CNTO 311 S012 Winter II 2022/23
Raymond Pai
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
CNTO 311 S012 - COURSE SYLLABUS
Term:
Course Title:
Course website:
Pre-requisites:
Course Schedule:
Instructor:
Office hours:
TA:
Office hours:
Winter Term 2, 2022-23
Basic Cantonese for Mandarin Speakers
http://canvas.ubc.ca
CHIN 243/244 OR placement approval
Mon Watch pre-recorded lecture videos on Canvas (asynchronous)
Tue. 12:00-12:50pm
Thu 12:00-12:50pm
Fri 12:00-12:50pm Tutorial
Zoom:
Raymond Pai (raymond.pai@ubc.ca)
12:00-2:00pm Monday; Please schedule on Canvas calendar
Sophia Qianye Yin (yinqy817@student.ubc.ca)
3:30-4:30pm Wednesday
COURSE DESCRIPTION
CNTO 311 is a beginning level Cantonese language course for heritage Mandarin Speakers. It is
designed for advanced speakers of Mandarin whose Mandarin proficiency level is beyond CHIN
243/244 but who have no background in Cantonese. All students with Cantonese
background MUST receive clearance from the instructor to take this course. Students will
learn pronunciation, grammar, unique Cantonese vocabulary and expressions, sentence patterns,
as well as written Cantonese. The course will be taught mostly in Cantonese and when necessary
in Mandarin Chinese. The emphasis of this course is training for basic conversational and
presentational skills in Cantonese. It is designed to help students with Mandarin knowledge to
understand the basic differences between Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese, and to learn about
Cantonese culture and customs.
EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
1. Pronounce words in Cantonese using the LSHK Jyutping Romanization system;
2. Carry out short conversations in Cantonese on various topics on daily life;
3. Give simple descriptions of daily routines and activities in Cantonese;
4. Perform simple tasks in daily life using Cantonese;
5. Recognize frequently used Cantonese characters in the Traditional script;
6. Understand and explain features of Cantonese culture and customs.
EXPECTATIONS
Please read the policies outlined in this syllabus carefully. You are responsible for all the
information contained within. Remaining enrolled in the class is an agreement to abide by
the policies of the course. Refer to this document first before contacting us.
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Raymond Pai
This is an intensive language course delivered in online mode which means you are expected to
do self-study on certain days and attend the Zoom sessions on the others. You are responsible
for information and learning materials on Canvas and should check it regularly. “I didn't
know that” or “I didn't read the announcement” are not acceptable reasons for failure to complete
assigned tasks by the deadline. All students are expected to attend all class sessions, quizzes,
and online exams, regardless of your physical location. If you cannot attend class sessions
at the scheduled time, you might want to consider dropping this course. You will not be
eligible for academic concession if you experience a course conflict, or difficulty with how the
course is delivered, so carefully regard your ability to complete and succeed in courses prior to
the course drop deadlines.
REQUIRED TEXTBOOK
Lee, Y.-P. C. & Kataoka, S. (2013). A Shortcut to Cantonese: An Innovative Approach for
English and Putonghua Speakers. Hong Kong: Greenwood.
~Both printed or electronic version are ok and they are the same. However, you MUST
OWN YOUR COPY and not share or receive an unauthorized copy of the book which is a
violation of copyright law and considered academic misconduct.
OPTIONAL REFERENCE
Matthews, S. & Yip, V. (2010). Cantonese: A Comprehensive Grammar. New York, NY:
Routledge. 2nd Edition.
REQUIRED COMPUTER SETUP
You will need a recording device (e.g., a smartphone/tablet/laptop) to do spoken assignments.
You will also need a headphone, a webcam or a built-in camera of an electronic device for Zoom
tutorials and exams. Stable internet connection is required to have the best experience in online
sessions. Please install Zoom on your device: https://keepteaching.ubc.ca/files/2020/04/zoomstudent-guide.pdf
ASSESSMENT
Quizzes
Assignments
Participation on Canvas
Individual presentation
Group presentation
Mid-term exam
Final exam
Attendance and class participation
Extra-curricular activities
6% (4 quizzes, only count the best 3, 2% each)
20% (4 assignments, 5% each)
10% (20 voice tasks, 0.5% each)
6%
10%
20%
20%
6%
2%
100%
Measures throughout 2022-23 Winter Term 2
• No eating during class. You will be asked to leave if you eat. Non-alcoholic drinks (e.g.
water, coffee, tea) are fine during class time.
