Class Description

This beginning course is to provide a basic introduction to the language of Mandarin Chinese and culture. Designed for students with little or no previous exposure to the target language, the course will go over major characteristics of the language, such as the tones, Pinyin system, and the writing system. It will also help develop learners’ senses of the basic structural forms of the target language to make meanings in communication.

Multiple topics in real life will be introduced in the course. Starting from their immediate environment, students will learn to use the target language to describe themselves and their family in the culturally-appropriate contexts. They will use common expressions and polite greetings to exchange basic information for basic topics, such as name, residence, family members, school, weather and season, days of the week, dates, time, activities, food and drink, and color and clothes, etc.

Students will have frequent teacher and peer interactions throughout the 12-class session. This course provides students with substantial opportunities for oral presentations. Students will practice frequently to communicate with each other in Chinese. This will be a highly interactive and engaging language class, and it will be fun, too!

Teacher’s Biography

Mr. Hui is a licensed Chinese language teacher with extensive experience teaching both secondary school and adult learners. 

In addition to his teaching experience, Mr.Hui has over 20 years of professional experience as a bilingual journalist, translator, and editor. He has worked for international media organizations and has extensive expertise in translation, cross-cultural communication, and Chinese language instruction. His professional background enables him to integrate authentic language use and current cultural topics into the classroom.

Mr. Hui is committed to creating an engaging, supportive, and learner-centered environment that helps students build confidence and achieve their language learning goals.

Required Textbook

Sun, Yi-Fen eds., Let’s Learn Chinese (學華語向前走). Taipei: Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC), Republic of China (Taiwan). 2017.