World Languages

Topics are selected to be interesting and practical from the students' point of view.  Topics in the second-year program are expanded to more abstract and more societal phenomena to help learners better understand current Chinese society, and be able to discuss, compare and analyze cultural differences. Learners will also be exposed to various communicative situations that require them to develop and use skills such as basic summary, description, discussion, debate and report. 

The sentence patterns provided before the core texts are designed in dialogue format so that learners can form pairs to act out and practice the dialogue.

• Provides students the opportunity to practice listening and speaking skills with the new vocabulary and patterns first before progressing to the core text reading.

Emphasis on writing longer and more cohesive essays in Chinese.

• Expands the writing proceedure and use of vocab and patterns. 

 In-class exercises consists of four kinds of exercises: listening, characters, grammar and communicative tasks.

• The exercises progress from drills and practice to content-based communicative tasks which gives structure to the communication.   

Each lesson has supplementary readings which are carefully designed to enhance and consolidate the core elements of the main text.

• The supplementary reading is written in a different format from the main text in order to expose learners to different genres of communication.

 Each lesson contains a Chinese idiom story, which is carefully chosen and written to consolidate the core grammar points of that lesson.

• Its purpose is to introduce students to Chinese cultural and literary tradition while also providing review.

 In order to promote students’ Media Literacy skills, authentic short articles related to the lesson themes are carefully chosen from newspapers, magazines, and the worldwide web and incorporated in lessons 11 to 20 (the second semester of the intermediate level). Exercises in the Media Literacy section include text skimming, comparing written and spoken expressions, comparison, translation, and finding examples of the lesson’s grammar points in the article.

• Promote students’ Media Literacy skills and also gives them motivation and confidence toward becoming life-long independent readers of Chinese.

 Chinese culture notes are linked to the lesson themes and are relevant to both traditional culture and current societal changes. Authentic photos are provided to create a vivid and pleasing learning experience. The discussion questions are designed to encourage students to provide opinions, discuss and compare culture differences.

Systematically linked to the first-year program, the Let's Go section continues to provide exposure to authentic artifacts of Chinese society. Carefully chosen from real situations related to the lesson theme.

• This section aims to train the students to be more confident and comfortable getting around in Chinese societies.

 Regional differences in Chinese societies in expressions, pronunciation, and culture notes.