Chinese 101 is a course of elementary Chinese for non-native Chinese speakers. Students with prior knowledge of Chinese are not eligible to take this course. Chinese 101 aims at developing elementary communicative skills and knowledge of the Chinese language and culture.

The class time will be used for lecturing and student activities including listening, speaking, reading and writing. Students are expected to preview each lesson before class, complete the assigned homework and study the covered content after class.

All homework assignments are posted in advance on the course website (http://www.chinesehideout.com/chin101) and are accessible to students throughout the semester. Students are encouraged to take advantage of the textbook, handouts and assignments posted on the course website, and the online sites Learning Chinese Online (http://learningchineseonline.net/) and CyberChinese Online (http://cyberchinese-online.com).

In this semester, students will learn the Chinese phonological system, basic conversational topics, vocabulary and grammar. They will also learn how to read and write Chinese characters. The proficiency level that students will reach by the end of this course is Novice Mid based on the ACTFL's (the American Council on Teaching Foreign Languages) proficiency guidelines.

Chinese word processing ability is one of the objectives of this course. Students will learn how to type Chinese text using a Chinese word-processor.

About 15 lessons will be covered in the first semester. Students will learn approximately 150 Chinese characters. The teaching schedule and content may be changed based on the learning ability and progress of the students enrolled in the class. Any schedule and content changes will be announced through e-mail and will be posted on the course website.

• Practical Chinese Reader Book I (Traditional character edition) by Beijing Language Institute. Boston: Cheng & Tsui Company, 1990.
• CHIN 101 Study Guide and Homework (including character practice sheets and homework sheets), available in the "Study Guides" and "Assignments" sections of this site, also online at http://www.csulb.edu/~txie/101/).

Books
• Practical Chinese Reader I & II: Writing Workbook (Traditional character edition) edited by Teng, Shou-hsin. Boston: Cheng & Tsui Company, 1992.
• Concise English-Chinese/Chinese-English Dictionary The Commercial Press & Oxford University Press, 1986.

Electronic Media
• CyberChinese Online by San-pao Li, Jeff Winters. Los Angeles: Liwin, Inc., 2005. (Discount subscription code available from your instructor.)
• Learning Chinese Online developed by Prof. Tim Xie. This is one of the most frequently visited Chinese language learning sites on the Internet (http://learningchineseonline.net/).
• PCR E-book, is another useful resource developed by Prof. Xie. (http://www.csulb.edu/~txie/PCRopen/pcrebook.htm)

Books are readily available from online textbook distributors and at the campus bookstore.

Students are expected to accomplish communicative tasks at a Novice-Mid level of proficiency (see section III). Specifically, they must be able to communicate effectively, both orally and in written form, with native speakers of Chinese using specific vocabulary words and specific linguistic structures in appropriate cultural contexts. Students are evaluated continuously and cumulatively based on their performance of the above tasks in addition to their classroom participation, lab and homework assignments, quizzes, a midterm project, a final exam, and an oral interview.

Students earn points in each of the categories below based on their performance. The final course grade will be determined by the following straight letter grading scale based on cumulative points earned: A (90-100), B (80-89), C (70-79), D (60-69), and F (0-59).

Grades will be based on the following:
• 10% Classroom Participation & Attendance
• 10% Language Lab Activity
• 20% Homework and Exercises
• 30% Quizzes
• 10% Midterm Project
• 20% Final Examination and Oral Interview Project

Classroom Participation:
Attendance and classroom participation are integral components of any language course. Students in this section are expected to meet with the class for two hours twice each week. Experience shows that students who do not attend class do not achieve the expected level of language proficiency. Students will participate in at least one learning activity each class meeting. Participation in these activities and in general classroom discussion will determine the grade for the classroom participation portion of the course. Absences from class will significantly influence the classroom participation portion of your grade.

Language Lab:
Lab activities are an extremely important part of taking this course. Since the class meeting time is limited, much responsibility is placed on the student to practice individually: learning Pinyin, listening to the audio recordings of text, viewing the video clips of the lessons, speaking the language, learning to write and type characters, and doing exercises and homework. Our students are privileged to have accessible in the language lab two innovative programs to assist in these endeavors, Pinyin Master and Liwin's CyberChinese, as well as access to a large amount of recorded audio, and direct access to native speakers.

The Language Lab is located in the Language Arts Building (LAB) room 306. Be sure to sign in and out with the lab assistant. Language lab attendance will be recorded. A minimum of 15 hours of lab work is required to receive full credit for the laboratory component of this course. While students are encouraged to use the lab as often as possible, no more than two hours will be counted in any given week.

Visiting the Language Lab may not be possible or convenient for some of our students, so in lieu of Language Lab attendance students may choose to use CyberChinese-Online. This is a subscription-based online program, which offers many of the same activities available in the Language Lab. Hours recorded through CyberChinese Online will be added to actual language lab hours for students selecting this option. Cal State Long Beach students wishing to purchase a subscription to CyberChinese Online can receive a $5 discount off the standard price by entering goBeach! into the discount code field when ordering the product.

Homework:
All assigned homework must be turned in promptly. Late homework will result in a reduced grade. Homework turned in two or more class meetings after the collection date will be corrected but no credit will be assigned. Homework assignments are posted on this site under the Assignments section, and can also be accessed from the Schedule and Grade-book areas. Written assignments can be turned in to the instructor at class time, dropped by my office or the Language Lab, scanned and submitted via the internet, or faxed to the department office (562-985-1535).

All homework assignments are posted in advance on the course website and are accessible to students throughout the semester. Students are encouraged to take advantage of the textbook, computer aided multimedia learning software CyberChinese-Online, handouts and assignments posted on the website, and the Learning Chinese Online web page (http://learningchineseonline.net/). Many other links are listed under the appropriate lesson in the Study Guides section of the course website.

Quizzes:
There will be several quizzes, a midterm, and a final examination. These will be available only at the scheduled times unless prior arrangements have been made with the instructor. No make-ups will be given without a valid excuse.

The midterm will be a group movie/skit project. The final examination grade will be based on both a written/oral examination and an interview project. The interview project allows students to use the knowledge gained over the semester to prepare questions and interview a native Mandarin speaker.

University Withdrawal Policy:
It is the student's responsibility to withdraw from class. Instructors have no obligation to withdraw students who do no attend courses, and may choose not to do so. Withdrawal from a course after the first two weeks of instruction requires the signatures of the instructor and department chair, and is permissible only for serious and compelling reasons, such as documented illness and a change in work hours/schedule. Students should be aware that the definition of "serious and compelling reasons" as applied by faculty and administrators may become narrower as the semester progresses. During the final three weeks of instruction, withdrawals are not permitted except in cases such as accident or serious illness where the circumstances causing the withdrawal are clearly beyond the student's control and the assignment of an incomplete is not practical. Ordinarily, withdrawals in this category involve total withdrawal from the university. The College of Liberal Arts adheres to this policy strictly, and does not sign withdrawal forms in the final three weeks of class for other reasons. The full text of the university Withdrawal Policy statement may be seen at http://www.csulb.edu/divisions/aa/grad_undergrad/senate/documents/policy/2002/02/

Make-up Policy:
If you miss an assignment because you are absent and the absence falls under the conditions for an excused absence, I will work with you to help you make up the work. Be prepared to show documentation.

Accommodation:
I am eager to meet the learning needs of all students, but it is the student's responsibility to notify me in advance of the need for accommodation of a disability.