Chinese Proficiency I & II

9 ECTS credits
270 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 1021226BNR for all students in the 1st and 2nd semester at a (B) Bachelor - advanced level.

Semester

1st and 2nd 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

Ann Peeters
Maarten Gernay (course titular)
Jianwei Xu

Activities and contact hours

26 contact hours Lecture
30 contact hours Seminar, Exercises or Practicals
132 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, Beijing Language and Culture University Press, Beijing, 9787561937099, 2014
Handbook (Required) : Standard Course book HSK 1, Workbook (130 pp), L. Jiang et al, Beijing Language and Culture University Press, Beijing, 9787561937105, 2014
Handbook (Required) : Standard Course book HSK 2, Textbook (128 pp), L. Jiang et al, Beijing Language and Culture University Press, Beijing, 9787561937266, 2014
Handbook (Required) : Standard Course book HSK 2, Workbook (160 pp), L. Jiang et al, Beijing Language and Culture University Press, Beijing, 9787561937808, 2014

Additional info

The instructor can be reached at Maarten.Gernay@vub.be

Learning Outcomes

General competences

Upon successful completion of the course, students will have developed the following language skills in Mandarin Chinese:

Oral:

• Students have an understandable 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, particles and basic sentence order

• Students can form basic grammatical constructions: prohibition, duration & distance, relative locations, emphasis on time, place or agent, causal relations and comparison

• Students can conduct a conversation about a range of daily topics such as the weather, clothing, sports, people, travel, school, work, transport, food, likes and dislikes, daily routine and shopping

Written:

• Students can recognise and read 300 characters of HSK 1 and HSK 2 levels.

• Students can write 200 characters of HSK 1 and HSK 2 levels and write sentences based on listening input.

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Other Exam determines 100% of the final mark.

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

Exam Other with a relative weight of 100 which comprises 100% of the final mark.

Note: 20% of the total grade is based on permanent evaluation (assignments & tasks), 80% is based on the exam at the end of the semester. The first semester counts for 42%, the second semester counts for 58% of the year grade.

Additional info regarding evaluation

Exams in August/September: permanent evaluation to be carried over (20%) and oral exam (80%)

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