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2020/2021

Third Foreign Language I, Chinese

Code: 104645 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
2500894 Tourism OT 4 0
The proposed teaching and assessment methodology that appear in the guide may be subject to changes as a result of the restrictions to face-to-face class attendance imposed by the health authorities.

Contact

Name:
Pau Viladiu Illanas
Email:
Pau.Viladiu@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
catalan (cat)
Some groups entirely in English:
No
Some groups entirely in Catalan:
No
Some groups entirely in Spanish:
No

Teachers

Pau Viladiu Illanas

Prerequisites

There are no entry requirements.

Objectives and Contextualisation

Students will develop their communicative skills –oral and written–, so that by the end of the course they will be able to:

1. Identify and reproduce the basic strokes of Chinese characters

2. Know about the Chinese phonological system and discriminating close sounds

3. Be familiar with pinyin (the Chinese transcription system) and relating it to phonemes

4. Communicate in simple everyday life situations

5. Use polite expressions in formal contexts

6. Introduce oneself and one’s family members in Chinese

7. Follow a basic conversation on the phone

8. Give directions in Chinese

9. Understand brief texts related to tourism (personal details, nationalities, a drinks menu, etc)

10. Identify Chinese cultural patterns, relevant to their field (tourism)

11. Acquire basic knowledge about intercultural communication and Chinese social behaviour

 

Students will also

1. Gradually develop accuracy (in sentence formation, pronunciation, vocabulary, register, etc) and fluency (production speed, ability to express ideas and developing discourse) both in written and oral expression.

2. Learn strategies and skills to understand simple written and oral texts.

3. Apply strategies of self-teaching outside the classroom context.

4. Become more able to function effectively in everyday situations.

5. Use online resources to learn the language.

Competences

  • Communicate orally and in writing in three foreign languages within the tourism field and others related to it.
  • Develop a capacity for independent learning.
  • Implement business communication techniques used by tourism organisations: internal, external and corporate.
  • Self-assess the knowledge acquired.
  • Use communication techniques at all levels.
  • Work in a team.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Develop a capacity for independent learning.
  2. Identify vocabulary and grammar resources for use in the tourism sector, in three foreign languages.
  3. Self-assess the knowledge acquired.
  4. Use communication techniques at all levels.
  5. Use the idiomatic expressions typical of the tourism sector in three foreign languages, at upper intermediate level.
  6. Use tourism resources available on internet, in three foreign languages.
  7. Vary the discourse patterns used to fit different functions, contexts, media, activities and situations in the workplace.
  8. Work in a team.

Content

In the process of learning a language all skills are developing simultaneously. However, for the purposes of this guide, linguistic contents have been divided into

  • language functions
  • grammar and syntax
  • lexical contents
  • phonetical contents.

A module on some sociocultural aspects of Modern China is also included, due to the importance of such knowledge for successful interaction with Chinese people.

 

Language functions

The language functions of the communicative activities below have language functions related to tourism and general language.

a)    Social function

  • Making contact with somebody: greeting and adapting our response to a formal or informal context
  • Saying goodbye
  • Introducing oneself and others in formal and informal contexts
  • Apologising
  • Thanking

b)    Informative function

  • Identifying oneself and others. Giving and asking for personal details (name, age, profession, nationalities, languages)
  • Giving and asking for information about places (location, characteristics, etc)
  • Ordering and offering drinks
  • Talking about activities

 c)    Expressive function (feelings and moods)

  • Expressing a wish
  • Expressing joy
  • Expressing complaint

 d)    Inductive function

  • Making questions and expressing will or a wish to do something
  • Letting others know if something is doable or not
  • Suggesting an activity

e)    Metalinguistic function

  • Asking for repetition
  • Asking the meaning of a word or expression

 

Grammar and syntax

Students will be able to identify and use correctly thefollowing grammatical and syntactical elements:

 

The sentence

  • Basic structures: adjective phrases, noun phrases, verb phrases and phrases with 有
  • Yes / No interrogative sentences
  • Wh- questions (what, who, where, when, which, how, how many)
  • Word order in sentences with place and time complements
  • Noun modifiers

Pronouns 

  • Personal pronouns:  我， 你，您， 他，她，我们，你们，他们 ，她们。
  • Demonstrative pronouns: 这，那。
  • Interrogative pronouns: 什么，谁，哪儿，哪，怎么， 几，多少。

Verbs 

  • Modal verbs: 要，可以。
  • Transitive verbs: 喝，叫，来， 去，姓, etc.
  • Coverbs: 在。

Adverbs and other expressions

  • Degree: 很，太 ，真
  • Time: 现在，昨天，今天，明天。
  • Place: 这儿，那儿。
  • Negation: 不，没。
  • Others: 都 (all), 也 (also).

