Course Description

This course is designed to help students who have completed two years of Chinese to acquire advanced knowledge of the language, to improve reading comprehension skills as well as to further develop the student¡¯s overall proficiency in speaking and writing through reading and discussion of a variety of topics related to Chinese contemporary society and culture such as modern family, education, employment, travel and leisure, bankruptcy and law, pollution and environment.  Students will also be presented with language tasks such as reading current newspaper articles and stories; listening to Chinese news on the radio, watching video clips or films, presenting reports, debating current issues and writing summaries and opinions.  The first semester is prerequisite for the second.

Students attend three language classes per week.

Prerequisite

Chinese 1202 (Intermediate Chinese N) or permission of the director of the Chinese program.

Credits: 5

Textbook(s)

• Main Text:  A New Text for a Modern China (Liu & Li), Chen & Tsui Company (available at Columbia University Bookstore).

• Supplementary Materials: Selected readings taken from magazines, newspapers, and literature.

 Course Requirements

1.      Attendance:  Active class participation is vital for successful completion of this course.  Any student missing four class periods without legitimate documentation will have a half grade point deducted from the student¡¯s final grade.  This policy is in accordance with program regulations. 

(See http://www.columbia.edu/cu/ealac/chinese/frontpage.html)

2.      Routine Preparations for Class: Each class requires preparation.  Students are required to preview vocabulary and text, listen to online audio materials, read grammar notes, and do exercises and supplementary readings according to the syllabus.

3.      Class Participation and Performance: Class participation is extremely important. Students are expected to contribute daily to all class activities.  Class performance grade will be based on participation in paired and group activities, interaction with fellow classmates and contribution to class discussion. 

4.      Oral Sessions: Unless exempted by the instructor, you are expected to attend the weekly oral sessions with a TA. There will be a mid-term and a final oral exam for all the students of the class.

5.      Homework Assignments: Punctual completion of assignments is required.  No late assignments will be accepted.  Written homework will often consist of exercises on word usage, sentence patterns and reading comprehension.  Students will also write at least three formal compositions, which will increase in complexity and length as the semester progresses.

6.      Quizzes, Tests and Final Exams: There will be vocabulary quizzes in each lesson, four unit tests, a mid-term oral exam and a final oral and written exam.