Syllabus for Chinese 3

General Course Description:

The emphasis in this class is on building up vocabulary and sentence patterns in communicative contexts, and building a solid foundation in pronunciation. Students will expand their ability to carry out simple conversations in Chinese on a limited range of topics. Reading and writing (using traditional or complex characters) will be developed in conjunction with speaking and listening skills. Students will be expected to speak, read, and write all new words that appear in vocabulary lists in the main textbook unless otherwise noted by the instructor.

Media: Audio material is available on line at the Language Learning Center, Olson 53. Students are encouraged to use the voice recording software available in Olson 57 outside of class. Olson 18 and 18A may also be used for listening. Students will prepare and perform role-plays in class. Video and web-based instruction will be used to supplement regular classroom instruction. Many supplemental materials to help you learn, as well as homework assignments, are available through the course web site. Students should familiarize themselves with the web site as soon as possible.See the expanded list of on-line resources below.

Tutoring: Tutoring is available in Sproul 316 after the second week of class. Students are encouraged to attend at least two 20-minute sessions with the tutor or instructor over the course of the term, one of which should be prior to the middle of the term. Students may come individually or in pairs. The extra effort you make to attend tutoring sessions will be reflected in your class participation evaluation. Asking questions in English is fine, but sessions spent in conversation practice, pronunciation correction, or pattern practice will have a stronger positive effect on your learning, and hence your grade.

Classroom exercises: Classroom exercises will allow students to practice in communicative situations. Students turn in written assignments and have short vocabulary quizzes on a daily basis. Character worksheets are collected, so see the web page for more information on how to use them effectively.

Learning Chinese requires a commitment of time and effort in order to be effective, so students should expect to spend around two hours every day preparing for class. Your attendance and active participation at each class session is required. To strengthen your classroom performance, it is essential that you come to class well-prepared. Your attendance and classroom performance will be evaluated and reflected in your final grade.

Textbooks:

• Integrated Chinese Level 1 Part 2, Textbook (Traditional)
• Integrated Chinese Level 1 Part 2, Workbook (Traditional)
• Integrated Chinese Level 1 Part 2, Character Workbook (Traditional and simplified)

Grading Policy:

20% -- two tests at 10% each
15% -- final exam
20% -- homework
20% -- quizzes
10% -- class performance
15% -- three role play skits/speaking tests at 5% each

• Tests are given at the end of every two lessons. Tests include sections of listening comprehension, pinyin, grammar, composition, and usually a reading comprehension passage. Language learning is cumulative. While the current lessons are emphasized on each test, there is also some material from earlier lessons.
• The final exam is comprehensive with emphasis placed on the last two lessons covered. The sections of the final exam are similar to those of the lesson tests, with the exception of listening comprehension.
• Homework is to be turned in at the beginning of class on the day it is due. Homework turned in at the end of class is not accepted. In case of emergency, homework may be turned in to the instructor's office no later than 5:00pm on the due date, but the grade will be lowered by 10%. The lowest homework grade is dropped.
• Quizzes are given nearly every day in order to ensure that students internalize the material. Quizzes are usually in the form of dictations in which you are asked to write Chinese characters, pinyin, and/or English for words and sentences. The lowest quiz grade is dropped.
• Class performance includes attendance and participation. Students who come to class well-prepared and eager to participate will receive evaluation in the A-range, while students who are usually prepared but reluctant to volunteer will receive evaluation in the B-range. Being unprepared, arriving late, leaving early, or behaving disruptively will lower your grade. Computer lab assignments count towards your class performance evaluation.
• Oral role play skits or speaking tests will be performed three times during the quarter. Speaking test instructions will be issued prior to the speaking tests. Role-play groups should have 2-3 students, and each student should have about one minute speaking time. Use as many words and patterns as possible from the lessons covered. Students are evaluated based on their fluency (speed and smoothness), pronunciation (including tones), correct use of grammar, and appropriate usage of lesson material.
• General policy is that the first three absences are excused automatically, but after that, each unexcused absence results in loss of two percentage points from the student's final grade. Coming 15 minutes late or leaving 15 minutes early without the teacher's permission will be considered as an absence for the whole class hour. There are no exceptions. There are no make-up tests, dictations, or quizzes.

Expanded list of On-line Resources:

• UC Berkeley listening exercises (Please note that the exercises for lesson 1-11 are in traditional characters, while the rest are in simplified characters.)
• Sentence Patterns and supplementary grammar explanations with examples and interactive exercises (click on the word, "practice").
• Animated Characters with radical and sound, created by Audrey Li at USC.
• Sound Files for dialogues, sentence by sentence, created by Z. S. Zhang at SDSU.  Download pinyin with sounds (MS Word format).
• Game List -- play games and reinforce vocabulary.
• Vocabulary Test is a multiple-choice test in which the questions are presented in a different order each time you do the test.

• Tips for Learning Chinese
• Character worksheet FAQ
• Richard Felder's Index of Learning Styles. First read the page, then click on ILS Questionnaire to identify your own learning style.
• On-line Chinese Etymological Dictionary
• On-line Lin Yutang Dictionary  

Downloads for Chinese Language and Software:

• Microsoft Chinese fonts: If necessary, you may download traditional character fonts, then set Netscape or IE to read traditional Chinese characters (big5 code). You will need Chinese fonts to read the sentence pattern pages.
• Pinyin Fonts for reading or typing pinyin with tone marks.
• NJWin for viewing Chinese web pages, free for 30 days.
• NJ Star Communicator for viewing pages and entering Chinese input.
• Chinese to English Dictionary free downloadable dictionary, part of the EDICT project.