Dr Lijing Shi CMK.C521

Students should have successfully completed LSE Level 2 course or have learned equivalent content, see the description of "Communicative content" and "Structural Content" of Level 2 course (LN713 or LN714). Students should: Demonstrate full commitment to regular attendance, completion of homework, and all pieces of continuous assessment. Dedicate at least two hours per week for 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. For anyone who wants to improve Mandarin Chinese. This course may be suitable for re-starters with sufficient knowledge of words and characters.

Course Aim:

• To develop the ability to use Chinese effectively for purposes of practical communication and reading comprehension in familiar work and social contexts.
• To establish the skills and language required to promote and facilitate further study of Chinese.
• To enhance knowledge of Chinese culture and society.
• To improve your transferable skills.
• To bring students to the equivalent of level B1, CEFR.

The course is focused on the following communicative functions:

• Talking about past event.
• Changing money at banks.
• Making new friends.
• Describing and comparing things.
• Buying clothes.
• Taking a bus.
• Sending letters and parcels.
• Talking about hobbies.
• Asking and giving reasons.
• New year’s greetings.
• Talking about direction and location.
• Talking about sports.
• Talking about one’s experience.
• Looking for jobs.
• Talking about plans.
• Talking about weather.
• Purchasing plane tickets.
• Talking about changes.
• Talking about living conditions.
• Talking about an incident.
• Talking about language studies.

This course will focus on the following grammatical areas:

• The complement of state.
• Reduplication of the verb.
• Sentence with ‘把’.
• The simple directional complement.
• Time-measure complement.
• Quantity complement.
• Resultive complement.
• Sentence structure ‘跟…一样’.
• Location words.
• Sentences indicating existence.
• Past experience.
• Action measure complement.
• • Sentence structure ‘虽然…但是’.
• The complex directional complement.
• Notional passive sentences.
• Changed circumstances.
• Sentence structure ‘不但...而且...'.
• Condition construction.
• The aspects of an action.

The course will also introduce 540 words and 270 Chinese characters.

16 hours of classes in the MT. 22 hours of classes in the LT. 2 hours of classes in the ST.

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

Key textbook:

New practical Chinese Reader, textbook, vol. 2, by Liu Xun, Beijing Language and Culture University Press, 2007 (the textbook comes with DVD or audio materials)

Recommended Readings:

Concise English-Chinese, Chinese-English Dict., Commercial Press/Oxford University Press 1986.

Intermediate Chinese - A Grammar and Workbook by Yip Po-Ching and Don Rimmington. Routledge. 1998.

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