Mid-Career Development Language Course

This year, the British Inter-university China Centre (BICC) will be offering courses at two levels: one for beginners; and one for those with a little more background, which would be suitable for people who undertook the beginners course in 2008-9. Details of the levels covered can be found at the end of this document.

Course fees: Fees for both level 1 and level 2 courses will be £550.

To apply, please download an application form from the sidebar and send to Daniel.holloway@area.ox.ac.uk 

 

Overview

The Mid-Career Development Chinese Language Course is for people who work in an academic or academic-related field in the UK (or elsewhere within convenient travel distance) and will need to use the Chinese language for their field study or work projects[1].

 

The MCD Language Course involves 3 weeks (20 hours a week) of intensive classroom teaching at the Institute for Chinese Studies, Oxford and 28 weeks of online distant learning, in the following pattern:

September: 1 week (classroom-based)

September-December: 12 weeks (distance learning)

January: 1 week (classroom-based)

January-March: 8 weeks (distance learning)

April: 1 week (classroom-based)

April-June: 8 weeks (distance learning)

 

Intensive Weeks Dates 20010-2011

 

13-16 September 2010 (Monday-Thursday)

5-8 January 2011 (Tuesday-Friday)

18-21 April 2011 (Monday-Thursday)

 

 

Assessment and Certificate

Assessment Criteria

1.      Attendance

Students are expected to attend at least 10 days of the 15 days intensive classroom teaching

2.      Online Assignments

Students are expected to complete at least 80% of the written assignments to a satisfactory standard

3.      Exam

Students are expected to pass an exam, which includes listening, reading, translation and speaking, in the 3^rd intensive teaching week (in April).

4.      Topic-based Essay

Students are expected to write a topic-based essay in Chinese in the third term (April to June).

Certificate

An Achievement Certificate will be issued by British Inter-university China Centre.

 

Course Specification

Level 1

1.      Entry Requirement

This level is for complete beginners who have never learnt Chinese or false beginners who have started but still at a beginning level.

2.      Aim

By the end of the year, students are expected to achieve the following aims:

·         Master the pronunciation system of Chinese

·         Be able to recognise and pronounce/write 600 characters

·         Have general understanding of all major Chinese grammar and a working knowledge of the key ones

·         Be able to communicate in Chinese in daily scenarios and to make oral presentations 

·         Understand audio and written materials at a lower intermediate/intermediate level

·         Be able to read some newspaper articles

 

Level 2

1.      Entry Requirement

please refer to Level 1- Aim, applicants should at least have

·         Learnt and know no less than 600 characters

·         Learnt and have a foundation of all major Chinese grammar

·         Developed speaking and listening skills in Chinese 

 

2.      Aim

By the end of the year, students are expected to achieve the following aims:

·         Be able to recognise and pronounce/write 1200 characters

·         Understand and be able to apply all major Chinese grammar 

·         Be able to communicate fluently in daily scenarios and make oral presentations in length and depth 

·         Understand audio and written materials at an intermediate level

·         Understand more vocabularies and sentence structures used in written Chinese journalism.

 

Attention

Applicants need to be aware that

·         The MCD course is reliant on the usage of computer and internet.

·         Students are expected to travel to Oxford for attending the three weeks intensive classes (in September, January and April).

·         The MCD course requires 3-4 hours of self-study time during the 28 weeks of online learning period.

·         Students are expected to complete the weekly tasks and submit the weekly assignments in time though this might be waived due to personal circumstances.