01:165:201 Intermediate Chinese 

This intermediate level course on Modern Mandarin Chinese places equal emphasis on speaking, listening, reading and writing to further develop the student’s ability to communicate effectively and appropriately in the language. Through a wide variety of classroom activities, daily quizzes, and homework and writing assignments, you will build up a more comprehensive understanding of the fundamental grammar of the language, and expand your knowledge of its core vocabulary and commonly used phrases. By the end of the course, you will be able to converse in Chinese beyond the sentence level on topics related to daily life, academic life and some aspects of the Chinese culture. In addition to improving the students’ fluency in the “spoken style,” the course also begins to introduce students to some basic “written style” expressions. The course is conducted in Chinese.

Skills trained: Speaking, listening, reading, writing (handwriting and typing Chinese characters in simplified 简体字 or traditional 繁體字)

Proficiency Level: Third semester of Modern Mandarin Chinese at the college level (101, 102, 201, 202, 301, 302, 401, 402); HSK 汉语⽔平测验 Level 3, ACTFL novice-high ~ intermediate mid New vocabulary: approximately 500 Contact hours: 80 minutes x 42 meetings = 56 hours.

This course is designed for students who have completed 01:165:102 Elementary Chinese II or placed into the course via the Rutgers Chinese placement test (https://placement.elearning.rutgers.edu)

Course Materials: Integrated Chinese 中⽂听说读写/中⽂聽說讀寫, Volume 3, 4th edition Textbook, ISBN 9781622911561, required Workbook, ISBN 9781622911578, required (In this semester, Lessons 1~8 of Integrated Chinese will be covered)

By fully participating in this course, you will be able to perform at intermediate-low proficiency level in speaking, listening, reading, and writing in Mandarin Chinese by the end of the course. More specifically:

  • Through engaging course materials, in-class activities, and homework assignments, you will build up fundamental vocabulary, learn essential sentence structures, and gain the practical skills to express your ideas both orally and in writing.
  • Through authentic multimedia course materials and frequent classroom discussions in the target language, you will be able to participate in conversations about daily life and school life, and to gain a better understanding of the Chinese language and culture.
  • By completing weekly oral assignments and two oral presentations, you will demonstrate that you can present your ideas orally on both informal and formal topics with some degree of fluency and clarity.
  • By completing weekly writing assignments and two short essays, you will demonstrate that you can present your ideas in writing with fundamental structures

This is a language class, which means class time is crucial to your learning. You are expected to come to every class on time and actively participate in class activities and discussions. Attendance will be taken at the beginning of each class. Three late arrivals to class will count as one absence. You are allowed only two unexcused absences. Your final grade will be reduced by one full point for each unexcused absence beyond the first two. More than 7 unexcused absences will lead automatically to an “F” in your final grade. Absences can be excused only for religious reasons (must be reported in advance), or documented emergencies (official documents must be provided). If you expect to miss a class, please use the university absence reporting website (https://sims.rutgers.edu/ssra/) to indicate the date and reason for your absence.

Learning a foreign language is an exciting but also demanding endeavor. Make sure your schedule allows you to commit to spending a minimum of one to two hours to prepare for each class. In this semester, we will cover Lessons 1~8 of Integrated Chinese. For each class, you are expected to review the materials we covered in class and complete the assignments. A short quiz will be given at the beginning of each class. If you are late to class, you will miss the quiz, and there are absolutely no make-ups for the quizzes.

Homework assignments consist of exercises from either the Integrated Chinese Workbook or worksheets given by the instructor. The due date of each assignment will be clearly specified when assigned and will be your responsibility to pay close attention to. Late submissions within one week of the due date will be docked by 50%; assignments submitted one week after the due date will not be accepted.

The first Oral Presentation is an individual interview with the instructor. For the second Oral Presentation, you will be paired with one partner. You will have an opportunity to rehearse your oral presentation #2 and after the rehearsal, you will receive feedback from the instructor and your peers. The feedback will be a great way for you to learn how to make improvements on your presentation.