Chinese Language Courses: Department of Asian Languages and Cultures

Chinese Language Courses

Chinese Language

Chinese Language-Accelerated

Chinese Language-Business
- CHINESE 212-0 – Chinese in Business Practice 1
- CHINESE 312-2 – Multinational Corporations in China

Chinese Language

CHINESE 111-1,2,3 – Chinese I

Overview of class
This three-quarter sequence of beginning college level Chinese is designed for true beginners with no previous background in the language. This course is an introduction to Chinese, its basic grammar, pinyin system, vocabulary, usage, and the Chinese writing system. It also focuses on developing basic communicative skills and knowledge of the Chinese culture. There will be extensive student-oriented practice in pronunciation, conversations, listening comprehension, and sentence structures in class. Our goal is to lay the solid ground work for your study of Chinese whether you plan to have a concentration in Chinese or to satisfy a language requirement. Upon satisfactory completion of the course, students are expected to reach Novice-High level of the ACTFL proficiency guidelines. (http://actflproficiencyguidelines2012.org)

Registration Requirements 
Except for Chinese 111-1, students must pass the preceding course with C- or above, or must be placed into the course by the departmental placement test.

Teaching Method
There will be extensive student-oriented practice in pronunciation, conversations, listening comprehension, and sentence structures in class. English will be used mainly for instruction on sentence structures and patterns. Interaction between instructor and among students will be in Chinese.

Evaluation Method
Attendance and participation
Written assignments
Dictations
Oral quizzes
Written quizzes
Final exam

Class Materials (Required)
Fall quarter and Winter quarter
Textbook and Workbook: Modern Chinese 1A Simplified Characters (second edition)
Publisher: Better Chinese ISBN: 978-1-60603-573-3 (textbook); 978-1-60603-572-6 (workbook)
Price:$59.95(textbook) $ 29.95(workbook)

Spring quarter
Textbook and Workbook: Modern Chinese 1B Simplified Characters (second edition)
Publisher: Better Chinese ISBN: 978-1-60603-578-8 (textbook) 978-1-60603-579-5 (workbook)
Price:$59.95(textbook) $ 29.95(workbook)

CHINESE 121-1,2,3 – Chinese II

Overview of class:
This year-long course is designed for students who have completed Chinese 111 at Northwestern or the equivalent elsewhere. It aims to further develop students’ Chinese proficiency through: (1) consolidating the foundation built in students’ beginning modern Chinese courses; (2) introducing them to more complex grammatical structures, varieties of language styles, and background cultural information. Upon the satisfactory completion of the course, students are expected to be able to handle various types of more complex daily conversational situations and short passages on familiar topics. Successful completion of CHINESE 121-3 will satisfy the WCAS foreign language requirement.

Registration Requirements 
Students must pass the preceding course with C- or above, or must be placed into the course by the departmental placement test.

Teaching Method 
This course is conducted mostly in Chinese. Class time mainly focuses on speaking and listening skill development. There will also be reading and writing activities and assignments. Students are expected to be fully prepared for each lesson.

Evaluation Components 
Class attendance and participation, assignments, quizzes, oral tests, presentations, midterm and final exam.

Class Materials (Required) 
Fall quarter:
1. Textbook and workbook: Modern Chinese 1B (Second Edition) Simplified Characters
Publisher: Better Chinese
ISBN: 978-1-60603-578-8 (textbook): 978-1-60603-579-5 (workbook)
Price: $59.95 (textbook); $29.95(workbook)

2. Modern Reader vol.1 （ebook）: $35

Note to students who are joining Chinese 121-1 in fall 2020 through the placement test: You may purchase the textbook and workbook ebooks instead of the physical ones on the publisher's website:betterchinese.com

Winter quarter & Spring quarter:
1. Textbook and workbook: Modern Chinese 2A Simplified Characters
Publisher: Better Chinese
ISBN: 978-1-60603-487-3(textbook); 978-1-60603-488-0 (workbook)
Price: $69.95 (textbook); $34.95(workbook)

2. Modern Reader vol.2 （ebook）: $35 (Spring quarter)

CHINESE 211-1,2,3 – Chinese III

Overview of class 
CHINESE 211 is a year-long intermediate-level course, designed to further develop students' communicative competence in listening, speaking, reading and writing in modern Chinese as well as to deepen understanding of Chinese culture and social issues. The course systematically expands students' vocabulary and help them produce paragraphs, particularly in the area of description, comparison and introduction. The goal of the course is to effectively build descriptive and comparative skills through rigorous activities and discussion on various topics. Chinese is the language used in this course. Upon satisfactory completion of the whole sequence course, students are expected to reach Intermediate-High level of the ACTFL proficiency guidelines.

