Chinese (Mandarin) Beginners 1

This course is an introduction to Chinese for any student wishing to learn the language for business, travel or everyday use. Students will develop skills to use in conversation, reading, listening and writing. This course aims to build general basic comprehension and communication skills in beginners Mandarin and an introduction to cultural practices, with a focus on clear explanation of basic language principles.


This class will be delivered face-to-face at WEA Sydney. Enrolling students need to ensure they have read the current COVID-19 Safety Guidance that WEA Sydney has put in place before enrolling.

TEXTBOOK

• Integrated Chinese, 4th Ed. Textbook, Volume 1, Liu Yuehua (2017)
  
  

COURSE OUTLINE

Unit 1-2

• Chinese Initials and Finals, Phonetics
• Four tones and change of tones
• Formal and informal greetings
• Asking about someone’s nationality
• Affirmative and negative sentences
• Basic introduction on character writing

Unit 2

• Family – learning basic kinship terms
• Describing a family photo
• Asking about someone’s profession
• Measure words
• Questions with interrogative pronouns

Unit 3

• Dates and Time
• Tell and speak about time and dates
• Talk about one’s age and birthday
• Invite someone to dinner – arrange a dinner time
• Possessive
• Affirmative and negative questions
  
  

PLANNED LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

1. Understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases aimed at the satisfaction of needs of a concrete type.
2. Introduce him/herself and others and can ask and answer questions about personal details such as what their names are, and what they do.
3. Talk about one’s family and professions.
4. Interact in a simple way provided the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.
5. Demonstrate the skills, language and attitudes required for further study of Mandarin.
   
   

TEXTBOOK SUPPLIER

Abbey's Language Book Centre, 131 York Street Sydney, Ph: 9267 1397 | www.languagebooks.com.au

Please note that textbook cost is not included in the course fee. In the event of a course being cancelled WEA cannot be held responsible for the purchase of any textbooks. We therefore suggest you purchase your textbooks closer to the time of the course commencing.

LANGUAGE CLASS TRANSFER POLICY

If you are a new WEA Student and enrol into a language class and subsequently find that you are at the wrong level (whether too high or too low), you are permitted to transfer into another more suitable class at no additional cost, provided that the request is made within the first two classes and is in writing from your tutor directly to the Education Manager. After that point, an administration fee of $30 will apply.