Syllabus

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Course Meeting Times

Lectures: 4 sessions / week, 1 hour / session

Course Description

This subject follows 21F.102/21F.152 (Chinese II) in MIT's curriculum in modern standard Chinese (Mandarin). Together with 21F.104, taught in the Spring, Chinese III forms the intermediate level of what constitutes a four-term foundation in Mandarin. The foundation (Chinese I through IV) covers the core grammar of the language; it develops a sensitivity to linguistically appropriate behavior; it introduces extensive vocabulary and usage as a basis for conversational development; and it provides a step-by-step guide to the principles and practice of reading and writing Chinese characters.

In Chinese III, students will complete the basic grammatical survey of the language begun in the first year courses and consolidate and improve conversational skills; in reading, there will be a transition from the short texts of the sort encountered in Chinese I and II to stories adapted from traditional Chinese tales.

Materials

Chinese III continues where Chinese II left off, at the end of Part 2 of J. K. Wheatley's Learning Chinese: A Foundation Course in Mandarin (Unit 7), and will continue with all of Part 3 (Characters 7 and Units 8, 9, and 10) of the same book. Learning Chinese will be supplemented over the course of the term with material from two other texts, one focused on listening (which will be completed in Chinese IV), and the other on reading. These are listed below. Character reading will be mostly in the simplified set (jiantizì), but there will be occasional excerpts written in the traditional set (fántizì) as well. As before, you will be allowed to write either character set. For composition in characters, we hope that, with some instruction, you will be able to use the word processing software that is already bundled with the operating system of most computers.

Textbooks Required from the Start of the Course

Wheatley, Julian K. Learning Chinese: A Foundation Course in Mandarin (Part 3).
Parts 1 and 2 form the basis of 21F.101/21F.151 and 21F.102/21F.152, respectively, which are also published on OpenCourseWare.

Textbooks Required Later in the Course

Spring, Madeline K. Making Connections: Enhance Your Listening Comprehension in Chinese. Simplified character ed. Boston, MA: Cheng and Tsui Company, 2002. ISBN: 0887273661.
Comes with two CDs; used sparingly in Chinese III, more extensively in Chinese IV. The simplified character version (the one with the turquoise cover) is recommended.

Wang, Fred Fan-yü. The Lady in the Painting. Mirror Series A. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1983. ISBN: 0887100430.

Recommended Dictionaries

DeFrancis, John, ed. ABC Chinese-English Dictionary. Regular or pocket ed. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press, 1996.
This is the only Chinese-to-English dictionary ordered by alphabet without reference to the head character of a word. In effect, this allows you to look up a word on the basis of its pronunciation alone, with no knowledge of the characters that represent it (though searching by character is also possible).

Yuan, Boping, and Sally Church, eds. The Oxford Starter Chinese Dictionary. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2000.
A handy starter's dictionary, with good definitions and clear format.

Manswer, Martin H., ed. Concise English-Chinese / Chinese-English Dictionary. 2nd ed. New York, NY: The Commerical Press and Oxford University Press, 2004.
More entries than the previous dictionary, plus an English-to-Chinese section.

Grading and Assignments

The course grade will be based on class performance, on tests, assignments (including a final presentation), with the relative weighting of each as shown below:

 

Other factors may come in to play in assigning a final grade, eg improvement versus stagnation over the course of the semester, and progress relative to starting level. Quizzes or tests missed without written excuse cannot be made up. Attendance and promptness is assumed; more than 4 unexcused absences (a week's worth) lowers your grade one letter; persistent tardiness will also add up to absences.

Teaching

For the first few weeks, the focus moves back and forth from conversation to characters, which allows consolidation of one while the spotlight is on the other. While individual styles of instruction vary, most teachers, when dealing with the conversational units (review of Unit 7 followed by Units 8-10), work towards a crescendo, from simple, short exchanges as patterns are being introduced, to complicated, longer material as patterns, vocabulary and usage become more familiar. Units, or segments within units, culminate in relatively long dialogues or narratives that incorporate many of the new points of grammar and usage. Similarly, characters are introduced one set at a time, or a few pages at a time, with repetition and overlap, and frequent review until reading can proceed with accuracy and fluency.

How to succeed

• Don't miss any classes at all - unless you are really ill.
• Prepare ahead of each class (following the detailed schedule of assignments).
• Read the material, then produce it from cues until you can; visualize; review old material while you learn new.
• Keep a running list of questions and notes as you work through the material.
• Work with classmates; consult with teachers - earlier rather than later.
• Stay playful!

MISTI China (For MIT students)

Interested in working or teaching abroad? Check out the MISTI program (MIT Science and Technology Initiatives). The MIT China Program (one of the MISTI programs) sponsors students working or teaching in China over the summer or a school year.

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