CHI4470

Chinese for Dialect Speakers, Part 1 ( 6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL)

Leader: Warren Sun

Offered:
Clayton First semester 2005 (Day)

Synopsis: This unit is available to students who cannot speak putonghua but who are fluent speakers of Cantonese and literate in Chinese. The main object of this unit is to help students acquire fluency in spoken putonghua and familiarize with the simplified Chinese character. The unit will introduce the Chinese phonetic system and phonology. Pinyin romanisation and the simplified character will be used.

Objectives: By the end of this semester, students will have developed: 1. The ability to speaking putonghua fluently and accurately. 2. The ability to transcribe Chinese characters in pinyin. 3. The oral/aural ability necessary for verbal communication in a social context. 4. Vocabulary as well as knowledge of social, political, economic and cultural changes in the People's Republic of China. 5. Strategies of cross-cultural conceptualisation, incorporating translation skills, crucial to critical thinking on a range of issues concerning contemporary China.

Assessment: Class participation, performance and homework: 15% + Oral presentation: 10% + Written test (2 hours): 15% + Written examination (2 hours): 40% + Oral examination: 20%

Contact Hours: 4 hours (2 x 2 hour seminars) per week

Prerequisites: Basic literacy in Chinese

Prohibitions: Speakers of Mandarin