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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2019/2020

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures : Asian Studies

Undergraduate Course: Chinese 1 (ASST08001)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Literatures, Languages and Cultures CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 8 (Year 1 Undergraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits40 ECTS Credits20
SummaryThe course enables students to acquire a firm foundation in modern spoken (Mandarin) and written Chinese through interactive class work, tutorials and oral tutorial practice. Throughout the course, language learning is placed in the cultural context of the Chinese speaking world today.
Course description Course description

This course will introduce beginners or near-beginners to the skills necessary for basic competence in Mandarin Chinese.

In it, you will be introduced the four basic skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking, with particular emphasis on the parts of the Chinese language that non-native speakers tend to find challenging, such as Chinese characters. The main textbook will be New Practical Chinese Reader, volumes 1 and 2, but teachers will supplement this with their own material when required.

Native or near-native speakers of Chinese are not allowed on this course.

Students with substantial prior knowledge of Chinese should consult the Course Organiser, who may direct them to courses better suited to their abilities.

This course is aimed primarily at students intending Honours, and requires considerable commitment in terms of both class time and private study. Students wishing to learn Chinese as an outside course should consider Introductory Chinese 1, and its follow-up course Introductory Chinese 2.


Learning Experience

This course is taught in larger groups of about 40 for the core classes. You will also have separate oral tutorials of around 20, where you can practice speaking using the concepts learned in other classes; and writing tutorials, where you can practice your handwriting and written composition skills.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesNone
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2019/20, Available to all students (SV1) Quota:  80
Course Start Full Year
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 400 ( Lecture Hours 87, Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22, Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 44, Formative Assessment Hours 1, Summative Assessment Hours 3, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 8, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 235 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 50 %, Coursework 35 %, Practical Exam 15 %
Additional Information (Assessment) Continuous assessment 35%. This is made up of weekly assignments, 1 oral exam, and 2 class written exams (one per semester).
Degree exams 65%. This is made up of 1 oral exam (15%) and 1 written paper (50%).
Feedback Not entered
Exam Information
Exam Diet Paper Name Hours & Minutes
Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May)3:00
Resit Exam Diet (August)3:00
Main Exam Diet S1 (December)2:00
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. READING: to read simple texts in Chinese characters, and understand how Chinese characters are formed;
  2. WRITING: to write Chinese characters correctly, and convey their ideas in coherent sentences or short paragraphs of basic Chinese;
  3. SPEAKING & LISTENING: to hold simple conversations in Chinese on a variety of topics. They will understand the pinyin phonetic script, and the rules of Chinese pronunciation (including the four tones).
Reading List
None
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
Additional Class Delivery Information 4 one-hour lectures, 2 one-hour oral tutorials, 1 one-hour character writing tutorial.
KeywordsAS Chinese 1
Contacts
Course organiserMs Esther Tyldesley
Tel: (0131 6)50 4225
Email: esther.tyldesley@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMrs Vivien MacNish Porter
Tel: (0131 6)50 3528
Email: vivien.macnish-porter@ed.ac.uk
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