Registration Requirements
Students must pass the preceding course with C- or above, or must be placed into the course by the departmental placement test.

Teaching Method 
Bottom-up approach to expand progressively from words to sentences, and sentences to paragraphs with student-centered communicative and task-based activities.. Class conducted in Chinese.

Evaluation Method 
Class attendance and participation, homework/projects, quizzes, oral tests, and written exams.

Class Materials (Required)
Developing Chinese Fluency Textbook ($64) and Workbook ($43); Author: Phyllis Zhang; Publisher: Cengage Learning. ISBN: 978-1-111-34223-4

CHINESE 311-1 – Chinese IV - Formal Speaking

Overview of class
Chinese 311 is a quarter-long series of Chinese courses composed by the following independent courses: Chinese 311-1: Formal Speaking, Chinese 311-2: Formal Writing, and Chinese 311-3: Formal Reading. The courses are designed to develop students’ abilities to speak and write formal Chinese respectively, as well as to read short literary works in Chinese. The content of the courses cover argumentations and articles on various topics, including Chinese culture, society and contemporary history. Student will also read authentic Chinese literary works in different written forms and language styles by various authors, with a focus on their cultural and social background. The goal of the courses is to train students to use written vocabulary and formal expressions as well as know how to arrange a structured speaking/writing with complete format and logical connections. Students will reach advanced low in reading, writing, listening and speaking based on ACTFL proficiency guidelines.

Registration Requirements
CHINESE 211-3 with grade C- or above.
Students may be placed into this course by the departmental placement test.

Teaching Method
Class meets twice per week, 80 minutes per class. The course is designed with intensive student-oriented activities through reading various class materials, including essays, media reports and authentic Chinese literature works. Students are expected to read materials ahead of class, participate in in-class discussions led by the instructor, and make formal statements, arguments, speeches and debates about social and cultural phenomena in paragraphs. With instructor’s necessary corrections and suggestions on students’ papers, they are expected to present their works as formal oral presentations. Chinese is used for instruction.

Evaluation Method
Attendance
Classroom participation
Homework
Papers
Oral Presentations

Class Materials (Required)
Fall quarter & Winter quarter:
Textbook: Crossing Culture Boundaries (second edition)
Author: Kunshan Carolyn Lee, Hsin-hsin Liang, Liwei Jiao, Julian K Wheatley
ISBN: 978-0-415-77407-9

Spring quarter:
Textbook: Reading Chinese Short Short Stories
Author: Aili Mu, Ling Mu, Rongzhen Li
Printed by www.lulu.com ISBN: N/A

CHINESE 311-2 – Chinese IV - Formal Writing

Registration Requirements
CHINESE 211-3 with grade C- or above.
Students may be placed into this course by the departmental placement test.

Evaluation Method
Attendance
Classroom participation
Homework
Papers
Oral Presentations

Spring quarter:
Textbook: Reading Chinese Short Short Stories
Author: Aili Mu, Ling Mu, Rongzhen Li
Printed by www.lulu.com ISBN: N/A

CHINESE 311-3 – Chinese IV - Formal Reading

Registration Requirements
CHINESE 211-3 with grade C- or above.
Students may be placed into this course by the departmental placement test.

Evaluation Method
Attendance
Classroom participation
Homework
Papers
Oral Presentations

Spring quarter:
Textbook: Reading Chinese Short Short Stories
Author: Aili Mu, Ling Mu, Rongzhen Li
Printed by www.lulu.com ISBN: N/A

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Chinese Language-Accelerated

CHINESE 115-1,2,3 – Chinese I - Accelerated

Overview of class
This course is designed for advanced beginners such as Chinese heritage students who have exposure to Chinese language and culture at home and have some prior knowledge of Chinese. Other students who want to take this course should have similar linguistic profile. This course aims to help students further hone all four language skills with emphasis on reading and writing.

Registration Requirements 
Except for Chinese 115-1, students must pass the preceding course with C- or above, or must be placed into the course by the departmental placement test.