• If you miss class because of illness:
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For the first hour of absence please fill out a self-declaration form which can be found
on Canvas for a brief explanation of the reason of absence.
• If you are missing for more than 1 hour of class, you MUST APPLY FOR
ACADEMIC CONCESSION from the academic advising office if you want your
absences to be excused. NO EXCEPTIONS.
• Make a connection early in the term to another student or a group of students in the
class. You can help each other by sharing notes.
If you don’t yet know anyone in the class:
• Post on the discussion forum to connect with other students.
• Consult the class resources on Canvas.
• Use the Discussion Board for help.
• Attend office hours on Zoom.
If you are concerned that you will miss a key activity due to illness, contact the instructor or
TA to discuss.
If you are feeling ill and cannot attend class for a midterm or in-class assessment, please
email the instructor and/or TA right away. If you arrive for a quiz or test and you are clearly
ill, we will make alternate arrangements with you. It is better to email ahead of time and not
attend.
If you are feeling ill at the time of a final exam, do not attend the exam. You must apply for
deferred standing (an academic concession) through Arts Academic Advising. Students who
are granted deferred standing (SD) will write the final exam/assignment at a later date.
Quizzes (synchronous in person) Canvas quizzes will take place in the first 15 minutes every
other Tuesday starting Week 3 to motivate you to review each unit. Quizzed will be done on
Canvas. Books, notes, mobile phones or any additional device are NOT allowed. Questions will
be on transcribing and translating vocabulary items or short phrases between Cantonese and
Mandarin. Grades of the lowest quiz will be dropped. Any form of cheating will result in
automatic fail and report to the school.
Assignments (asynchronous) Weekly audio-oral homework is given and to be submitted via
Canvas. You will be asked to record sentences and create monologues on a given topic. Please
refer to the class schedule for the exact due dates. See regulations and policies regarding late
submissions in this syllabus.
Participation on Canvas (asynchronous) For every unit in the textbook, there will be two voice
tasks that you need to complete on the Discussion Board on Canvas. These tasks usually involve
reading aloud a dialogue from the textbook or creating new sentences using certain grammatical
patterns. Voice tasks are evaluated on a “complete/incomplete” basis. Cantonese must be spoken
in all voice tasks.
Individual Presentation (synchronous in person) You will be asked to do one 3-minute
Cantonese-only presentation on a topic of your choice in the form of a narrated PowerPoint
presentation in class starting Week 7. You will sign up for a time slot of your presentation at the
beginning of the school term.
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Group Presentation (asynchronous) You will be assigned into a group in pairs. You will work
with your group to create one video presentation on an approved topic of your choice of
approximately 2 minutes. Your presentation is expected to be relevant to the content you have
studied in this course and applying your linguistic knowledge in your delivery.
Midterm & Final Exams (synchronous on Zoom) The oral exam is an online individual
interview consisting of a role-play and a spontaneous conversation based on conversational
topics covered in class. There will also be a short written component for the exams. The final
exam focuses on the second half of the course, but you are expected to know the basic grammar
and basic vocabulary introduced in the first half of the course.
Participation and attendance in class (synchronous online) Attendance will be tracked
through iClicker Cloud. Follow the instructions here https://lthub.ubc.ca/guides/iclicker-cloudstudent-guide/ to set up a free account and link it to Canvas. Bring an electronic device (e.g. a
smart phone) to every class. We count your attendance for ALL class and tutorial sessions. If
you see that your absence will have an impact on your performance, please complete the SelfDeclaration Form and consider applying for academic concession with Arts Advising. See more
details in “Regulations and Policies” in this syllabus.
Extra-curricular activities (asynchronous) You can fulfill this requirement by doing TWO of
extra-curricular activities suggested throughout the course in this school term. For example,
(a) Attend an online talk event organized by the Cantonese Language Program and record an
audio response or write a one-page report in Chinese or English. Detailed guidelines will be
announced on Canvas.
(b) Watch an authentic Cantonese program designated by the instructor and record an audio
response or write a one-page report in Chinese or English. Detailed guidelines will be announced
on Canvas.
You will not earn more credits by doing three or more activities but you are encouraged to do so
for additional Cantonese practice. The teaching team reserves the right to make final decisions
regarding bonus credits.
