UCL CENTRE FOR LANGUAGES
& INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION
Course Units 2015-2016
Mandarin Syllabus A
Prerequisite for entry
For complete beginners or those who have had only very little contact with the language.
Course duration
20 x 2-hour classes.
Self-Study
80 hours in total.
Course codes
LCMA6001, LCMAG001, LCMAM001, LCMA6012, LCMAG012, LCMAM012 (together with Mandarin syllabus B).
Aims and Objectives
The course covers the four tones in Mandarin and basic Chinese characters together with vocabulary, grammar,
morphology, syntax and phonetics to enable students to function at a basic everyday survival level in a Mandarinspeaking environment. The course will introduce linguistic structures (a variety of styles and registers from a range of
appropriate authentic material). Various transferable skills will also be developed.
Functions
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Exchanging greetings and Introducing yourself;
Asking for and giving information about nationalities;
Asking and answering questions about occupations and family members;
Describing people’s appearances;
Asking for and giving information about contact numbers and addresses;
Asking for and saying dates and days;
Making invitations;
Asking for and telling the time;
Making appointments;
Talking about clothes;
Asking for items, prices and bargaining when shopping.
Course Content
Main topics/themes to be covered
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Greetings;
Countries and Nationalities;
Occupations and Family members;
People’s appearances and Favourites;
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Addresses and Contact numbers;
Birthdays and Invitations;
Time and Appointments;
Clothes and Shopping.
Linguistic Structures
Pinyin: initials, finals, the four tones, the rules of spelling Chinese characters: stroke order, structure of characters.
Grammar
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Word order of Chinese sentences;
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Questions ending with 呢 / 吗;
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Questions with interrogative pronoun 哪里 / 哪;
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Negative adverb 不;
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Adverbs 也 / 都;
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Pronouns as modifiers（+的）;
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Interrogative pronoun 谁;
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Asking about age using多大;
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真 / 很 + adjective;
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Question word多少;
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Sentences without verbs;
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Making invitations using 请;
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Adverbial expressions of time;
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Different ways of telling the time;
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Expressing future tense using the auxiliary verb 要;
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Measure words;
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Numerals二 and两;
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Expressing past tense using 了.
Learning Resources
Syllabus A
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Discover China, Volume 1 - Textbook (Macmillan) 2010 – ISBN: 9780230405950
Discover China, Volume 1 - Workbook (Macmillan) 2010 – ISBN: 9780230406384
Syllabus A/B
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Discover China, Volume 1 - Textbook (Macmillan) 2010 – ISBN: 9780230405950
Discover China, Volume 1 - Workbook (Macmillan) 2010 – ISBN: 9780230406384
Discover China, Volume 2 – Textbook (Macmillan) 2011 – ISBN: 9780230406391
Discover China, Volume 2 – Workbook (Macmillan) 2011 – ISBN: 9780230406407
A selection of authentic material will also be used.
In addition there is a wide range of language learning materials available for self-study in the Self-Access Centre.