Chinese 101 Syllabus Fall 2011

Instructor: Xiaoping Teng

Office hours: M.W.F. 11- 12 or by appointment Webster 107

Telephone: 542-5847 (O); 253-7431/6536 (H)

E-mail:

Mailbox: 2242

Course Description:

This course, along with Chinese 102 in the spring semester, is an elementary introduction to Mandarin Chinese. The class takes an integrated approach to basic language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, and it emphasizes pronunciation and the tones, Chinese character handwriting, and the most basic structure and patterns of Chinese grammar. There will be three lecture meetings (M.W.F) and two drill sessions (T. Th.) each week.

Class MWF 9:00, 10:00 Webster 217

Drills: TTh 9:00, 10:00, 1:00, 2:00 Webster 103

Required Course Material:

1. Textbook: Integrated Chinese 3rd Edition, Level 1 Part I, (simplified version) written by Liu, Yuehua and Yao, Tao-chung et.al. Published by Cheng & Tsui Company. 2009

2. Character workbook: Integrated Chinese 3rd Edition, Level 1 Part I, (simplified version) written by Liu, Yuehua and Yao, Tao-chung et.al. Published by Cheng & Tsui Company. 2009

The Textbook and Character Workbook are available at Amherst Books in

downtown Amherst, next to Subway restaurant.

3. On-line workbook: Integrated Chinese 3rd Edition, Level 1 Part I, (simplified version) written by Liu, Yuehua and Yao, Tao-chung et.al. Published by Cheng & Tsui Company. 2009

Please purchase the Book Key from the publisher ASAP. Detailed instruction is given as an attachment in the end.

Optional Course Material:

·  The Way of Chinese Characters, written by Jianhsin Wu. Published by Cheng & Tsui Company. 2007 (also on reserve at the library)

·  Concise English-Chinese Chinese-English Dictionary, Published by the Commercial Press and Oxford University Press.

General Goals for First Year Chinese:

1) The emphasis is on listening and speaking

2) Lay a solid foundation for pronunciation and intonation

3) Lay a solid foundation for character writing

4) Learn basic grammatical structures

Objectives:

·  Have a good command of the pinyin system (tones, tone sandhi rules, spelling rules)

·  Know the basic stroke orders and basic radicals and learn about 400 characters.

·  Be able to engage in basic conversation tasks and carry out simple communication needs with basic grammatical structures.

·  Be able to read and write simple paragraphs in Chinese.

Organization:

Day of Week / Class/quiz / Assignment due
Monday / Vocabulary Quiz (1)
First Dialogue/text
Vocabulary
Grammar / Recording to voice board due: 10:00pm
Tuesday / Drills on First text / Part I translation, Essay due: 4:00pm in my box (Webster 107)
Part I on-line homework due: 10:00pm
Wednesday / Vocabulary Quiz (2)
Second Dialogue/text
Vocabulary
Grammar
Thursday / Drills on Second test / Part II Translation, Essay due: 4:00pm in my box.
Part II On-line workbook due:10:00pm
Friday / Summary & Quiz / Character due: 11:00 in my box outside of my office
Preview new lesson

§  Classes

  • Lecture classes will be conducted both in Chinese and English, while drill sessions will be conducted mainly in Chinese. If you do not follow in class, please come to me and I will be happy to explain to you in English if necessary after class. (Previewing lessons is vital for an effective drill session.)
  • In class, I will correct students’ errors in pronunciation and grammar as class time allows.
  • In doing questions and answers, if you cannot answer a particular question due to the fact that you are not familiarize yourself with the vocabulary and the text, I will move on to other students.
  • I will also appreciate it if you have personal questions, please raise them privately before or after class in my office. If you have any questions regarding the corrections of your homework and quizzes, please do not hesitate to come to me.

§  Participation

  • Students are required to attend each class and participate in discussions. Participation is based on attending the full period as well as being active in all class activities. Three times late to classes will count as one absence. If you need to leave during class time for emergency or health reasons, please get the permission from the instructor.
  • If you fail to come to class due to a legitimate reason (with a note from the Dean, faculty members, or a doctor) I will be happy to make up the class for you; otherwise, please check the class notes from your classmates. Please contact me if you are not able to attend the class. If I do not hear from you after I contact you repeatedly, I will send out an inquiry to the Dean’s office.
  • Stay in one drill section. Going to a section that is different from your designated one (without the instructor’s approval) will be counted as absence.
  • You are encouraged to participate in Chinese Tables (12:00—1:00 Mondays (Shen); Tuesdays (Teng); Fridays (Li) at Valentine basement three times/semester.

§  Homework:

Dictation:

Dictation will be done first thing in class on Mondays and Wednesdays. Please come to class on time.

On-line recording:

Follow the instruction in Blackboard and post it on voice-board to Class 1 ( 9:00 class on MWF) or Class 2 (10:00 on MWF.) Allocate at least 30 minutes for this homework--20 minutes for following the text recording and 10 minutes for practice on your own and do the recording.

