BEGINNING CHINESE I SYLLABUS
George Washington University, Washington DC 20052
[NOTE: this is only a sample.]
INSTRUCTORS:
Hongyuan Dong (Dǒng Lǎoshī)
Email: hdong@gwu.edu
Office:____________________________
Office Hours:______________________
COURSE MEETING TIME:
Lectures: Tuesdays and Thursdays 9:35 am -10:50 am at ________________
Drills: Mondays and Wednesdays 12:45 pm -1:35 pm at _________________
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course aims to lay a solid foundation for the students of Chinese in the basics of sounds, grammar,
vocabulary and Chinese characters, and also important cultural aspects. After completing this course,
students are expected to take Beginning Chinese II in the spring semester.
INTENDED AUDIENCE:
This course is designed for beginners, i.e. students with no formal study of Mandarin Chinese. If you are
not a total beginner, please see your instructor for approval.
STUDENT LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
At the end of this course, students can do the following:
1. Comprehend authentic linguistic materials on daily conversational topics, such as greetings,
talking about hobbies, telling time, food and eating, entertaining friends, making phone calls and
etc, in both the written and the spoken forms.
2. Know some basic aspects of the Chinese culture and be able to pay attention to these aspects in
their own communication with native speakers.
3. Analyze sentences using basic grammatical terms and tools.
4. Construct and create correct linguistic materials on their own, in both written and spoken forms.
5. Recognize and produce over 200 Chinese characters.
6. Form a foundation for future studies of the Chinese language.
COURSE MATERIALS:
1. Liu, Yuehua, et al. (2009) Integrated Chinese: Level 1 Part 1 Textbook (Simplified Characters),
3rd Edition, Boston: Cheng & Tsui Company, Inc.
2. Integrated Chinese Character Workbook
3. Integrated Chinese Level 1 Part 1 Online Workbook powered by Quia Books.
OTHER RESOURCES:
Blackboard: course materials such as syllabus, weekly course schedules, homework assignments,
textbook audio and video files will be available on Blackboard.
GWU language center: there will be native speakers as tutors in the language center located in Phillips
Hall 211 to help you with your pronunciation, conversation and writing characters.
COURSE STRUCTURE:
This course consists of two lectures and two drill sessions each week. The lectures will be devoted to
grammar explanation, grammar drills, translation exercises, writing characters, and quizzes, although a
fair amount of communicational tasks will also be carried out in these lectures. The drill sessions will be
used mostly, but not exclusively, for conversation drills.
ASSESSMENT METHODS:
Homework: our homework assignments include:
daily assignment from our online workbook (this is an important part of your grade).
preview sheets (one preview sheet per chapter)
character sheets from the character workbook
recitation (we will assign dialogs or passages for you to memorize in each chapter)
composition (assigned periodically throughout the whole semester.)
All online workbook exercises and character sheets will be due or collected after we finish the relevant
chapter. But you should do the homework daily as assigned.
Performance: your instructor will assess your in-class performance regularly, based upon how well you
prepared, how actively you participate, how much effort you make in class to learn, etc.
Character dictation: we will have a character dictation each Tuesday and Thursday.
Chapter quiz: there will be a quiz after each chapter.
Unit Test: there will be 2 unit tests. Each unit test consists of an oral test and a written test.
Final Exam: there will be a final exam which will consist of an oral test and a written test. The oral test
will be a Chinese skit. The written test will be comprehensive, including materials covered throughout
the semester, but with emphasis on the most recent materials.
GRADING FORMULA:
Performance: 10%
Homework: 15%
Dictation: 10%
Chapter quizzes: 20%
Unit Test: 20%
Final Exam: 25%
You are allowed to drop 2 lowest scores for the quizzes, and 4 lowest scores from the dictations.
The letter grades are assigned according to:
≥94 A
[90, 94) A-
[87, 90) B+
[84, 87) B
[80, 84) B-
[77, 80) C+
[74, 77) C
[70, 74) C-
[67, 70) D+
[64, 67) D
[60, 64) D-
<60 F
GENERAL POLICIES:
Attendance: students should make an effort to attend each class.
