Syllabus
Chinese 101
Instructor:
Xiaoping Teng
Office hours: M.W.F. 11- 12 or by appointment
Telephone:
542-5847 (O); 253-7431/6536 (H)
E-mail:
xteng@amherst.edu
Mailbox:
2242
Fall 2011
Webster 107
Course Description:
This course, along with Chinese 102 in the spring semester, is an
elementary introduction to Mandarin Chinese. The class takes an
integrated approach to basic language skills of listening, speaking, reading
and writing, and it emphasizes pronunciation and the tones, Chinese
character handwriting, and the most basic structure and patterns of
Chinese grammar. There will be three lecture meetings (M.W.F) and two
drill sessions (T. Th.) each week.
Class
Drills:
MWF
TTh
9:00, 10:00
9:00, 10:00, 1:00, 2:00
Webster 217
Webster 103
Required Course Material:
1. Textbook: Integrated Chinese 3rd Edition, Level 1 Part I, (simplified version) written
by Liu, Yuehua and Yao, Tao-chung et.al. Published by Cheng & Tsui
Company. 2009
2. Character workbook: Integrated Chinese 3rd Edition, Level 1 Part I, (simplified
version) written by Liu, Yuehua and Yao, Tao-chung et.al. Published by
Cheng & Tsui Company. 2009
The Textbook and Character Workbook are available at Amherst Books in
downtown Amherst, next to Subway restaurant.
3. On-line workbook: Integrated Chinese 3rd Edition, Level 1 Part I, (simplified
version) written by Liu, Yuehua and Yao, Tao-chung et.al. Published by
Cheng & Tsui Company. 2009
Please purchase the Book Key from the publisher ASAP. Detailed
instruction is given as an attachment in the end.
Optional Course Material:
 The Way of Chinese Characters, written by Jianhsin Wu. Published by
Cheng & Tsui Company. 2007 (also on reserve at the library)
 Concise English-Chinese Chinese-English Dictionary, Published by the
Commercial Press and Oxford University Press.
General Goals for First Year Chinese:
1) The emphasis is on listening and speaking
2) Lay a solid foundation for pronunciation and intonation
3) Lay a solid foundation for character writing
4) Learn basic grammatical structures
Objectives:
 Have a good command of the pinyin system (tones, tone sandhi rules, spelling
rules)
 Know the basic stroke orders and basic radicals and learn about 400
characters.
 Be able to engage in basic conversation tasks and carry out simple
communication needs with basic grammatical structures.
 Be able to read and write simple paragraphs in Chinese.
Organization:
Day of Week
Class/quiz
Assignment due
Monday
Vocabulary Quiz (1)
First Dialogue/text
Vocabulary
Grammar
Drills on First text
Recording to voice board due:
10:00pm
Tuesday
Wednesday

Thursday
Vocabulary Quiz (2)
Second Dialogue/text
Vocabulary
Grammar
Drills on Second test
Friday
Summary & Quiz
Part I translation, Essay due:
4:00pm in my box (Webster 107)
Part I on-line homework due:
10:00pm
Part II Translation, Essay due:
4:00pm in my box.
Part II On-line workbook
due:10:00pm
Character due: 11:00 in my box
outside of my office
Preview new lesson
Classes
Lecture classes will be conducted both in Chinese and English, while drill
sessions will be conducted mainly in Chinese. If you do not follow in class,
please come to me and I will be happy to explain to you in English if necessary
after class. (Previewing lessons is vital for an effective drill session.)
In class, I will correct students’ errors in pronunciation and grammar as class time
allows.
In doing questions and answers, if you cannot answer a particular question due to
the fact that you are not familiarize yourself with the vocabulary and the text, I
will move on to other students.
I will also appreciate it if you have personal questions, please raise them privately
before or after class in my office. If you have any questions regarding the
corrections of your homework and quizzes, please do not hesitate to come to me.

Participation
Students are required to attend each class and participate in discussions.
Participation is based on attending the full period as well as being active in all
class activities. Three times late to classes will count as one absence. If you need
to leave during class time for emergency or health reasons, please get the
permission from the instructor.
If you fail to come to class due to a legitimate reason (with a note from the Dean,
faculty members, or a doctor) I will be happy to make up the class for you;
otherwise, please check the class notes from your classmates. Please contact me
if you are not able to attend the class. If I do not hear from you after I contact you
repeatedly, I will send out an inquiry to the Dean’s office.
Stay in one drill section. Going to a section that is different from your designated
one (without the instructor’s approval) will be counted as absence.
You are encouraged to participate in Chinese Tables (12:00—1:00 Mondays
(Shen); Tuesdays (Teng); Fridays (Li) at Valentine basement three
times/semester.