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Tentative Course Schedule:
W
Date
Monday
Videos on Canvas
1
Jan 9-13
No class
Read syllabus
2
Jan 16-20
Unit 1
Voice task 1
3
Jan 23-27
Unit 2
Voice task 2
4
Jan 30-Feb 3
Unit 3
Voice task 3
5
Feb 6-10
Unit 4
Voice task 4
6
Feb 20-24
Unit 5
Voice task 5
7
Feb 13-17
8
Feb 27-Mar 3
Review
9
Mar 6-10
10
Mar 13-17
11
Mar 20-24
12
Mar 27-31
13
Apr 3-7
14
Apr 10-14
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Unit 6
Voice task 6
Unit 7
Voice task 7
Unit 8
Voice task 8
Unit 9
Voice task 9
Unit 10
Voice task 10
Easter
Raymond Pai
Tuesday
Thursday
Introduction
Jyutping
Friday
Tutorial
Jyutping
Unit 1
Unit 1
Unit 1
Unit 2
Unit 2
Unit 2
Quiz 1
Unit 3
Unit 4
Unit 3
Assignment 1
Unit 4
Unit 3
Quiz 2
Unit 5
Reading break
Prep for group
presentations
Unit 6
Unit 5
Unit 5
Review
Assignment 2
Unit 6
Mid-term
Unit 7
Unit 7
Unit 7
Quiz 3
Unit 8
Unit 9
Unit 8
Assignment 3
Unit 9
Unit 8
No class
Quiz 4
Unit 10
Unit 10
Unit 10
Good Friday
Review
Group
presentation
Assignment 4
Unit 4
Unit 6
New videos and voice tasks are posted every Friday.
Individual presentations will start on February 20 in Week 7. Two students will present
on each teaching day.
Final exam will fall between April 17-22. Exact date TBD.
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REGULATIONS AND POLICY
1. Email policy and communication channels
• Content-related questions or organizational matters that are of interest to all students:
Bring them up in class, tutorials, or on Canvas’ Discussion Board. Emails about these matters
will NOT be answered. You are highly encouraged to meet with a TA or the instructor during
office hours if you have questions about course material.
• Personal matters: If you need to miss an exam, please send an email to the instructor and
the TA. State your full name (as in the SSC) and student number. Edit your email for tone
and clarity. Academic concession requests should be submitted to the Faculty Advising
Office.
• In general, your TA should be your first point of contact. We may not respond to email
questions on short notice, for example, the day before an assignment is due. Please plan
accordingly.
• When emailing us, always put “CNTO 311” and your section number in the subject line.
Note that we will not be checking emails after 5pm or on weekends; if you have an urgent
question that cannot wait until the next day, please email it as early in the day as possible. In
general, give us 24-48 hours to answer your email (but we will probably answer it sooner).
• Please learn proper email etiquette and treat emails to your instructor and TA as work emails.
Starting an email with “Hey” or any emails with rude manners and tones will not be
answered which is also considered academic misconduct.
2. Attendance
• If you experience medical, emotional, or personal problems that affect your attendance or
academic performance, please notify Arts Academic Advising or your home Faculty’s
Advising Office. If you are registered with Centre for Accessibility, you should notify your
instructor during the first week of class. If you are planning to be absent for varsity athletics,
family obligations, or other commitments, you should discuss your commitments with the
instructor before the drop date.
• Attendance is imperative for successful completion of language courses. If you are absent for
because of illness or emergencies, you should report your situation to the TA or the instructor
as soon as possible. In such cases, appropriate documentation from academic or departmental
advisors explaining the absence is required for excused absence. Note that taking a driving
test, job interviews, or being in a different time zone from Vancouver are not considered
legitimate reasons for absence or lateness.
• The teaching team makes the final decision on how attendance is recorded. If you are late for
more than 20 minutes or leave early before class ends, we will record you as absent from
class.
• Students who have more than 9 hours of unexcused absences (1/4 of total class hours)
will NOT be allowed to take the final exam per the Asian Studies Department policy.
• If a student has to miss a class, it is the student's responsibility to find out from classmates
what course content has been discussed and what work has been assigned. Please see also the
UBC Calendar for related information:
http://www.calendar.ubc.ca/vancouver/index.cfm?tree=3,36,0,0
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3. Assignments
• Assignments due time and dates are stated on Canvas. A student who turns in an
assignment after the due time without a properly documented reason will receive a
maximum grade of "C+" for this assignment. Late submission is not accepted 24 hours
after the assignment deadline. “I misread / did not read the instructions” is not an
acceptable reason for late submission.
