Mandarin classes are offered year-round
from Level 1 to Conversational, both in a group setting as well as on a
private basis.
Mandarin Chinese Language Program Objective
A F International offers Mandarin Chinese language courses to individuals
and companies. Our Mandarin courses have been designed to build fluency
in both the spoken and the written language. Communication in a warm and
relaxed environment is an important feature of our programs, as is homework,
which includes exercises for review and practice of the material taught
in class. Moreover, by keeping the class size limited to twelve students,
we ensure that each student will be able to actively participate.
Beginning Mandarin Level 1
Upon completion of this course, students can expect to converse in simple
sentences as well as to read and write basic words. This course emphasizes
oral expression and phonetics. Four tones and pronunciation will be practiced
repeatedly. The Pin-Yin spelling system will be introduced and drills will
help students master the correct intonation. Topics include: greetings,
identifications, names and nationalities.
(New Practical Chinese Reader Vol. 1, Lessons 1-5)
Beginning Mandarin Level 2
After completing Level 2, students should be able to converse with greater
ease about topics including sports, meeting people, family members, etc.
Chinese characters including strokes, stroke order and radicals will be
introduced. Students will practice on character writing and character recognition.
(New Practical Chinese Reader Vol. 1, Lessons 6-8)
Beginning Mandarin Level 3
Upon completion of this course, students can expect to read text based on
the recognition of characters. They will comprehend more complex sentences.
Students will make dialogues on the topics including age, shopping, etc.
Grammar learned in this level includes: verb + object; tag questions, prepositional
phrases, etc.
(New Practical Chinese Reader Vol. 1, Lessons 9-10)
Intermediate Mandarin Level 4
In the advanced level, students will be given more time to make daily conversation
based on the text. The students will be able to talk about learning Chinese,
seeing a doctor, making appointments, etc. Grammar includes: measure words,
to have, expressions of desire and necessity, adverbial modifiers, etc.
(New Practical Chinese Reader Vol. 1, Lessons 11-12)
Intermediate Mandarin Level 5
Advanced course requires that the students have more solid basic vocabulary
to make sentences in order to converse in daily life. The students will
learn vocabulary including Christmas, New Year, holidays, etc. Grammar includes
adjectives "many, much" and "few, little". Students
will learn how to make apologies and send regards, etc.
(New Practical Chinese Reader Vol. 1, Lessons 13-14)
Intermediate Conversational Mandarin
This program is designed to further increase the conversational ability
of students proficient in levels 1-5 above. Conducted entirely in Mandarin,
this course provides students with an opportunity to markedly improve their
speaking and listening skills. Magazines, video and audio tapes, and other
resources designed to provide practical opportunities for vocabulary and
skill development are selected to match student interests. Grammatical topics
are addressed as needed.
Text and Supplementary Materials
Since communication in a foreign language requires an understanding of the
cultural context, our aim is to teach you the living language through carefully
selected textbooks, newspaper and magazine articles and other relevant materials,
rather than have you repeat and memorize tourist phrases.
We have selected New Practical Chinese
Reader (Beijing University Press) as the one that best fulfills the objectives
of our students. |
