BA Russian and Chinese

Chinese 5 is intended for first-year students who have substantial experience studying Chinese, second-year students who have already completed Chinese 3 and 4, and final-year students who require additional support for their final year. This course is designed to develop students’ comprehensive language skills that are important for practical use. The course continues to develop students’ linguistic and cultural awareness by emphasising the links between a higher level of linguistic competency and socio-cultural literacy. Students will interpret texts related to Chinese popular culture, social change, cultural traditions and more. Students will discover and develop more in-depth knowledge of Chinese culture and society, and gain an insight into inter-cultural sensitivity within a view to successful communication in real situations with Chinese native speakers or people in Chinese-speaking countries. By the end of the year students should be prepared to take and pass HSK level 5.

This course aims to:

• Further reinforce and develop students' linguistic knowledge and skills acquired before starting university or in Chinese 3 and 4
• Expand students’ knowledge and understanding of modern and contemporary China
• Guide students in their appreciation of important Chinese-language literary texts and topics related to a range of social, political and cultural issues

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

• Be able to understand a range of everyday Chinese texts and audio-visual materials  
• Feel confident navigating real-life, practical Chinese-language situations  
• Have continued to build upon their existing vocabulary and grammatical knowledge  
• Be approaching a total vocabulary of 3000+ Chinese characters  
• Have strengthened their listening, reading, speaking and writing skills across a broad range of subject matter

Topics may change from year to year, the following is an indicative list of topics that may be covered in a given year:

Semester 1:

Weeks 1&2:  Chinese folk art

Weeks 3&4:  The Development of transportation

Weeks 5&6:  Chinese theatre and plays

Weeks 7&8:  Attitudes towards life

Weeks 9&10: Behind the name: popular culture names

Week 11: Review

Week 12: Oral test

Semester 2:

Week 1: On Chinese Folk Art

Week 2:  On the Development of a Modern Technology (transportation)

Week 3: On Chinese Theatre and Plays

Week 4: Attitudes Towards  Life

Week 5: Behind the Nmes: Popular Cultre

Week 6 : On Wild Animal Protection

Week 7: On Food and Drink Culture

Week 8 : On Leisure

Week 9: Carrer Talks

Week10: On Festivals

Week 11: Review

Week 12: Oral test     

 A combination of lectures, seminars and tutorials, totalling three contact hours per week.

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

• Compose and connect short passages to form a logical and coherent discourse
• Employ idiomatic expressions and circumlocution to get meanings across
• Translate sentences/passages accurately between Chinese and English
• Conduct communication adequately in oral and written forms

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

• Develop learning strategies, including online learning and independent learning
• Apply communicative strategies to real-life situations
• Demonstrate problem-solving skills for communication
• Acquire knowledge via various media about recent development in China

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

• Synthesise complex information from a wide range of different sources
• Make good use of various resources for communicative purposes
• Be familiar with social media for communicative purposes
• Demonstrate accomplished note-taking and summarising skills in Chinese
• Reach, or be close to reaching, HSK level 5

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

• Apply, in the process of acquisition, analysis, evaluation, and assimilation of information, a full range of learning skills, including information retrieval and autonomous learning.
• Demonstrate an ability to take part effectively in debate and present complex ideas and sustained arguments in a clear and fluent form
• Make good use of resources for support
• In a self-critical way, exercise initiative and independence of mind in the identification of their own learning needs, and in the planning and execution of their own learning

Resit Assessment:

Video and Essay

• Comments made during class discussion regarding the relevance and coherence of student participation in discussion
• Comments made during oral presentation regarding the relevance and coherence of the presentation, including word choice, sentence structure and content
• One-to-one feedback before oral presentation

New Practical Chinese Reader, Books 5,  6 (Beijing: Beijing Language and Culture University Press, 2010) and additional texts 

Exceptions to word-processed assignments: Assessed coursework and the essay should be hand-written.  

Students may take a one-volume Chinese-English-Chinese dictionary provided on the examination date.