Courses

Instruction in the program is led by native or near-native Chinese speakers with extensive experience in teaching, providing students with many opportunities to practice the language. If you have further questions about the program, please contact wilp@miis.edu or 831-647-4115.

Course Descriptions

Elementary Chinese

The elementary class is designed for students with no or minimal knowledge of Chinese. The class uses a communicative approach to engage students in the learning process. Students are introduced to the Chinese pronunciation system (pinyin), basic grammar, and commonly-used Chinese characters. A typical day starts with a quiz that functions as a warm up for the presentation of new materials. After learning and practicing new materials, students engage in functional and communicative activities, such as dialogues, role-plays, and presentations, to practice listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The focus is to improve students' overall ability to understand and use the language accurately and appropriately. The elementary class uses Integrated Chinese Vol. 1 as its major textbook, supplemented by Internet-based practice materials and audio CDs. During the winter session, classes are 4 hours and 15 minutes a day, from 9:00AM until 11:45AM, and resume at 1:00PM, ending at 2:30PM. The program comprises a total of 60 hours, equaling 4 semester units of undergraduate credit. 

Intermediate Chinese

The intermediate class is designed for students with at least one year of recent college-level Chinese studies. Specifically, students should have the ability to understand and participate in questions and answers of everyday situations, to read and write sentences and short paragraphs on simple topics, have knowledge of basic sentence structures, and the ability to read and write, at least, 400-500 most commonly used Chinese characters. Students are required to take a placement test at the start of the program. Placement is determined by students' language proficiency level, not the length of their previous studies.

The class uses a communicative approach to engage students in the learning process. A typical day starts with a quiz that functions as a warm up for the presentation of new materials. After learning and practicing new materials, students often engage in interactive and functional activities, such as dialogues, role plays, problem solving, and presentations to practice listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The instruction is designed to improve students' overall ability to understand and use the language accurately and appropriately. The intermediate class uses Integrated Chinese Vol. 2 as its major textbook supplemented by Internet-based practice materials, audio CDs, and authentic materials for reading and listening practice.During the winter session, classes are 4 hours and 15 minutes a day, from 9:00AM until 11:45AM, and resume at 1:00PM ending at 2:30PM.The program comprises 60 hours, equaling 4 semester units of undergraduate credit. 

Textbooks

We highly recommend that you order your texts online through the vendor of your choice before the WILP session begins. The session is very short, and if you wait to purchase your books until the session begins, they may not arrive in time. If you are unsure of your level, please use your score from the diagnostic test as a guide. Or, you may want to purchase both books and send one back after the session begins.

ELEMENTARY CHINESE

Please be sure to purchase the 2nd edition of the text and not the newer 3rd edition.

Required:  Students may study either Simplified or Traditional.

Simplified - Recommended if you haven't worked with Traditional
1. Integrated Chinese, Level 1, Part 1, 2nd Ed. Simplified (9780887275333)
2. Workbook, 2nd Ed. Simplified (9780887274626)

Traditional
1. Integrated Chinese, Level 1, Part 1, 2nd Ed. Traditional (9780887275814)
2. Workbook, 2nd Ed. Traditional (9780887274619)

Also Required:
1. Audio CDs, 2nd Ed. Individual (4) (9780887274671)
2. Workbook DVD, Individual (9780887274275)

Optional: Character Workbook, 2nd Ed. Traditional and Simplified (9780887274398)

INTERMEDIATE CHINESE