Assignments

1

Course Introduction.

Pinyin: Tones and Initials.

Handout: Pinyin (part 1).

Read pp. 1-12 of the Pinyin handout.

Learn the Pronounceable Initials Chart (Table 3 on p. 4) in the Pinyin handout (part 1) by heart.

3

Hand in your written assignments.

Quiz: Pinyin Dictation.

Characters: Strokes, Stroke Order and Radicals.

Character exercises in Lesson 1 and Lesson 2.

Handout: Lesson 1 and Lesson 2 of Learning Chinese: The Character Text by J. K. Wheatley.

Read pp. 1-28 of Learning Chinese: The Character Text (Lessons 1 and 2).

Learn the big characters on pp. 6, 8-9, 11, 15, 17-18 by heart.

5

Brief review: the Pinyin system.

Brief review: Lesson 1 and Lesson 2 of Learning Chinese: The Character Text.

Exercises in Lesson 4 of Learning Chinese: The Character Text.

Quiz 1: 15-minute quiz on Pinyin and characters in Lesson 1 and Lesson 2 of Learning Chinese: The Character Text.

Read pp. 41-49 of Learning Chinese: The Character Text (Lesson 4).

Learn the big characters on pp. 29, 32, 41-42, 45, 48 by heart.

Use the characters in Lessons 1-4 to handwrite 4 sentences of no less than 20 characters each. Then transcribe your sentences into Pinyin with tone marks. Write about different things in each sentence, e.g. Chinese names, Chinese currency and American currency, your siblings, your family, and so on. Please write on every other line and leave 1.25-inch margins for each piece of paper you use.

7

Converting between Full-form and Simplified Characters.

Character exercises in Lesson 7.

Handout: Converting between Full Form and Simplified Characters; Lesson 7 and Lesson 8 of Learning Chinese: The Character Text by J. K. Wheatley.

Review pp. 73-84 of Learning Chinese: The Character Text (Converting between Full-form and Simplified Characters; Lesson 7).

Learn the big characters on pp. 51-52, 55, 61, 64-65 by heart.

Use the characters in Lessons 1-8 to handwrite a paragraph of no less than 120 characters on your family background. (The more you write, the better you will memorize the characters!)

Please write on every other line and leave 1.25-inch margins for each piece of paper you use.

9

Vocabulary quiz: You will need to transcribe two sentences into Pinyin with tone marks. The characters will be all from the reading materials from Lessons 1-8.

Character exercises in Lesson 9.

Handout: Lesson 9 of Learning Chinese: The Character Text by J. K. Wheatley.

Review the Pinyin handout and Learning Chinese: The Character Text.

For the quiz on session 10, you need to:
- know the Pinyin system well
- learn the big characters in Lessons 1-6 by heart
- be able to recognize other characters in Lessons 1-9.

There will be the following types of questions in the quiz:
- transcribing characters to Pinyin
- transcribing Pinyin to characters
- answering questions with characters
- reading comprehension

11

Preview L1

Read "Grammatical Points" and "Sentence Patterns and Word Usage" on pp. 10-14.

Study the Vocabulary on pp. 2-4. Learn the L1 (PDF) required characters by heart (check Appendix III on pp. 249-279 for character stroke order). Make sure you know the other L1 (PDF) characters by sight.

Read the text on p. 6. Write on your book the answers to the questions in the exercises on pp. 6-7.

Read Dialogue 1 on p. 8, Dialogue 2 on p. 9 and study "Expressions Used in Class" on p. 20.

Vocabulary quiz on L1 (PDF) characters.

L1 (PDF) text.

Dialogues 1 and 2.

13

Preview L2

Read "Grammatical Points" and "Sentence Patterns and Word Usage" on pp. 30-32.

Study the Vocabulary on pp. 22-24. Learn the L2 (PDF) required characters by heart. Make sure you know the other L2 (PDF) characters by sight.

Read the text on p. 26. Write on your book the answers to the questions in the exercises on pp. 26-27.

Read Dialogue 1 on p. 28, Dialogue 2 on p. 29, and study "Expressions on Money" on p. 38.

Dictation of L1 (PDF) required characters.

Vocabulary quiz on L2 (PDF) characters.

L2 (PDF) text.

Dialogues 1 and 2.

15

Prepare a 3-minute talk on each of the following topics:

My Name

- Find out the origin of your family name and the meaning of each character in your name. (In order for Chinese characters on a web page to display properly, go to View of your browser, and choose Traditional Chinese Big5 (in this case) or Simplified Chinese GB for Character Set or Encoding.)

- Do you have more than one name? Why?

- Why do you think you were given your name?

- Etc.

My Family

- Do you have a big family (parents, siblings, and grandparents) living together?

- Do your relatives live close by or far away?

- What is the significance of family to you?

Dictation of L2 (PDF) required characters.

Talks: My Name

Talks: My Family

Further discussion

17

Preview L3

Read "Grammatical Points" and "Sentence Patterns and Word Usage" on pp. 47-50.

Study the Vocabulary on pp. 40-42. Learn the L3 (PDF) required characters by heart (check Appendix III on pp. 249-279 for character stroke order). Make sure you know the other L3 (PDF) characters by sight.