Homework:
Dictation:
Dictation will be done first thing in class on Mondays and Wednesdays.
Please come to class on time.
On-line recording:
Follow the instruction in Blackboard and post it on voice-board to Class 1 ( 9:00
class on MWF) or Class 2 (10:00 on MWF.) Allocate at least 30 minutes for this
homework--20 minutes for following the text recording and 10 minutes for
practice on your own and do the recording.
Character workbook:
o Write one row for each character (simplified form is what we are
learning); write neatly and clearly and follow the stroke order one by one.
o write one time that shows the stroke order (number the strokes)
o write the radical that character belongs to.
o write down the meaning of the radical ( take notes from class or from The
Way of Chinese Characters (on reserve),
from on-line source
Yellowbridge.com etc. )
For each character, stroke order is shown in the big box. If characters have both
traditional and simplified forms, the first line will be the traditional form and its
stroke order, the second line is the simplified form. In the shaded area, radicals
are shown as the boldfaced strokes, sometimes there are more than one radicals.
On-line workbook:
Do the assigned homework on your own and check the answer only after you do
the work independently.
Translation and essay:
Print out the assigned translation and essay assignment from the on-line
workbook and hand in to the drop off folder in the box outside of my office. You
will get back your homework with my correction the next day. On a voluntary
base, you can hand in your corrected work again by 11:00am on the following
day.
Grading Policy:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
Preparation/Attendance/participations:
Homework: character, recording, on-line HW, essay
Quizzes: (weekly quiz 20%, Dictations 10% )
Midterm exam (oral 7.5%, written 7.5%)
Final exam (oral 7.5%, written 7.5%)
A
AB+
B
BC+
94---100
90—93
87--89
84--86
80--83
77--79
C
CD+
D
DF
20%
20%
30%
15%
15%
74--76
70--73
67--69
64--66
60--63
-60

No late homework or make-up quizzes or exams are allowed except under
special circumstances with advanced notice. One late home work without
deduction (but with a warning) is allowed. Afterwards, 10 points will be
deducted when handing in on the next meeting time.

One quiz and one dictation that have the lowest grade will be dropped when
calculating the final grade.)
Links:
Link for all course materials (syllabus, schedule, course material, text recordings,
making recordings, workbook station etc.) can all be found at CMS- My Amherst>Chinese 101 (Need to log in from your Amherst home page).
https://www.amherst.edu/myamherst/start
https://www.amherst.edu/offices/it/teaching_research/coursePetition (5 college
students)
Schedule:
Week
Date
Lessons
1.
Sept. 6 - 9
Introduction; L1
2.
Sept. 12 - 16
Introduction; L1
3.
Sept. 19 - 23
L2
4.
Sept. 26 – 30
L3
5.
Oct. 3 - 7
L4
6.
Oct. 12 - 14
L5
7.
Oct. 17 - 21
L5, Review (L1 – L5) and Mid-term
8.
Oct. 24 - 28
L6
9.
Oct.31 - Nov. 4
L7
10. Nov. 7 - 11
L8
11. Nov. 14 - 18
L9 (no class on Nov. 19th)
12. Nov. 19 - 27
Thanksgiving Recess
13. Nov. 28 – Dec.2
L10
14. Dec. 5 - 9
Review L1—L10
15. Dec. 12 - 16
Review and oral presentation
16. Dec. 19 - 23
Final Examination (TBA)
You are always welcome to let me know your suggestions or anything on your mind at
any time.
Your instructor, Xiaoping Teng, invites you to enroll in the following course.
Course: Chinese 101
Code: JNMA368
Books: Integrated Chinese Level 1 Part 1 Workbook, Simplified Characters
Integrated Chinese Level 1 Part 1 Workbook, Traditional Characters
Creating a Cheng & Tsui Account
If you do not have an account, you need to create one. To do so, follow these
steps:
1. Go to http://iconline.cheng-tsui.com and click Create an account.
2. Select a username and password and enter your information, then click Submit.
Note: Remember to write down your username and password and be sure to
select the correct time zone. Also, please enter a valid e-mail address so we can
send you your password if you forget it.
Entering the Book Key and Course Code
Enter the book key and course code to complete the enrollment process. You
may already have a book key, or you may need to purchase a book key.
Depending on your situation, use one of the procedures below. If you activated
the book for a previous course, you can start at step 4 of I already have a book
key below.
Once you have completed this step, the system lists the course and book on the
Student Workstation home page. To enter additional books, enter a book key in
the Enter field and click Go.
Note: Book keys can only be used once. Your book key will become invalid after
you use it.
I already have a book key
1. Go to http://iconline.cheng-tsui.com and log in.
2. At the top of the page, enter your book key and click Go.
3. Click Confirm to confirm your registration information. Your book will appear
under the My books heading.
4. Beside the book listing, enter the course code JNMA368 in the Enter course
code field and click Go.
5. If necessary, select a class or section and click Submit.
I need to purchase a book key
1. Go to http://iconline.cheng-tsui.com and log in.
2. At the top of the page, enter the course code JNMA368 and click Go.
3. If necessary, select a class or section and click Submit. The course and books will
appear under the My classes heading.
4. Locate the book and click buy.
5. Proceed through the purchase process.
Note: If the buy link does not appear in Step 4, contact your instructor for
information about obtaining a book key.
Using Cheng & Tsui
To access your Student Workstation in the future, go to http://iconline.chengtsui.com and log in. Here, you can open your book, submit activities, view your
results, and view your instructor's feedback. If you have any questions, contact
Cheng & Tsui Support at http://iconline.cheng-tsui.com/support.