Chinese Proficieny I

3 ECTS credits
90 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 1024359BNR for all students in the 1st semester at a (B) Bachelor - advanced level.

Semester

1st semester

Enrollment based on exam contract

Impossible

Grading method

Grading (scale from 0 to 20)

Can retake in second session

Yes

Taught in

Faculty

Faculty of Languages & Humanities

Department

Linguistics and Literary Studies

Educational team

Maarten Gernay (course titular)
Jianwei Xu

Activities and contact hours

20 contact hours Lecture
30 contact hours Seminar, Exercises or Practicals
35 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study

Course Content

This course initiates students into Mandarin Chinese. It will help the students build a solid foundation in all four areas of language skills (i.e. speaking, listening, reading and writing), within which a strong emphasis will be placed on the development of speaking skills. At the end of the course, students should master a minimal vocabulary of 300 words and basic grammatical constructions.

Course material

Handbook (Required) : Standard Course book HSK 1, Textbook (127 pp), L. Jiang et al., 1st edition, Beijing Language and Culture University Press, Beijing, 9787561937099
Handbook (Required) : Standard Course book HSK 1, Workbook (130 pp), L. Jiang et al., 1st edition, Beijing Language and Culture University Press, Beijing, 9787561937105

Additional info

The teacher of this course can be reached on Maarten.Gernay@vub.be

This course requires an estimated total of 85 study hours, including lecturing time, class practice and self-study. This course offers 4 contact hours per week. Attendance is strongly encouraged to guarantee positive learning outcomes.

Learning Outcomes

General competencies

Upon successful completion of the course, students will have developed the following language skills in Mandarin Chinese:
Oral:
• Students have an understandable and accurate pronunciation (syllables and tones)
• Students are able to introduce themselves (e.g. name, age, family situation, and hobbies)
• Students can correctly use basic grammar: present, past & future tenses, basic particles and basic sentence order
• Students grasp and use basic grammatical constructions: relative locations, emphasis on time, place or agent, causal relations and temporal subclauses
• Students can conduct a conversation about a range of daily topics such as the weather, clothing, people, school, transport, food, likes and dislikes
Written:
• Students can recognise and read around 150 characters of the HSK 1 level.
• Students can write around 150 characters of HSK 1 levels and apply them in written sentences.

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Oral Exam determines 80% of the final mark.
Other Exam determines 20% of the final mark.

Within the Oral Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

mondeling examen with a relative weight of 80 which comprises 80% of the final mark.

Note: The total grade exists for 80% of the oral exam at the end of the semester

Within the Other Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

permanentie evaluaties with a relative weight of 20 which comprises 20% of the final mark.

Note: The total grade exists for 20% of permanent evaluation based on weekly writing assignments

Additional info regarding evaluation

Examens in Augustus of September: permanente evaluatie overgedragen van voorbije semester (20%). Huidige evaluatie op basis van mondeling examen (80%) in de derde examenperiode.

Exams in August or September: permanent evaluation is transferred from the previous semester (20%). Current evaluation is based on the oral exam (80%) during the third exam period.

Allowed unsatisfactory mark

The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context