Mandarin level 2

Prerequisite for entry

Successful completion of Mandarin syllabus level 1+ at UCL Centre for Languages & International Education or a low GCSE grade (or equivalent).  

Term duration

10 x 2-hour classes.

Aims and objectives

The course aims to give students the opportunity to revise their knowledge of Mandarin Chinese and to acquire more sophisticated ways of dealing with practical matters. By the end of the course, students should be able to master in writing 150-200 Chinese characters and recognise a total of 300 characters. This includes revision and consolidation of Chinese characters, vocabulary, sentence structure and pronunciation. Cultural awareness will be developed.

Functions

• Understanding information about weather report
• Understanding daily routines
• Asking and giving directions
• Accommodation reservation

Course content

Main topics/themes to be covered:

• Expressing opinions, feelings and possibility
• Practical matter (bookings, accommodation, getting around)
• Travelling
• Talking about weather and what clothes to wear
• Home visit

Linguistic structures/ Phonetics

• Tone sandhi :3rd+ 3rd tone
• Differences between "z&zh", "c&ch", "uo&e", "zh, ch, sh", "ü&üe"

Grammar

• Comparison A and B similar差不多 the same一样
• Revision of modal verbs要&会
• from A to B从...到
• Expressing action in progressing正在
• Sequences 先...然后
• The auxiliary word 得
• Quality and size 多大/多宽/多长
• Passive 被
• both and又...又

Learning resources

Books

Discover China: Student's Book Two, edited by Chen Xin, Jing Lili , Macmillan.

Bilingual Dictionaries

• Langenscheidt dictionary
• Oxford Beginners’ dictionary
• Macmillan-FLTRP Chinese Character Dictionary

Websites

Dictionary

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