Read the text on pp. 43-44. Write in your book the answers to the questions in the exercises on pp. 43-45.

Read the Dialogue on p. 45, and study "Expressions on Locations" on p. 20.

Vocabulary quiz on L3 (PDF) characters.

L3 (PDF) text.

L3 (PDF) Dialogue.

19

Preview L4

Read "Grammatical Points" and "Sentence Patterns and Word Usage" on pp. 66-72.

Study the Vocabulary on pp. 58-60. Learn the L4 (PDF) required characters by heart. Make sure you know the other L4 (PDF) characters by sight.

Read the text on pp. 61-62. Write on your book the answers to the questions in the exercises on pp. 62-63.

Read Dialogue 1 on p. 64, Dialogue 2 on pp. 64-65, and study "Expressions on Time" on p. 79.

Dictation of L3 (PDF) required characters. Vocabulary quiz on L4 (PDF) characters.

L4 (PDF) text.

L4 (PDF) Dialogues 1 and 2.

21

The CMS-BFA Forum. The BFA delegation will bring animated short films produced by their students.

Go to the CMS-BFA Forum

23

Review L3 (PDF) and L4 (PDF). Make sure you can reproduce the required characters from memory and recognize the other characters by sight. Review the grammatical points, sentence patterns and word usage, and exercises as well.

Quiz 4

25

Written assignments (please write on every other line and leave 1.25-inch margins for each piece of paper you use if you do not use the calligraphy grid.) (PDF):

- Handwrite a sentence for each of the entries in "Sentence Patterns and Word Usage" on p. 92. Highly recommended: calligraphy grid. (PDF)

- Use your imagination and handwrite your own story of "Tian hé Dì" ("The Sky and the Earth"). Pay special attention to cohesiveness. (cf. Understanding the Text Structure on pp. 86-87). Highly recommended: calligraphy grid. (PDF)

If you want to use a word you know how to say but not how to write, try Appendices I, II on pp. 209-248, or use a dictionary. If you don't have a dictionary, type in Pinyin in the "Search Dictionary" section at Zhongwén Zìpu or use an on-line dictionary listed in Learning Chinese Online.

Hand in your written assignments.

L5 (PDF) exercises on pp. 93-97.

27

Written assignments (please write on every other line and leave 1.25-inch margins for each piece of paper you use if you do not use the calligraphy grid.) (PDF):

- Hanwrite a sentence for each of the entries in "Sentence Patterns and Word Usage" on pp. 109-10. Highly recommended: calligraphy grid. (PDF)

- The "Writing" exercise on p. 114. Think about the over-all structure before you handwrite it. Highly recommended: calligraphy grid. (PDF)

Hand in your written assignments.

L6 (PDF) exercises on pp. 111-16.

29

Review L5 (PDF) and L6 (PDF). Make sure you can reproduce the required characters from memory and recognize the other characters by sight. Review the grammatical points, sentence patterns and word usage, and exercises as well.

Quiz 5 (on L5 (PDF) and L6 (PDF))

31

Written assignments (please write on every other line and leave 1.25-inch margins for each piece of paper you use if you do not use the calligraphy grid.) (PDF):

- Handwrite a sentence for each of the entries in "Sentence Patterns and Word Usage" on pp. 132-33. Highly recommended: calligraphy grid. (PDF)

- Handwrite an essay about a historical site, a building, a subway system, a theatre, etc. You may use English for proper nouns. Be sure to include when, where, how, and why it was built, its historical significance and its impact today. Pay special attention to cohesiveness. (cf. Understanding the Text Structure on pp. 126-27). Highly recommended: calligraphy grid. (PDF)

If you want to use a word you know how to say but not how to write, try Appendices I, II on pp. 209-248, or use a dictionary. If you don't have a dictionary, type in Pinyin in the "Search Dictionary" section at Zhongwén Zìpu or use an on-line dictionary listed in Learning Chinese Online.

Hand in your written assignments.

L7 (PDF) exercises on pp. 134-41.

33

Written assignments (please write on every other line and leave 1.25-inch margins for each piece of paper you use if you do not use the calligraphy grid.) (PDF):

- Handwrite a sentence for each of the entries in "Sentence Patterns and Word Usage" on pp. 157-58. Highly recommended: calligraphy grid. (PDF)

- Handwrite an essay entitled "Chénggong" (Success). Be sure to define "success" in your own terms, and explain how you think one can become successful. Pay special attentin to the over-all structure. Highly recommended: calligraphy grid. (PDF)

Hand in your written assignments.

L8 (PDF) exercises on pp. 159-63.

35

Review L7 (PDF) and L8 (PDF). Make sure you can reproduce the required characters from memory and recognize the other characters by sight. Review the grammatical points, sentence patterns and word usage, and exercises as well.

Quiz 6 (the last one!)

37

Work on your end-of-term essay (PDF) due by 3 pm on session 39. Early submissions are welcome.

No other written assignments.

L9 exercises on pp. 178-81.

39

Work on your end-of-term essay (PDF) due by 3 pm in this session. Early submissions are welcome.

No other written assignments.

L10 exercises on pp. 197-203.

15-minute course evaluation.