01:165:121 Beginning Chinese Reading and Writing for Mandarin Speakers

This course meets the needs of advanced beginners or "heritage learners" who can understand and speak conversational Chinese related to daily life situations but have not learned to read/write Chinese characters. The course goes over the basics of standard Mandarin pronunciation and introduces students to Chinese characters. This course aims to develop students' correct pronunciation, grammatical accuracy, and overall competence in reading and writing.

This course consists of the following: Lectures /Presentations /Quizzes /Unit tests /Cumulative Final

Course Material: Oh, China! Elementary Reader of Modern Chinese for Advanced Beginners By Chih-p’ing Chou, Perry Link and Xuedong Wang. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997. ( ISBN-13: 978-0691058788; ISBN-1 0: 0691058784 )

By fully participating in this course, you will be able to perform at novice-high proficiency level in reading and writing in Mandarin Chinese by the end of the course. More specifically you will build up:

  • Chinese reading and writing skills at the sentence level
  • Standard Mandarin pronunciation
  • Understanding of basic Mandarin grammatical structures
  • Correction of your grammatical irregularities, if any.

You are expected to come to class well prepared. Proper preparation for each class will take you a minimum of one to two hours. Please arrange your schedule so that you have enough time to prepare for this class. Language learning is a cumulative process and requires continuous, steady effort.

Homework assignments will be available on canvas. Please submit your homework on time to receive full credit. Late submissions will receive reduced credit, but I would still be happy to review your work.

There will be quizzes either on vocabulary, sentence patterns, or the lesson text. All unit tests and exams are cumulative. Therefore, review earlier material frequently. Make-ups will be given for unit tests & exams only for officially excused absences or conflicts. It is your responsibility to get in touch with the instructor and schedule a make-up.

Classes meet two times a week and you are expected to be in class on time every day. Please inform the instructor of your absence in advance via Rutgers Online Absences Report System at https://sims.rutgers.edu/ssra/. (Please note: Reporting your absence does not "excuse" you). Absences can be excused only for religious reasons or by presentation of official documents explaining your absence (e.g., doctor’s notes). If you miss class for more than 30 minutes, your lateness will be counted as a half absence. More than 3 (including 3) unexcused absences will lead automatically to an “F”. Final grades will be lowered by 3% for each day of class missed.