Students are expected to have a very high level of fluency and the ability to do independent research into a chosen topic, i.e. several years of intensive study of Chinese at higher level, and also a keen interest in current issues. Students are expected to demonstrate a high level of commitment to the course : Regular attendance, Completion of homework, and all pieces of continuous assessment. Dedicate at least two hours per week to coursework in addition to classes. Admission into the course after completion of the online test and upon tutor’s approval during the Needs Analysis Interview.

Course Aim:

This course is designed for Cantonese speakers or other Chinese dialect speakers to improve spoken skills inMandarin Chinese; its main emphasis is on mandarin pronunciation and oral practice. It also sets out:

• To maximise the speed of individual student progression.
• To attain competence in a broad range of complex and non-routine tasks across a wide variety of contexts.
• To establish the skills, language and attitudes required to promote and facilitate further study of Chinese.
• To use Chinese effectively for professional and academic purposes.
• To establish specific linguistic skills and strategies required to communicate effectively.
• To analyse fairly complex texts about current issues and Chinese culture.
• To involve students in planning the course contents according to their specific needs and interests.
• To bring students to the level of C2 of CEFR.

A learner will have the opportunities to practise the following skills:

• Communication in the workplace, at university and in everyday situations.
• Participation in problem solving discussions. Exchanging specific information.
• Participating in discussions: expressing an opinion, agreement, disagreement. Logical argumentation.
• Reading and summarising texts from various sources;
• Using language strategies to cope with specialised topics: i.e. business, law, culture, politics, management, current issues.
• Advanced language tasks with reference to Chinese society, contemporary issues, international relations, history and culture.

The course will include:

• Mandarin pronunciation: Pinyin and tones.
• Simplified and traditional characters.
• Chinese grammar review.
• Regular group or individual oral presentations.
• Reading and summarising complex texts.
• Specific grammatical aspects of topical texts.
• Students are to undertake independent research in their particular area of interest.
• Reading comprehensions.
• Oral presentation.

The course will also introduce 580 words and 220 Chinese characters.

6 hours of classes in the MT. 10 hours of classes in the LT. 4 hours of classes in the ST.

This is a 40 hour-course. Please refer to the LSE timetable for course teaching arrangements.

Newspaper articles, Internet sources and other media-based material on current issues.

Continuous assessment (50%) in the MT, LT and ST.
Oral examination (30%) in the ST.
In class assessment (20%) in the LT.