Character workbook:

o  Write one row for each character (simplified form is what we are learning); write neatly and clearly and follow the stroke order one by one.

o  write one time that shows the stroke order (number the strokes)

o  write the radical that character belongs to.

o  write down the meaning of the radical ( take notes from class or from The Way of Chinese Characters (on reserve), from on-line source Yellowbridge.com etc. )

For each character, stroke order is shown in the big box. If characters have both traditional and simplified forms, the first line will be the traditional form and its stroke order, the second line is the simplified form. In the shaded area, radicals are shown as the boldfaced strokes, sometimes there are more than one radicals.

On-line workbook:

Do the assigned homework on your own and check the answer only after you do the work independently.

Translation and essay:

Print out the assigned translation and essay assignment from the on-line workbook and hand in to the drop off folder in the box outside of my office. You will get back your homework with my correction the next day. On a voluntary base, you can hand in your corrected work again by 11:00am on the following day.

Grading Policy:

1) Preparation/Attendance/participations: 20%

2) Homework: character, recording, on-line HW, essay 20% 3) Quizzes: (weekly quiz 20%, Dictations 10% ) 30%

4) Midterm exam (oral 7.5%, written 7.5%) 15%

5) Final exam (oral 7.5%, written 7.5%) 15%

A 94---100

A- 90—93

B+ 87--89

B 84--86

B- 80--83

C+ 77--79

C 74--76

C- 70--73

D+ 67--69

D 64--66

D- 60--63

F -60

§  No late homework or make-up quizzes or exams are allowed except under special circumstances with advanced notice. One late home work without deduction (but with a warning) is allowed. Afterwards, 10 points will be deducted when handing in on the next meeting time.

§  One quiz and one dictation that have the lowest grade will be dropped when calculating the final grade.)

Links:

Link for all course materials (syllabus, schedule, course material, text recordings, making recordings, workbook station etc.) can all be found at CMS- My Amherst->Chinese 101à (Need to log in from your Amherst home page). https://www.amherst.edu/myamherst/start

https://www.amherst.edu/offices/it/teaching_research/coursePetition (5 college students)
Schedule:

Week / Date / Lessons
1.  / Sept. 6 - 9 / Introduction; L1
2.  / Sept. 12 - 16 / Introduction; L1
3.  / Sept. 19 - 23 / L2
4.  / Sept. 26 – 30 / L3
5.  / Oct. 3 - 7 / L4
6.  / Oct. 12 - 14 / L5
7.  / Oct. 17 - 21 / L5, Review (L1 – L5) and Mid-term
8.  / Oct. 24 - 28 / L6
9.  / Oct.31 - Nov. 4 / L7
10.  / Nov. 7 - 11 / L8
11.  / Nov. 14 - 18 / L9 (no class on Nov. 19th)
12.  / Nov. 19 - 27 / Thanksgiving Recess
13.  / Nov. 28 – Dec.2 / L10
14.  / Dec. 5 - 9 / Review L1—L10
15.  / Dec. 12 - 16 / Review and oral presentation
16.  / Dec. 19 - 23 / Final Examination (TBA)

You are always welcome to let me know your suggestions or anything on your mind at any time.

Your instructor, Xiaoping Teng, invites you to enroll in the following course.
Course: / Chinese 101
Code: / JNMA368
Books: / Integrated Chinese Level 1 Part 1 Workbook, Simplified Characters
Integrated Chinese Level 1 Part 1 Workbook, Traditional Characters

Creating a Cheng & Tsui Account

If you do not have an account, you need to create one. To do so, follow these steps:

  1. Go to http://iconline.cheng-tsui.com and click Create an account.
  2. Select a username and password and enter your information, then click Submit.

Note: Remember to write down your username and password and be sure to select the correct time zone. Also, please enter a valid e-mail address so we can send you your password if you forget it.

Entering the Book Key and Course Code

Enter the book key and course code to complete the enrollment process. You may already have a book key, or you may need to purchase a book key. Depending on your situation, use one of the procedures below. If you activated the book for a previous course, you can start at step 4 of I already have a book key below.

Once you have completed this step, the system lists the course and book on the Student Workstation home page. To enter additional books, enter a book key in the Enter field and click Go.

Note: Book keys can only be used once. Your book key will become invalid after you use it.

I already have a book key

  1. Go to http://iconline.cheng-tsui.com and log in.
  2. At the top of the page, enter your book key and click Go.
  3. Click Confirm to confirm your registration information. Your book will appear under the My books heading.
  4. Beside the book listing, enter the course code JNMA368 in the Enter course code field and click Go.
  5. If necessary, select a class or section and click Submit.

I need to purchase a book key

  1. Go to http://iconline.cheng-tsui.com and log in.
  2. At the top of the page, enter the course code JNMA368 and click Go.
  3. If necessary, select a class or section and click Submit. The course and books will appear under the My classes heading.
  4. Locate the book and click buy.
  5. Proceed through the purchase process.

Note: If the buy link does not appear in Step 4, contact your instructor for information about obtaining a book key.

Using Cheng & Tsui

To access your Student Workstation in the future, go to http://iconline.cheng-tsui.com and log in. Here, you can open your book, submit activities, view your results, and view your instructor's feedback. If you have any questions, contact Cheng & Tsui Support at http://iconline.cheng-tsui.com/support.