Learn Chinese with Me. Foundations of Chinese Language and Culture in English 3600-OG-ZH-CHLGCEN

The course is designed by focusing on different topics each time. Language tasks, sentence patterns and vocabulary are based on each topic, emphasizing the communication function and obtaining language structure at the meantime. During teaching, it should be learner-centered, gradually strengthening their motivation and sense of achievement. At the beginning, the focus is learning pronunciation. Features of Chinese pronunciation system, phonetics and spelling rules are introduced and learned. Students are exposed to the various basic sentence patterns by engaging in simple dialogues. Besides, the fundamental rules of constructing and writing characters are also given to facilitate the learning of Chinese writing. Grammar is not discussed systematically at this stage. Chinese culture is provided so that students can gain insight into cultural information related to their language studies.

Total student workload

30 contact hours, 30 preparation to classes: 60 hours

Learning outcomes - knowledge

The Students: - get to know the Chinese sound system Pinyin and spelling rules; - get to know the features of Chinese characters; - get to know certain aspects of Chinese culture; - acquire some sentence patterns in certain Chinese language context.

Learning outcomes - skills

The Students: - can read out Chinese with the help of Pinyin; - can write some frequently used Chinese characters in the first level; - can understand and communicate with people in simple everyday Chinese.

Learning outcomes - social competencies

The Students: - can develop communicative competence; - can develop intercultural communication; - can develop the ability of appreciating different cultures.

Teaching methods

Communicative Language Teaching; Task-based Langauge Teaching; Situational Teaching

Course coordinators

Term 2024/25L:

Ewa Kowalska
Dinghua Tan

Term 2023/24L:

Ewa Kowalska
Dinghua Tan

Term 2024/25Z:

Ewa Kowalska

Assessment criteria

Non-graded credit assessment on a continuous basis is given based on the following:

Attendance: 20%
Class Performance: 50% (group work, pair work, competition etc.)
Assignment: 15%
Final Product: 15%

Grading scale:
60 - 67 % = 3.0 sufficient
68 - 75 % = 3.5 sufficient plus
76 - 83 % = 4.0 good
84 - 91% = 4.5 good plus
92 - 100 % = 5.0 very good

Additional information

Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system:

Description of 3600-OG-ZH-CHLGCEN in USOSweb