• If a student anticipates that s/he will not be able to submit the assignment on its scheduled
due date, s/he must notify the TA or the instructor in writing to make arrangements ensuring
that the assignment is submitted PRIOR to the deadline.
4. Exams/ quizzes
• No make-up exams and quizzes will be given without permission. Missed quizzes will
result in a grade of zero. Note that only your best three quizzes count towards your grade.
• Make-up for missed final exam will NOT be granted unless written academic concession has
been formally approved by the Dean's office. Students who wish to make a request for
academic concession must inform their instructors prior to the final exam. For more
information, please see
http://www.calendar.ubc.ca/vancouver/index.cfm?tree=3,329,0,0#26573
5. Academic integrity and responsibility
• As a member of this class, you are responsible for contributing to the course objectives
through your participation in class activities and your written and other work and projects. In
the process of coming into your own as an independent, responsible participant in the
academic community, you are encouraged to seek advice, clarification, and guidance in your
learning from your instructor and/or Teaching Assistant. If you decide to seek help beyond
the resources of this course, you are responsible for ensuring that this help does not lead you
to submit others’ work as your own. If an outside tutor or other person helps you, show
this policy to your tutor or helper: make sure you both understand the limits of this
person’s permissible contribution.
• Academic communities depend on their members’ honesty and integrity in representing the
sources of reasoning, claims, and wordings which appear in their work. Like any other
member of the academic community, you will be held responsible for the accurate
representation of your sources: the means by which you produced the work you are
submitting. If you are found to have misrepresented your sources and to have submitted
others’ work as your own, or to have submitted work for which you have already
received credit in another course, penalties will follow. Your case may be forwarded to the
Head of the department, who may decide that you should receive zero for the assignment.
The Head will report your case to the Dean’s Office, where it will remain on file. The Head
may decide, in consultation with your instructor, that a greater penalty is called for, and will
forward your case to the Dean’s Office. After an interview in the Dean’s Office, your case
may be forwarded to the President’s Advisory Committee on Academic Misconduct.
Following a hearing in which you will be asked to account for your actions, the President
may apply penalties including zero for the assignment; zero for the course; suspension from
the university for a period ranging from 4 to 24 months; a notation on your permanent record.
The penalty may be a combination of these.
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Academic communities also depend on their members’ living up to the commitments they
make. By enrolling in this course, you make commitments to an academic community: you
are responsible for meeting deadlines; attending class and engaging in class activities;
guaranteeing that the work you submit for this course has not already been submitted for
credit in another course. If you find that you cannot meet a deadline or cannot participate
in a course activity, discuss your situation with your instructor or TA before the
deadline or before your absence.
The academic enterprise is founded on honesty, civility, and integrity. As members of this
enterprise, all students are expected to know, understand, and follow the codes of conduct
regarding academic integrity. At the most basic level, this means submitting only original
work done by you and acknowledging all sources of information or ideas and
attributing them to others as required. This also means you should not cheat, copy, or
mislead others about what is your work. Violations of academic integrity (i.e.,
misconduct) lead to the breakdown of the academic enterprise, and therefore serious
consequences arise and harsh sanctions are imposed. For example, incidences of plagiarism
or cheating may result in a mark of zero on the assignment or exam and more serious
consequences may apply when the matter is referred to the Office of the Dean. Careful
records are kept in order to monitor and prevent recurrences. A more detailed description of
academic integrity, including the University’s policies and procedures, may be found in the
UBC Calendar: Student Conduct and Discipline.
UBC provides resources to support student learning and to maintain healthy lifestyles but
recognizes that sometimes crises arise and so there are additional resources to access
including those for survivors of sexual violence. UBC values respect for the person and ideas
of all members of the academic community. Harassment and discrimination are not tolerated
nor is suppression of academic freedom. UBC provides appropriate accommodation for
students with disabilities and for religious and cultural observances. UBC values academic
honesty and students are expected to acknowledge the ideas generated by others and to
uphold the highest academic standards in all of their actions. Details of the policies and how
to access support are available here (https://senate.ubc.ca/policies-resources-support-studentsuccess).
6. Academic accommodation for students with disabilities
Academic accommodations help students with a disability or ongoing medical condition
overcome challenges that may affect their academic success. Students requiring academic
accommodations must register with the Centre for Accessibility. They will determine the
student's eligibility for accommodations in accordance with Policy 73: Academic
Accommodation for Students with Disabilities. Academic accommodations are not determined
by your instructors, and instructors should not ask you about the nature of your disability or
ongoing medical condition, or request copies of your disability documentation. However, your
instructor may consult with the Centre for Accessibility should the accommodations affect the
essential learning outcomes of a course. Accommodations should be agreed to as soon as
possible, in the first week of class if not before. Retroactive accommodations are not permitted,
so if this applies to you, be careful to seek assistance in this regard immediately.
