BA Politics and Chinese

Residence abroad support

We offer dedicated financial support packages of up to £2,000 for residence abroad students, based on household income.

You will be automatically assessed for this, based on your Student Finance financial assessment - you just need to make sure you apply for a financial assessment in the academic year in which your residence abroad will take place.

RWS Brode Scholarship

You may be eligible for this scholarship if you fulfill the following conditions:

• your qualifications were achieved at a state-funded school in the UK;
• your total household income does not exceed £60,000 (as verified by the Student Loan Company);
• you achieve high marks in your A-levels (or equivalent qualifications), usually AAB or above;
• you apply to (and remain on) either a single honours Language course, or a dual-language course.

Awards will be made according to a sliding scale, benefitting those who have achieved the highest marks relative to backgrounds.

You will be automatically assessed for this after you have registered on your degree.

You simply need to make sure you allow the University access to your records when applying for your student loan (we cannot otherwise assess your eligibility).

Scholarships

• Find out more from student finance
• Eligible UK students can apply for bursaries and scholarships
• Funding for EU and international students is on our country-specific pages
• Many students work part-time or complete a student internship

This is a beginner’s level language course which teaches the skills of reception (reading and listening), production (speaking and writing) in Mandarin Chinese, and translation of the material learned into English.

This course aims to:

• familiarize the students with the basics of spoken and written forms of the Chinese language
• emphasise on the listening and speaking system and consolidation of proper pronunciation of sounds and intonations unfamiliar to non-native Chinese speakers
• introduce more aspects of the basics of grammar and the writing system
• develop students’ communicative skills to be able to express themselves more freely in simple pair-work, group work, role-play, dialogue, drills and written expression

By the end of this course students will be able to:

• understand more basic structure of the Chinese language
• develop the basic communicative function of the language

By the end of this course students will be able to:

• read new Chinese words correctly according to its phonetic rules
• form phrases by combining the basic characters
• express themselves more freely in both spoken and written forms 

By the end of this course students will be able to:

• develop four basic skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing
• master vocabulary, sentence patterns, grammar and discourse
• reach HSK 2 or above (CEF2) 

By the end of this course students will be able to:

• manage their time efficiently
• develop efficient Chinese keyboard entry skills
• use basic spoken and listening communication skills
• find the right help and support and learn how to learn
• explore Chinese culture and society

Assessment Task	Formative or Summative	Weight within unit (if summative)
coursework 1 (general)	Summative	10%
coursework 2 (listening and speaking)	Summative	10%
coursework 3 (writing)	Summative	10%
oral examination	Summative	10%
written examination at the end of each semester	Summative	60%

 

• Comments made during class discussion regarding the relevance and coherence of student responses/participation in discussion.
• Written comments on assessed coursework.
• Face to face discussion in private meetings during the office hours.
• Global feedback on the assignment (delivered orally in class, posted to blackboard as a hand-out, or by email to the class).

• Liu, Xun. 2002. A New Practical Chinese Reader (Textbook & Workbook), Book 2. Beijing: Beijing Language and Culture University Press (set textbook). 

• Ma, Yanhua. 2011. Jump High: A Systematic Chinese Course (Intensive Reading and Workbook) Books 0 and 1. Beijing Language and Culture University Press (additional learning material) 

•  et al. 2007. Step by Step: Intensive Chinese Elementary (Reading & Writing, Characters and Speaking) Books 1 and 2. Beijing: Huayu Jiaoxue Press (additional learning material) 

• Handouts