The first of two semesters on Mandarin Chinese that comprise CMU’s Elementary Chinese course. Click here for Elementary Chinese 2. Learn about Open & Free OLI courses by visiting the “Open & Free features” tab below.
Elementary Chinese 1 — Open & Free
- Description
- What students will learn
- Learning objectives by module
- Course assessments, activities, and outline
- Other course details
- System requirements
Description
Elementary Chinese 1 is the first half of a two-semester Mandarin Chinese course that aims to help beginners develop communicative competence in the basic four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) and culture of Chinese. The course curriculum is organized around the 5 Cs principles of the National Standards for Foreign Language Education for the 21st Century – Communication, Cultures, Comparisons, Connections and Communities. Elementary Chinese 1 covers 8 units. We recommend that students go through the units in order to take advantage of the systematic scope and sequence of the learning materials. However, the curriculum is also flexible for individuals and institutions to adopt and modify to meet their different needs, schedule and emphasis. The current course is available for low-cost use by instructor-led classes of enrolled students.
Note: the Open & Free Chinese 1 course includes just one sample lesson, Unit 2: Greetings.
Topics Covered:
- Foundation: pinyin and basic expressions
- Greetings
- Names
- Nationalities and languages
- Talking about studies
- Talking about yourself and your family
- Making phone calls
- Daily schedules
Course structure
Elementary Chinese 1 is part of a two-part sequence. The units in both courses have a consistent structure, containing the following main content and activities:
Main Content
- Objective
- Main video (+questions)
- Video preview exercises
- Text of the video
- Text translation and pinyin with slower audio (students are strongly encouraged to listen and repeat after the sound files)
- Text notes
- Vocabulary tables
- Video comprehension exercises
II. Listening
- Pinyin recognition exercise
- True and false exercise
- Translation exercise
- Question answering exercise
III. Grammar
- Grammar notes
- Sentence jumble exercise
- Dialogue jumble exercise
IV. Reading Exercises
- Reading comprehension
V. Consolidation Exercises
- Picture description exercise
VI. Culture Link
- Culture notes
- Culture info
VII Characters
- Characters in the character book (both traditional and simplified versions)
What students will learn
By the time they finish this course, students will have:
- developed communicative competence in the basic four skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing
- an introduction to Chinese culture
Learning objectives by module
Not applicable.
Course assessments, activities, and outline
UNIT 1: Foundations
Module 1: Pinyin Intro
Module 2: Palatal, Dental and Retroflex Initials
Module 3: Compound Finals
Module 4: Nasal Finals
Module 5: Special Pinyin Rules
Module 6: Pinyin Review Exercises
Module 7: Basic Chinese Expressions
UNIT 2: Greetings
Module 9: Main Content
Module 10: Listening
Module 11: Grammar
Module 12: Reading Exercises
Module 13: Consolidation Exercises
Module 14: Culture Link
UNIT 3: Names
Module 16: Main Content
Module 17: Listening
Module 18: Grammar
Module 19: Reading Exercises
Module 20: Consolidation Exercises
Module 21: Culture Link
UNIT 4: Nationalities
Module 23: Main Content
Module 24: Listening
Module 25: Grammar
Module 26: Reading Exercises
Module 27: Consolidation Exercises
Module 28: Culture Link
UNIT 5: Studies
Module 30: Main Content
Module 31: Listening
Module 32: Grammar
Module 33: Reading Exercises
Module 34: Consolidation Exercises
Module 35: Culture Link
UNIT 6: Self and Family
Module 37: Main Content
Module 38: Listening
Module 39: Grammar
Module 40: Reading Exercises
Module 41: Consolidation Exercises
Module 42: Culture Link
UNIT 7: Phone Calls
Module 44: Main Content
Module 45: Listening
Module 46: Grammar
Module 47: Reading Exercises
Module 48: Consolidation Exercises
Module 49: Culture Link
UNIT 8: Daily Schedule
Module 51: Main Content
Module 52: Listening
Module 53: Grammar
Module 54: Reading Exercises
Module 55: Consolidation Exercises
Module 56: Culture Link
Other course details
This is a semester-long course, designed to take approximately 15 weeks.
Coming soon.
Coming soon.
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System requirements
OLI system requirements, regardless of course:
- internet access
- an operating system that supports the latest browser update
- the latest browser update (Chrome recommended; Firefox, Safari supported; Edge and Internet Explorer are supported but not recommended)
- pop-ups enabled
- cookies enabled
Some courses include exercises with exceptions to these requirements, such as technology that cannot be used on mobile devices.
This course’s system requirements:
- Audio recording software