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7. Conflicting responsibilities
• UBC recognizes that students may occasionally have conflicting responsibilities that affect
their ability to attend class or examinations. These may include: representing the University,
the province or the country in a competition or performance; serving in the Canadian
military; or observing a religious rite. They may also include a change in a student’s situation
that unexpectedly requires that student to work or take responsibility for the care of a family
member, if these were not pre-existing situations at the start of term.
• Students with conflicting responsibilities have a duty to arrange their course schedules so as
to avoid, as much as possible, any conflicts with course requirements. As soon as conflicting
responsibilities arise, students must notify either their instructor(s) or their Faculty Advising
Office (e.g. Arts Academic Advising), and can request academic concession. Instructors may
not be able to comply with all such requests if the academic standards and integrity of the
course or program would be compromised.
• Varsity student-athletes should discuss any anticipated and unavoidable regular-season
absences with the instructor at the start of term, and provide notice of playoff or
championship absences in writing as soon as dates are confirmed.
• Religious observance may preclude attending classes or examinations at certain times. In
accordance with the UBC Policy on Religious Holidays, students who wish to be
accommodated for religious reasons must notify their instructors in writing at least two
weeks in advance. Instructors provide opportunity for such students to make up work or
examinations missed without penalty.
• Arts Students must contact Arts Advising as soon as you are aware you may need an in-term
concession. Please review their website for concession criteria as well as process to follow.
Students in other Faculties should contact their Faculty Advising Office for direction.
8. Lectures and intellectual property
• The lectures I give in this course, and the slides I use in support of the lectures, are my
intellectual property, and as such are protected by law. That protection applies to the
slides themselves, and your transcription (e.g. copying word-for-word) of the slides
(whether or not you have added annotations).
• Permission to make recordings falls within my discretion as the instructor as informed
by instructional purposes, classroom order, property interests and other reasonable
considerations arising in the academic context.
• Students may not invite other non-registered guest(s) to class without permission by the
instructor.
• Lecture slides and recordings of this class may not be exchanged for any commercial
purpose, for compensation, or for any purpose other than your personal study. Unless
authorized by me in advance and explicitly, any other commercial or any non-personal use of
slides or recordings constitutes a misuse of my intellectual property and is a breach of the
UBC Student Code of Conduct. I reserve the right to report students who misuse my
intellectual property, and such students may be subject to disciplinary measures: see the UBC
Student Code Conduct here:
http://www.calendar.ubc.ca/vancouver/index.cfm?tree=3,54,750,0.
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9. Grading policy and standards
• The Cantonese Language Program strictly follows UBC and Faculty of Arts regulations on
grading. Please see the UBC calendar for more information:
http://www.calendar.ubc.ca/vancouver/index.cfm?tree=3,42,0,0
• UBC courses are graded on a percentage basis; corresponding to letter grades which are
assigned automatically by the Registrar.
Grade
A+
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
CD
F
•
Percent
90-100
85-89
80-84
76-79
72-75
68-71
64-67
60-63
55-59
50-54
0-49
Level of achievement
Exceptional
Exceptional
Exceptional
Competent
Competent
Competent
Adequate
Adequate
Adequate
Adequate
Inadequate
Grades are NOT to be negotiated or contested. The only reason a grade change will be
made is if there is an arithmetic error. The following are NOT reasons for reconsideration of
a grade:
• The student is on probation.
• The student worked hard and thinks this should be a factor.
•
The student needs a certain grade for a scholarship or graduate school application.
•
•
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The student does not like the grade scale.
The student’s score is X% below a grade and would like the instructor to ignore the
difference.
Scaling of the Grades: Marks in this course may be scaled. If scaling is required, it will be
carried out after each assignment, so that students will know where they stand going into the
final examination. If scaling is done on the final examination, students will be informed if
they ask to review their examination. Students should note that an unofficial grade given by
an instructor might be changed by the faculty, department or school. Grades are not official
until they appear on a student's academic record.
I would like to acknowledge Dr. Zoe Lam of the UBC Cantonese Language Program for her
contribution to the content and writing of this syllabus.
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