CHINESE 311.51

Chinese Individualized Instruction

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INDIVIDUALIZED THIRD-YEAR CHINESE

READING, WRITING

TIMES AND LOCATIONS

Time: Individualized. Online scheduling

Place: Chinese II classroom, 120 Hagerty Hall

Textbooks

(available at SBX)

The Lady in the Painting(LP)

Read Chinese Book Two (RCII)

A New Text for a Modern China(NTMC)

Audiotapes

Chi RCII for Read Chinese Book Two

Chi NTMCfor New Text for a Modern China

Course Description

This is a course that designed to enhance your reading and writing in Chinese. It is a continuation of 211.51(Reading and Writing). You are supposed to be able speak in Chinese prior to enroll in the Reading and Writing Track of Chinese Individualized Instruction. In this course, you will work on learning to read and write in Chinese, but your discussion with the instructors regarding various topics will be conducted in Chinese. The texts covered in this course are partly stories written by the Chinese for foreigners (LP and RCII), and partly newspaper texts written for the Chinese but adapted to foreign learners (NTMC). By the end of this course, you will be able to read stories and reports written for junior high school students in China. Like Chinese 211.51, Reading , Composition and Evaluation are still the three major components of the course but special requirements need to be noted:

Course Procedures

a) LP: You will be working from the non-simplified texts at a very fast pace. This is to help you become familiar with Chinese texts again after a long break. Accuracy as much as the speed of reading are the goals of reading this story. Pay attention to the narration style of the story.

b) RCII:We are finishing up this book. You can either work on the non-simplified texts or the simplified. But if you plan to go to the PRC, you may benefit from becoming familiar with the simplified texts in the back of the book.

c) NTMC:After we finish RCII, we will use this book to further your knowledge of non-simplified characters and introduce you formally to simplified characters. You should notice the writing style change: from story narration as in LP and RCII to problem presentation and discussion (NTMC). So when you do your own writing assignments, we expect you to reflect that change.

d) Writing. You will no longer write based on what you hear on tapes. You will do Summary and Composition only. You are supposed to have a command of more vocabulary and grammatical structures to express yourself more freely by now.

e) Composition:You are learning to express yourself: your feeling, your opinion and your solution to problems. Even when you are assigned to write about a person, dont just describe his or her appearance and who s/he does but also his or her character and your feeling about this person. The evaluation of your composition is dependent upon your clarity in defining your topic, presenting it and expressing you own thought about it. One composition for each Unit (equals to one-credit work): Your instructor will discuss your compositions with you when you schedule an appointment to meet with them next time. The length of each composition should be 200 characters.Compositions are due as specified in the class schedule.

f) In-class reading.There will be two to three in-class readings for each Unit.You will have to learn how to comprehend a Chinese text by using the language skills you have acquired and discuss the content about the texts with the instructor you meet. The difference between in-class reading in 211.51 and that in 311.51 is that now the instructor would ask more questions about your opinions on related matters, not just to restate and elaborate the content of the texts you read.

g) Class Schedules:class schedules are available online now at http://deall.osu.edu/courses/c-lang/ii/311._51agenda.cfm

h) Tests:There will be no mid-term or final for this course. Your final grade is totally determined by your daily grade, namely your grades on Stages ( Reading and Discussion, Summary and Composition).

i) Grades scale:

4.0 Excellent performance that promises interaction with a native speaker with no difficulty, discomfort or misunderstanding.

3.5 Some minor errors draw a natives attention to your language but do not hinder communication.

3.0 More serious errors affect communication but do not seriously disrupt it.A native may ask you to clarify your meaning, or need to repeat something for you.

2.5 Some preparation evident, but requires a lot of help from the interlocutor.An English-speaking native might avoid using Chinese with you.

2.0 Minimal preparation, which puts burden on interlocutor.A native would avoid using Chinese with you.

1.5 barely prepared

1.0 in class but unprepared

0 absent

If your points are lower than 2.5, you will be sent back to prepare for the same Stage for one more time. However, if you miss appointment three times, your final grade will be downgraded by one point (B to B- for instance.)

Assignments are due as designated in class schedule.You are not allowed to move onto the next stage until you finish all the work (including Summary and Composition) in the current Unit.

Classes will, with few exceptions, be conducted in Chinese.The exceptions will be FACT classes in which we will use English to explain materials or answer questions you may have. You have to specify which session (ACT or FACT) you want it to be when you are online to schedule an appointment with an instructor.

Your instructors are patient and strong-willed and are committed to your progress in Chinese language skills.Your responsibility is to be engaged with the materials and instructors and to do the work to the best of your ability.This is an activenot a passiveprocess on everyones part.You must come to class well-prepared to perform the assignments, pay attention to instructor feedback, and ask questions when you have questions to ask.

FINAL WORDS

In this course your reading will proceed at a faster pace than your writing.It is one of the aims of this program to have you working with standard newspaper articles by the end of 511.51.This is not an unrealistic objective, but your success in attaining it depends on your willingness and commitment.

Our overall purpose is to train you as directly as we can to a measurably higher level of functional skill in Chinese reading and writing. Your teachers are determined to give you the best possible opportunity to learn the language. If you ever think we are not living up to this, discuss it with your instructors. If we think you are not giving your best, we will be sure to let you know.