Chinese Language Program | Requirements

- Incoming students must take the Chinese Placement examination to determine their level. The Placement Exam is given at the beginning of each semester during the registration period. It consists of an oral interview and a reading/writing exam.

- Students who start to study Chinese at SAIS from the very beginning level have to take four semesters of classes plus a summer program held either in China or in the U.S..

- By the end of the Intermediate High course, students can take the Chinese Proficiency Examination. To satisfy the language requirement in Chinese, students are expected to achieve the following levels of proficiency: Intermediate Mid in Listening, Intermediate High in Speaking and Reading. The Proficiency Exams are given three times during the academic year, at the beginning/end of the Fall Semester and at the end of the Spring Semester. The Proficiency Exam consists of a three-part exam: a reading comprehension, a listening comprehension and an oral exam.

BEGINNING CHINESE

Text:

Novice                            PRACTICAL CHINESE READER, Book 1, Lesson I- 1 8
Novice High                    PRACTICAL CHINESE READER, Book 1, L. 19-3 0
Intermediate Low            PRACTICAL CHINESE READER, Book 11, L. 31-40

 Objectives:

1. Introduction to speaking, reading and writing Chinese with an emphasis on mastering the essentials of pronunciation (using the Pinyin systems of romanization), basic characters (approximately 800 vocabulary items) and grammatical patterns.
   
2. To teach students to be able to make practical use of the language in real life situations, such as shopping, asking directions, using transportation, going to a restaurant, using the telephone, engaging in the social intercourse etc. and to teach students to be able to use a Chinese-English dictionary.
   
3. Introduction to applicable knowledge in Chinese culture, society, politics, history, geography, local customs and present-day conditions.

 Approach:

1. Audio tapes are used for individual student practice and preparation.
   
2. During classroom time new material is introduced and students are given the opportunity to communicate in Chinese in real life situations through drills, role plays and guided conversation
   
3. Text book lessons and written exercises are used for homework assignments and review. Handouts of supplementary materials are also used 

 Proficiency Goals:

1. Listening: Intermediate Low
   Can understand simple questions and answers, simple statements and face- to-face conversations.
   
2. Speaking: Intermediate-Mid
   In addition to using very familiar memorized material, can create with the language by making up own sentences, participate in short conversations, ask and answer questions using declarative sentences. Can get into, through and out of a simple survival situations. Can transfer current learned material to new situations contexts.
   
3. Reading. Intermediate-Low
   Can get main gist, key ideas and some supporting detail by answering questions on the content of assigned readings featuring description and narration. Can get basic information from a simple materials dealing with basic personal needs.
   
4. Writing: Intermediate-Low
   Able to meet a number of practical writing needs. Can write short, simple letters.

INTERMEDIATE CHINESE

Text:

Intermediate Mid:           PRACTICAL CHINESE READER, Book II, L.41-50
Intermediate High:         Selected readings from various Intermediate textbooks
Intermediate High2:       SAIS CHINESE READER

 Objectives:

1. Intermediate Mid level will concentrate on consolidating the foundations which the students have begun to build in their previous studies (i.e. pronunciation, grammar, character writing), furthering knowledge of sentence stricture and expending vocabulary in the subject matter of Chinese history, geography, politics and economies.
   
2. In Intermediate High level students will develop aural and reading comprehension by reading text book, modem essays, newspapers and magazine articles. By the end of the course, students will have mastered approximately 1800-2000 characters. They will have the ability to do individual reading with the aid of a dictionary and have the ability to participate in discussions on subjects related to Chinese politics, economics and international affairs.

 Approach:

1. Audio and video tapes of Chinese films strengthen the students' overall language ability.
   
2. Classroom instruction and activities include drills, discussions, listening comprehension exercises, reading comprehension exercises and translation exercises. The course will be conducted primarily in Chinese.
   
3. Homework assignments include text exercises, reading comprehension exercises, translations, compositions and preparation for the oral presentation in the class etc.. Handouts of supplementary materials are also used.

 Proficiency Goals:

1. Listening: Intermediate-High
   Can sustain understanding over longer stretches of connected discourse on a number of topics pertaining to different times and places. Can also understand the main ideas of simple paragraphed speech in students' area of expertise.
   
2. Speaking: Intermediate-High
   Can initiate, sustain and close a general conversation on topic of politics, economics and international affairs. There is emerging evidence of connected discourse for simple narration and description.
   
3. Reading: Intermediate-High
   Can comprehend simple discourse of paragraph length in specially prepared materials relying on low-level, high frequency sentence patterns and can get some main ideas and factual information from simple authentic articles.
   
4. Writing: Intermediate-Mid

ADVANCED CHINESE (Post-Proficiency Level)

Text:

1. Newspaper articles and editorials
2. PRC and Taiwan documents on Sine-US relations
3. Business Dialogues
4. Modem vernacular I literature
5. Classical Chinese

 Objectives:

1. This course aims at further development of overall language proficiency.
   
2. To give students the ability to conduct research using Chinese materials.
   
3. To give students the ability to converse freely with Chinese scholars and specialists on political, economic and international topics.
   
4. Students will be given training tailored to their career objectives.

 Approach:

1. Audio and video tapes of Chinese radio broadcasts, TV program and movies strengthen the students' overall language ability and provide material for classroom discussion.
   
2. Classroom instruction (classes are conducted entirely in Chinese).
   
3. Assignments include reading and listening comprehension exercises, translations, compositions and preparation for the discussions or debates on the current events.

 Proficiency goals:

1. Listening: Advanced
   Can understand virtually all face-to-face conversation; can understand most factual and abstract one-way communications; can understand new vocabulary in context through guessing.
   
2. Speaking: Advanced
   Can narrate and describe with paragraph-length connected discourse; can fully participate in casual conversations; can. give instructions, simple reports; can deal with familiar situations with complications such as complaints, emergency situations.
   
3. Reading: Advanced
   Can read longer prose of several paragraphs in length; can get the main ideas and facts and some details, able to understand factual descriptions, narration, and some abstract topics in a familiar context.
   
4. Writing: Intermediate-High
   Can create statements well enough to meet practical needs and some limited social demands; begin to show ability to write discourse of several paragraphs, cohesive summaries, descriptions and narration; can write short messages, notes/letters and compositions.