95031 - First Level Chinese

Learning outcomes

The course aims to enable students to acquire knowledge of the basic grammatical and lexical structures of the Chinese language, as well as an elementary linguistic competence – both oral and written – that allows them to interact in a limited number of everyday communicative situations.

Course contents

The course provides basic skills in writing, reading, understanding simple texts, and producing everyday dialogues.

Specifically, students will learn to greet others, introduce themselves, state and ask about age, origin and nationality, talk about their hobbies and interests, express possession, quantify, describe people and places, formulate opinions, express intention and necessity, offer good wishes, indicate the days of the week, ask about and indicate time, talk about the various times of day, and express location.

As for grammar, the main topics will include:

• Pronouns
• The modifier-modified order
• The particle de
• Affirmative, interrogative, and negative sentences
• The verb "to be" and the verb "to have"
• Prepositional phrases
• Interrogative pronouns
• Adverbs of frequency
• Separable verbs
• The disjunctive conjunctions haishi and huozhe
• Verbs of motion
• Serial verb constructions
• The conjunction he
• The adverbs hai and ye
• Modal verbs
• Nominal classifiers and some verbal classifiers
• The demonstratives zhe and na
• The adjectival predicate
• The you…you construction
• Time nouns
• Verb reduplication
• Double-object verbs
• Localizers
• The negative adverb bie
• The modal particle le

In the language practice (lettorato) component, students will deepen their knowledge of writing and phonetics, and will develop dialogic and communicative skills related to the topics covered in the course.

Readings/Bibliography

Adopted textbook:

Masini F., Romagnoli C., Zhang T., Chang Y., (2021), Comunicare in cinese, Vol.1, Milano: Hoepli.

Suggested textbooks and dictionaries:

Giorgio Casacchia, Bai Yukun, (2013), Dizionario cinese - italiano, Libreria editrice Cafoscarina;

Zhao Xiuying, (2013), Il Dizionario di cinese. Dizionario cinese - italiano italiano - cinese, Bologna: Zanichelli;

Romagnoli C., (2012), Grammatica cinese, Milano: Hoepli.

Teaching methods

Lectures supported by PowerPoint presentations. Active participation from students will be required, both for in-class exercises and for homework assignments. The teaching materials provided by the teacher will be available on the e-learning platform "Virtuale": https://virtuale.unibo.it/.

 

Attendance is mandatory for 70% of classes.

Assessment methods

The exam consists of a written test (2 hours) and an oral test (15–20 minutes).
To access the oral test, it is necessary to have passed the written test.
The written test includes grammar exercises similar to those carried out during the course (fill-in-the-blank exercises, multiple-choice questions, sentence reordering and translation, etc.), reading comprehension.

The oral test involves reading a short text in Chinese, answering some comprehension questions about the text read, and holding a conversation on the topics studied during the course.

The use of AI during the exam is prohibited. Any use constitutes a violation of academic integrity.
During the test, the use of paper dictionaries, electronic devices, online dictionaries, automatic translation systems, AI-based tools, or other online resources is not permitted.
The final grade is determined by the average of the written and oral tests.

Grading criteria:
30-30 cum laude: excellent performance demonstrating outstanding acquisition of the lexical and grammatical material covered in the course;
27-29: above-average performance, with minor errors that are otherwise compensated for by a more than sufficient demonstration of the required linguistic knowledge and skills.
24-26: valid performance, but with some evident errors indicating partial acquisition of the required knowledge and skills.
21-23: sufficient performance but with noticeable limitations in the knowledge and skills to be acquired.
18-20: performance that meets only the minimum criteria for the knowledge and skills to be acquired.
Insufficient: the basic knowledge has not been achieved; the exam must be repeated.

Students with SLD (Specific Learning Disorders) or temporary or permanent disabilities (including serious health problems that interfere with the normal course of studies) are asked to promptly contact the relevant University office (Service for Students with Disabilities and SLD: https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/it ), possibly before the start of the course. Please note: it will be the responsibility of the designated Office to propose any accommodations to the students concerned, which must in any case be submitted for the course leader's approval at least 15 days before the exam date; their appropriateness will be evaluated also in relation to the course's learning objectives.

Teaching tools

PowerPoint presentations, exercises, and all materials provided during the course will be made available on Virtuale: https://virtuale.unibo.it/.

Office hours

See the website of Francesca Restucci