Foreign Languages Centre, Unit Catalogue 2010/11 |
FL10264: Mandarin Chinese for Cantonese speakers (semester 1) |
 Credits:
| 3 |
| Level:
| Certificate |
| Period: | This unit is available in... |
| Semester 1 |
| Assessment:
| CW 100% |
| Supplementary Assessment: | Reassessment not allowed |
| Requisites:
| |
| Description:
| NB. Students wishing to take this unit should apply via the Foreign Languages Centre website from August onwards. Aims: The course aims to introduce Cantonese speakers, who are complete Beginners in spoken Mandarin and who are familiar with approximately 800 characters, to PinYin in order to learn and improve listening and speaking skills without interference from Cantonese. By introducing simplified characters the course aims to give students increasing confidence in accessing a range of written material. It aims to enable students to operate in the sphere of business. Learning Outcomes: On completion of the course students will be able to: * Interact with some degree of fluency and spontaneity in a variety of contexts, including business situations. * Give a prepared straightforward presentation on a topic of personal interest or of general or cultural relevance. * Take follow up questions and ask for clarification or repetition if necessary. * Understand the gist of authentic audio material, such as news broadcasts and advertisements. * Understand authentic texts on familiar topics without dependence on a dictionary. * Express ideas and opinions and relate experiences in connected speech. Skills: Speaking, Reading, Listening in the target language - all assessed Interpersonal skills, communication, team skills - facilitated IT skills - facilitated Intercultural skills - facilitated and taught Autonomous learning - facilitated Research and organisational skills - facilitated Cognitive - taught. Content: Intensive language work with emphasis on aural comprehension and oral communication. It also teaches simplified characters and grammatical structures. Reading a variety of general knowledge, cultural and business related texts provides a basis for discussions in Mandarin. In discussions, students learn to express and dispute opinions and are encouraged to use spontaneous responses. |