Mandarin level 1 plus

Revised August 2025

Prerequisite for entry

Successful completion of Mandarin syllabus level 1 at UCL Language Centre or basic knowledge of Mandarin Chinese or Cantonese.

Term duration

10 x 2-hour classes.

Aims and objectives

The course aims to enable students to function at a basic, everyday survival level in Mandarin. Students will develop the ability to communicate on practical, everyday matters and enhance their language learning skills, including autonomous learning and strategies for approaching authentic materials. Additionally, students will improve their skills in reading and writing Chinese characters and gain some awareness of Chinese culture.

Functions

• Exchanging personal information, including mobile numbers, home addresses, and email addresses
• Planning and organizing celebrations
• Extending, accepting, or declining invitations to future activities
• Discussing daily routines and upcoming events
• Asking for opinions and providing feedback

Course content

Main topics/themes to be covered:

• Personal contact information
• Shopping: discussing items, prices and making comments on the purchases
• Colours
• Organising events
• Telling time -小时 (hour), 分(minute), 刻 (quarter), etc.
• Understanding Prices (块, 角, 毛)

Phonetics

• Four Chinese tones
• the sandhi of "一"
• initials, finals and their combinations
• Sentence stress and intonation

Grammar

• The principle of organising time, addresses, or prices from larger to smaller units
• Discussing future activities with要 (to want/going to) and 计划 (to plan)
• Using the particle 了to indicate past events or a change of status
• Forming wh-questions with 几 (what time), 怎么样 (how), 多少 (how many/how much)
• Using measure words (件, 条, 双, etc.) in noun phrases
• Positioning adverbials of time in front of predicate or at the beginning of a sentence

Learning resources

Books

Discover China: Student's Book One, edited by Chen Xin, Jing Lili, Macmillan. Chapters 5-8
ISBN: 9780230405950

Discover China: Workbook One
ISBN: 9780230406384

Bilingual Dictionaries

• Langenscheidt's Pocket Dictionary Chinese/English English/Chinese
• Oxford Beginners’ dictionary
• Macmillan-FLTRP Chinese Character Dictionary

Websites

Dictionary

In addition there are supplementary materials for self-study in the Self-Access Centre.