC 9 Comprehensive review and a written quiz Review of IC 9 and study the new words of IC 10
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Daily Schedule of Week 11

Date Pre-class Work During-class Activities Post-class Assignments
11/5 Study and learn the new words of the first half of IC 10.
Listen to the IC10 dialogue.		 Review of IC 9 "shopping"
IC 10 : the "weather stuff" 		 Listen to IC10.
Practice the dialogue.
11/6 Study and learn the new words of the second half of IC 10.
Listen to both dialogues of IC10.		 Review of the first part of IC 10
2nd dialogue of IC 10		 Reading and writing exercises of Part One of ICW.  
11/7 Study the lesson again and come to class with questions if you have any. Recycle and practice the grammar (comparison) of IC 10
Practicing reading and writing of the characters of IC 10		 Reading and writing exercises of Part Two of ICW.
11/8 Listen to the text until you can understand the dialogue without looking at the book. Pattern drills, vocabulary exercises of IC10
Roleplay of talking about weather and etc.
Listening activities		 Review of IC 10
Do Listening exercises of IC10
11/9 General Review of IC 10 Comprehensive review and a speaking quiz Review of IC 10 and study the new words of IC 11
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Daily Schedule of Week 12
Date Pre-class Work During-class Activities Post-class Assignments
11/12 Study and learn the new words of the first half of IC 11.
Listen to the IC11 dialogue.		 Review of IC 10 "talking about weather"
IC 11: Learn "how to get around" 		 Listen to IC11.
Practice the dialogue.
11/13 Study and learn the new words of the second half of IC 11.
Listen to both dialogues of IC11.		 Review of the first part of IC 11
2nd dialogue of IC 11		 Reading and writing exercises of Part One of ICW.  
11/14 Study the lesson again and come to class with questions if you have any. Recycle and practice the grammar (comparison) of IC 11
Practicing reading and writing of the characters of IC 11
Roleplay: asking for directions		 Reading and writing exercises of Part Two of ICW.
11/15 Listen to the text until you can understand the dialogue without looking at the book. Pattern drills, vocabulary exercises of IC11
Roleplay of asking for directions
Reading comprehension practice.		 Review of IC 11
Do Listening exercises of IC11
11/16 General Review of IC 11 General reivew and as written quiz  
11/17--25 Happy Thanksgiving!   No homeworkJ

Daily Schedule of the Last 3 Weeks of Classes

11/26--12/3 IC 11

Speaking Reviews (handouts)
Stories: we will learn 2 stories 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.		 Group work:story telling
Role-play
Written exercises (handouts)
12/6 Final Speaking Assessment (see test guidlines): each pair will have 15 minutes for this comprehensive cummulative test. This is 20% of the final exam.
12/6--11 Listening, reading and writing Reviews (handouts)
Stories: we will learn 2 stories 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.
Final Written Exam: 1:30-3:30, Dec. 18th.
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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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