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Basic Chinese I
Chen, Yi-Hsun (Richard)
yhrchen.iitm@gmail.com
Course aims:
The course aims to enable students to acquire basic competence in the Chinese language, especially
focusing on daily conversation. Practical speaking and listening competence are developed through
practice in different daily situations. Clear, controlled vocabulary attainment targets are set and traditional
character () learning is introduced at the early stage. Basic knowledge of Chinese culture will be
introduced during the course, including explanation of certain holidays during the term of the course.
Course objectives:
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
Read Chinese in pinyin system and recognise around 200 characters used in the course
Use basic structure to express oneself in certain daily situations
Understand basic conversation within given contexts taught in the course
Time and location:
Monday and Thursday 7:00pm ~ 8:30pm
Room 336, 2nd floor, HSB Block, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Madras
Course organisation:
The best way to learn a language is to use the language as much as possible. Therefore, the attendance of
the course and classroom participation are highly valued during the course. Assignments will be given but
will not be graded. During each session, students will be asked to interact with each other, do a short
presentation or share their personal experience. Each session will be 90 minutes long, in total of 20
sessions. Cultural events and activities will be introduced during some of the sessions.
Certificates:
Students will be awarded a certificate of participation from Centre for Continuing Education IIT Madras
if they participate in over 85% of the course.
The certificate provided by Centre for Continuing Education IIT Madras does not serve as a proof of
academic credits and therefore cannot be used to claim or transfer credits from or to IIT Madras.
Students will be awarded another certificate proving their basic Chinese knowledge from Taiwan
Education Program IIT Madras Branch if they participate in over 80% of the course and reach 60% on
the final exam.
If students participate over 80% of the course yet fail to reach 60% on the final exam, a certificate of
hours of learning Chinese will be awarded by Taiwan Education Program IIT Madras Branch.
Textbook & References:
Practical Audio-visual Chinese, Zheng Zhong and Tsai Fong Books, 2nd Edition.
A Course in Contemporary Chinese: Book I. Mandarin Training Center, National Taiwan Normal
University, 2014.
Copyright 2016 Taiwan Education Centre in India. All rights reserved.

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Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar: a practical guide. Claudia Ross and Jing-heng Sheng Ma,
Routledge, 2006.
Oxford Starter Chinese Dictionary. Yuan, Boping and S. Church, Oxford University Press, 2000.

Temporary Syllabus:
Week

Date

Session

Topic

Sept. 01

Introduction to the course

Introduction to Mandarin language

Sept. 12

No class - Idul Zuha (Bakrid)

Sept. 15

Introduction to writing characters

Moon festival

Sept. 19

Greetings
Pronunciation I

Sept. 22

Question forming
Pronunciation II

Sept. 26

Name
Pronunciation III

Sept. 29

Nationality
Pronunciation IV

Oct. 03

Formal conversation
Pronunciation V

Oct. 06

Basic number
Pronunciation revision

Oct. 10

Numbers and date

Double Tenth day

Oct. 13

10

Days and recreation

Oct. 17

11

Introducing someone

Oct. 20

12

Hobbies and asking questions

Oct. 24

13

Revision
Retrocession day

Oct. 27

14

Ask and answer questions

Copyright 2016 Taiwan Education Centre in India. All rights reserved.

10

Oct. 31

15

Negation sentences

Nov. 3

16

Numbered nouns
Purchasing and bargaining

Nov. 7

17

Family members
Indefinite numbers

Nov. 10

18

Describing nouns
Possessive DE

Nov. 14
11
12

No class - Guru Nanaks Birthday

Nov. 17

19

Final Exam

Nov. 21

20

Feedback

**Note: The above syllabus may change according to the students learning process.
Course website: http://tepiitm.weebly.com/

Copyright 2016 Taiwan Education Centre in India. All rights reserved.