Each student is allowed 3 undocumented absences. Beyond that, each additional absence will
result in a reduction of 0.5 point from your final grade.
Fifteen absences will result in a failing grade.
Absence with legitimate reasons must be accompanied by proper documents, e.g. a doctor’s note.
Absences related to religious holidays can be excused if prior notice is made to the instructor.
Tardiness: students should attend each class on time.
If you are late for 1-5 minutes, your performance score will be lowered by one letter grade for
every two instances of tardiness, e.g. one absence or two absences will reduce your score from A
to A-.
If you are late for 5-10, it will be counted as half an absence.
Anything beyond 10 minutes will be counted as one absence.
Homework: all homework assignments should be submitted by the due date. We do NOT accept late
homework. Students should not ask a tutor or anyone for a specific answer to a homework assignment
question. Sharing answers among students is not allowed, and it would be regarded as plagiarism.
Make-up quiz/test: no make-up quiz or test will be given for undocumented absences. If you have a
legitimate reason for absence, advance arrangements need to be made before any absence occurs to
ensure that a make-up test can be scheduled. No make-up test for the final exam will be granted, unless a
schedule conflict occurs with your other exams.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY:
We take academic integrity seriously. All students must abide by the Code of Academic Integrity of the
University. The Code defines academic dishonesty as “cheating of any kind, including misrepresenting
one’s own work, taking credit for the work of others without crediting them and without appropriate
authorization, and fabrication of information” (p16). If you are not sure about anything, consult the
course instructor. The GWU Guide to Rights and Responsibilities can be accessed at the following
address: http://gwired.gwu.edu/osjs/Policies/CodeofStudentConduct. Note that if you knowingly give
your own work to others for them to copy, your conduct is against academic integrity as well.
CLASS ETIQUETTES:
In order to create a good learning environment, we ask our students to pay special attention to the
following etiquettes.
1. Do NOT use the following: laptop, iPad, tablet PCs, cell phones. Please silence your cell phone
and do not text in class.
2. No food is allowed in any class. Especially NO chewing gum or mint. But you can bring drinks
with a secure lid.
3. Pay attention when other students are speaking. Do not chat on the side.
4. Maintain good posture in class. Don’t slouch, or put your feet on the desk or chair.
5. When you hand in something to your teacher, please use both hands.
6. Please address your teacher by “nín” (the polite form of “you”)
AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE INSTRUCTOR AND THE STUDENTS:
The rules and agenda set forth in this syllabus are regarded as agreed upon between the instructor and
the students, unless written objection to any specific point is raised within the first week of class. The
instructor reserves the right to make minor changes to the syllabus as necessary throughout the semester.
OVERVIEW OF COURSE:
The following schedule is subject to change.
For a detailed list of class content and homework assignment for each day, please download the
weekly schedules from the “Schedules” folder on Blackboard.
Week #
Week 1
Lessons
Introduction
Description
Pinyin system and Chinese characters primer
Week 2
Lesson 1
Week 3
Lesson 1 and 2
Week 4
Lesson 2
Week 5
Lesson 2 and 3
Greetings and further pronunciation and pinyin drills
More greetings. Start talking about family. More
pronunciation drills.
Talking about family
More talk about family. Start talking about dates and
time.
Dates and time. Review L1, L2 and L3
Lesson 3
Week 6
Unit Test I oral exam on Monday, Unit Test I written exam on Tuesday
Lesson 4
Talking about hobbies
Week 7
More talk on hobbies. Start talking about visiting
Lesson 4 and 5
Week 8
friends.
Lesson 5
Visiting friends.
Week 9
More visiting friends. Start talking about appointments
Lesson 5 and 6
Week 10
and making phone calls.
More making appointments, phone calls, and review L4,
Lesson 6
Week 11
L5 and L6.
Unit Test II oral exam on Monday, Unit Test II written exam on Tuesday
Lesson 7
Studying Chinese
Week 12
Week 13
Lessons 7, 8
More studying Chinese
Week 14
Week 15
Lesson 8
Lesson 8
School life
School life and review
Final Exam oral test (Chinese skits) on Wednesday
Final Exam (check on line when more details are available)