The course aims at giving the students the basics of both pronunciation and Chinese characters so that the students have a solid base for developing their listening, reading, speaking and writing abilities.
At the end of the course, the students know basic Chinese vocabulary and simple sentence structures and are able to:
• understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases aimed at the satisfaction of needs of a concrete type.
• introduce themselves and others and can ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, people he/she knows and things he/she has.
• interact in a simple way provided the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.

The teaching materials introduce the students to daily life, social customs and culture in China.
Topic areas covered include, e.g.:
1. Learning the basics of both pronunciation and Chinese characters.
2. Learning how to introduce yourself, greet someone, and talk about studies and other everyday topics.
3. Describing your family members.
4. Using numerals and measure words in Chinese.
5. Learning how to make an appointment, and how to express requests and refusals politely.
6. Making suggestions and comments.

Class participation and completion of course assignments.

Teaching methods used: lectures, oral work including role-plays in pairs and small groups, pronunciation practice, vocabulary exercises, independent learning tasks (e.g. writing), computer supported learning.
Total working hours for each student 108 hours. Maximum contact hours 48, some of which can be otherwise arranged with the lecturer and the participants. Minimum attendance requirement: 50 %.

Teaching materials used may include one or more of the following: material distributed in class, for which a fee will be charged; a course book; and online material.

Numerical grading 5–0.
Active participation and attendance pass/fail. The final grade consists of two parts: course assignments (30%) and the final exam at the end of the semester (70%).
Both parts need to be successfully completed for a passing grade.

The course starts from level zero, so no previous knowledge in Chinese is required.

optional

The course level is A1 (CEFR).
The language of tuition is English and Chinese.