Teaching Method 
This course meets four days a week and is conducted in Chinese. Class time mainly focuses on discussion based on the reading and/or writing assignments students complete before class.

Evaluation Method 
Classroom attendance and participation, reading and writing assignments, presentations, dictations, written quizzes and one final exam

Class Materials (Required)
Fall quarter:
Textbook and Workbook Integrated Chinese (Volume I, 4th edition),
Publisher: Cheng & Tsui Company.
ISBN: 978-1622911356 (textbook); 978-1622911370 (workbook)
Price: $59.99 (textbook); $23.39(workbook)

Winter quarter & Spring quarter:
Textbook and Workbook Integrated Chinese(Volume II, 4th edition),
Publisher: Cheng & Tsui Company.
ISBN: 978-1622911417 (textbook); 978-1622911431(workbook)
Price: $63.99 (textbook); $31.99(workbook)

CHINESE 125-1,2,3 – Chinese II - Accelerated

Overview of class:
This course is an intermediate Chinese class for heritage learners who grew up in Chinese speaking environments and have completed at least one year of college-level Chinese. The goals of this course are to train students to learn Chinese characters systematically and efficiently through texts that are arranged by themes, which are directly related to students' daily activities. Students will be able to read simple texts and newspaper articles. They will also be able to write short letters and essays about their daily life. By the end of the sequence of the course in Spring, students will have a command of the 2,000 most commonly used Chinese characters selected by the Languages and Characters Committee of China. Students are expected to come to class fully prepared. They should participate in class activities and discussions actively. They will do dictations for each of the six/seven lessons, take written quizzes, dictations, oral exams, and a final exam.

Registration Requirements:
Students must pass the preceding course with C- or above, or must be placed into the course by the departmental placement test.

Teaching Method:
Four regular class hours are for learning of the key vocabulary, analysis of sentence structure, familiarity with Chinese culture, awareness of different registers, and discussion of topics related to the texts and supplementary readings. Students are expected to write and report on topics that have been covered in the texts and supplementary readings.

Evaluation Method:
Class performance, written assignments, oral reports, written quizzes, and a final exam.

Class Materials (Required):
Fall quarter:
Textbook and workbook : Integrated Chinese, Level 2, Part1 (3rd ed.);
Publisher: Cheng & Tsui Company.
ISBN: 9780887276798 (textbook); 9780887276835 (workbook)
Price: $58.99(textbook); $27.99 (Workbook)

Winter quarter & Spring quarter:
Textbook and workbook : Integrated Chinese, Level 2, Part2 (3rd ed.);
Publisher: Cheng & Tsui Company.
ISBN: 9780887276880 (textbook); 9780887276927 (workbook)
Price: $59.99(textbook); $28.99

CHINESE 215-1,2,3 – Chinese III - Accelerated

Overview of class
Three-quarter sequence of intermediate-advanced Chinese, with emphasis on formal speaking and writing. It is expected that students are able to express themselves accurately and appropriately about Chinese cultural concepts, social change, economic development and human relationships.

Registration Requirements
Students must pass the preceding course with C- or above, or must be placed into the course by the departmental placement test.

Teaching Method
We use Chinese to discuss our readings. Students are also expected to write short essays based on the topics discussed in class.

Evaluation Method
Attendance and Participation 10%, Essays 30%, Oral reports 30%, Final 30%

Class Materials (Required)
Textbook “ Reading Into a New China” by Duanduan Li & Irene Liu,
Publisher: Cheng & Tsui Company, Inc. ISBN: 978-0-88727-627-9
Price: $49.99

CHINESE 315-1 – Chinese IV - Accelerated: Formal Writing and Public Speaking

Overview of Class
Chinese 315 is a quarter-long series of advanced modern Chinese courses composed by the following independent courses: Chinese 315-1: Formal writing and Public speaking, Chinese 315-2: Advanced Reading and Writing, Chinese 315-3: Media and Society. The content of these three courses covers contemporary social and media issues in China such as the Chinese economy, education, and pop culture. The curricular goals for these courses are: to help students learn to use semi-formal and formal language for write essays and give oral presentations on topics related to social and economic issues. Class activities and assignments include: discussions and presentations that focus on listening, speaking, reading and writing. Upon satisfactory completion of these courses, students are expected to be able to give oral presentation and write short essays about Chinese social cultural issues in the Chinese language. They will reach advanced mid to high in reading, writing, listening and speaking according to ACTFL proficiency guidelines.