Prerequisite for entry
Successful completion of Mandarin syllabus level 2 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 strengthen students’ basic knowledge of Mandarin to reach an intermediate level and to communicate in and understand Mandarin on many practical everyday matters related to various aspects Chinese culture. Students are encouraged to express their ideas in discussions of a limited range of topics and expected to be able to read text without pinyin.
Functions
- Describing people's appearance and personality
- Talking about a past experience
- Identifying natural beauty
- Asking and answering about sending package
- Talking about plans and making suggestions
Course content
Main topics/themes to be covered:
- Appearance & personality
- Recipe
- Shop for souvenir
- Bargaining
Linguistic structures/ Phonetics
- Tone sandhi of 不& 一
- The neutral tone
- Difference between "en& eng", "ian& uan", "j&z", "s&sh"
Grammar
- 把sentences
- Noun phrase "shi..de"
- The more...the more越...越
- 除了...以外, 还...apart from
- Expressing percentages
- Exclamatory construction duo..a!
- Expressing immediate actions with 就...了
- The auxiliary words 的/得/地
- Notional passive
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
In addition there are supplementary materials for self-study in the Self-Access Centre.