The focus of this course is on understanding in practical situations, and teaches Mandarin Chinese, the official dialect of the People's Republic of China. The material is organized into modules that deal with concrete situations or language topics; you select the modules that you want to study in the order that you prefer. Each Core module includes four to eight units. It is recommended that at least Modules 1 and 2 (Orientation, Biographic Information), a third module of your choice, and the Resource Module be studied to achieve basic proficiency in the language.
This course is designed to give you a practical command of spoken Standard Chinese (Mandarin). Although Standard Chinese is one language, there are differences betveen the particular form it takes in Beijing and the form it takes in the rest of the country (there are also, of course, significant nonlinguistic differences between regions of the country). Reflecting these regional differences, the settings for most conversations are Beijing and Taipei.
The subtitle of this course, A Modular Approach, refers to the overall organization of the materials into modules which focus on particular situations or language topics, and which allow a certain amount of choice as to what is taught and in what order. To highlight equally significant features of the course, the subtitle could just as well have been A Situational Approach, A Taped-Input Approach, or A Communicative Approach.
Each course is divided into Core Modules, Resource Modules, and Optional Modules.
The Core modules for the entire course are based on the following situations below: (This course contains level 1; subsequent courses contain a core module each).
- Orientation (9 sections)
Talking about who you are and where you are from.
- Biographic Information (22 sections)
Talking about your background, family, studies, and occupation and about your visit to China.
- Money (17 sections)
Making purchases and changing money.
- Directions (15 sections)
Asking directions in a city or in a building.
- Transportation (22 sections)
Taking buses, taxis, trains, and planes, including finding out schedule information, buying tickets, and making reservations.
- Arranging a Meeting (22 sections)
Arranging a business meeting or a social get-together, changing the time of an appointment, and declining an invitation.
- Society (10 sections)
Talking about families, relationships between people, cultural roles in traditional society, and cultural trends in modern society.
- Travelling In China (10 sections)
Making travel arrangements and visiting a kindergarten, the Great Wall, the Ming Tombs, a commune, and a factory.
- Life In China (11 sections)
Talking about daily life in Beijing street committees, leisure activities, traffic and transportation, buying and rationing, housing.
Each Core module includes a student textbook, and a workbook, and has from four to eight units. A module also includes:
Objectives: The module objectives are listed at the beginning of the text for each module. Read these before starting work on the first unit to fix in your mind what you are trying to accomplish and what you will have to do to pass the test at the end of the module.
Target Lists: These follow the objectives in the text. They summarize the language content of each unit in the form of typical questions and answers on the topic of that unit. Each sentence is given both in romanized Chinese and in English. Turn to the appropriate Target List before, during, or after your work on a unit, whenever you need to pull together what is in the unit.
Criterion Test: After studying each module, you will take a Criterion Test to find out which module objectives you have met and which you need to work on before beginning to study another module.
The Resource modules teach particular systems in the language, such as numbers and dates. As you proceed through a situational core module, you will occasionally take time out to study part of a resource module. (You will begin the first three of these while studying the Orientation module).
Pronunciation And Romanization
The sound system of Chinese and the Pinyin system of romanization.
- Numbers
Numbers up to five digits.
- Classroom Expressions
Expressions basic to the classroom learning situation.
- Time And Dates
Dates, days of the week, clock time, parts of the day.
- Grammar
Aspect and verb types, word order, multisyllabic verbs, auxiliary verbs, complex sentences, adverbial expressions.
Each Optional module includes and a student textbook, and they may be used at any time after certain core modules. The three Optional modules focus on particular situations:
- Personal Welfare (3 sections)
- Hotel, Restaurant, Car, Office, and Telephone (5 sections)
- Customs Surrounding Marriage, Birth, And Death (3 sections)
This is a detailed description of the steps you will go through in working within a unit:
First, you will work through two sections:
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1. Comprehension sections1 (C-1): This sectionsintroduces all the new words and structures in the unit and lets you hear them in the context of short conversational exchanges. It then works them into other short conversations and longer passages for listening practice, and finally reviews them in the Target List sentences. Your goal when using the tape is to understand all the Target List sentences for the unit.
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2. Production sections (P-1): This tape gives you practice in pronouncing the new words and in saying the sentences you learned to understand on the C-1 section. Your goal when using the P-1 sections is to be able to produce any of the Target List sentences in Chinese when given the English equivalent.
The C-1 and P-1 sections, not accompanied by workbooks, are "portable" in the sense that they do not tie you down to your desk. However, there are some written materials for each unit which you will need to work into your study routine. A text Reference List at the beginning of each unit contains the sentences from the C-1 and P-1 sections. It includes both the Chinese sentences and their English equivalents. The text Reference Notes restate and expand the comments made on the C-1 and P-1 sectionsconcerning grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and culture.
After you have worked with the C-1 and P-1 sections, you go on to two additional activities:
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3. Target List Review: In this first class activity of the unit, you find out how well you learned the C-1 and P-1 sentences. The teacher checks your understanding and production of the Target List sentences. He also presents any additional required vocabulary items, found at the end of the Target List, which were not on the C-1 and P-1 sections.
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4. Structural Buildup: During this class activity, you work on your understanding and control of the new structures in the unit. You respond to questions from your teacher about situations illustrated on a chalkboard or explained in other ways.
After these activities, your teacher may want you to spend some time working on the drills for the unit.
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5. Drill Tape: This tape takes you through various types of drills based on the Target List sentences and on the additional required vocabulary.
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6. Drills: The teacher may have you go over some or all of the drills in class, either to prepare for work with the tape, to review the tape, or to replace it.
Next, you use two more tapes. These sectionswill give you as much additional practice as possible outside of class.
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7. Comprehension sections (C-2): This tape provides advanced listening practice with exercises containing long, varied passages which fully exploit the possibilities of the material covered. In the C-2 Workbook you answer questions about the passages.
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8. Production sections (P-2): This tape resembles the Structural Buildup in that you practice using the new structures of the unit in various situations. The P-2 Workbook provides instructions and displays of information for each exercise.
Following work on these two sections, you take part in two class activities:
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9. Exercise Review: The teacher reviews the exercises of the C-2 section by reading or playing passages from the tape and. questioning you on them. He reviews the exercises of the P-2 section by questioning you on information displays in the P-2 Workbook.
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10. Communication Activities: Here you use what you have learned in the unit for the purposeful exchange of information. Both fictitious situations (in Communication Games) and real-world situations involving you and your classmates (in "interviews") are used.
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