Others:

  • Place prepositions: 在。
  • Measuring particles: 个，张，口，岁。

 

Lexical contents 

The lexical contents of the course are classified as follows:

  • Describing people: name, surname, profession,nationality, languages, age, birthday and birthplace.
  • Dates and time
  • Food and drink
  • Numbers from 1 to 99
  • Buying and selling, prices
  • Family and work
  • Telephone communication
  • Addresses and directions

 

Phonetics

Students will be able to identify Standard Chinese sounds and match them to their pinyin representation. They will also identify and pronounce correctly the sounds represented by pinyin. We will focus on those sounds that do not exist in the students’ native languages, and whose pinyin representation is different from Catalan and Spanish sounds:

  • Aspirated consonants (p, t, k, ch, c)
  • Retroflex consonants (zh, ch, sh, r)
  • Dorso-palatal consonants (j, q, x)
  • Sons vocàlics segons la síl·laba en què apareixen (a, e, i, o, u, ü)
  • Standard Chinese tones (mā, má, mǎ, mà, ma)
  • Tone variation in some characters (一， 不)

 

Sociocultural contents

The sociocultural topics that will be explored in class are:

  • Name structure in Chinese (surname + name), first names and the most common surnames. Polite patterns and expressions.
  • Introductions: how to give and receive a business card (body language)
  • Chinese linguistic diversity (geolects and dialects)
  • The history of Chinese handwriting (from writing on tortoise bones to the current ways of writing). Chinese orthography systems (simplified and traditional).
  • Chinese traditional medicine
  • Chinese tourist flow
  • Sights in China
  • The Chinese cultural revolution

 

Methodology

Students are expected to use the language in and out the classroom to get first hand practice in different communicative contexts. The teacher will prompt them to use the language during the learning process: thus, activities are designed to promote student participation in class.

The methodology is basically interactive. Students have to apply their language knowledge to complete a series of oral and written tasks about tourism and general contexts. The main focus of this course is, then, the student’s learning process rather than teacher’s theoretical explanations.

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Classes 56.5 2.26 5, 1, 7, 2, 4, 3, 8, 6
Non class-based 56.5 2.26 5, 1, 7, 2, 4, 3, 8, 6
Type: Supervised      
Tutorials 3 0.12 1, 3
Type: Autonomous      
Theory 10 0.4 5, 1, 7, 2, 4, 3, 8

Assessment

No specific attendance percentage is required in order to be eligible for the Continuous Assessment.

It consists of

1.   Continuous assessment activities

2.   Final exam

Continuous assessment activities

  • Writing tasks
  • Vocabulary tests
  • Oral activities. Throughout the course, the student will produce a minimum of one oral activity (or a maximum of two), either individually or in group and in the form of monologues, dialogues, presentations, etc.
  • Mid-term test
  • Presentations on cultural topics
  • Final exam

Final exam

Students who opt not to do the continuous assessment have the right to do a final exam.

Resit

Only those students who fail the final exam with a result between 3, 5 and 4.9 (out of 10) are eligible to resit the exam.

 

 

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Final exam 20% 4 0.16 5, 7, 2
Mid-term test 20% 4 0.16 5, 7, 2
Oral activities 15% 2 0.08 5, 1, 7, 2, 4, 3, 8, 6
Presentations about Chinese culture 15% 10 0.4 1, 4, 3, 8
Vocabulary tests 20% 2 0.08 5, 2
Writings 10% 2 0.08 5, 1, 7, 2, 4, 6

Bibliography

The book used in class will be:

 

AA.VV. (2004). Vivir el chino – Vivir en China. Libro de texto. Beijing: Higher Education Press.

 

The teacher will also provide extra exercises on specific vocabulary related to tourism either in class or on moodle.

As this is a beginners course, the suggested resources are websites for extra pronunciation, reading and writing practice.

 

Online resources for studying:

—      http://www.nciku.com/ - dictionary with extra information about writing strokes and vocabulary

—      http://www.chino-china.com/ - dictionary, text editor, writing resources, forum and information on Chinese culture

—      http://www.yellowbridge.com/ - several resources for learning Chinese

—      http://www.chinese.cn/ - Confucius Institute website, includes news and practice material

—      http://www.hanzigrids.com/ - templates to practice character writing

For pronunciation practice:

—      http://www.quickmandarin.com/chinesepinyintable - grid of all Chinese syllables (with sound)

—      http://pinyinpractice.com/tones.htm - interactive games to practice tones

—     http://lingomi.com/products/chinese-listening-practice - Chinese pronunciation course (free demo)