Chinese Mandarin Beginners (part 2)

Part 2 will continue to improve your basic understanding of Mandarin over 10-weekly evening classes.

Building on your prior knowledge, you’ll learn to talk about your daily routine and weekly plans. You’ll be introduced to question words and learn how to use them in everyday conversation, such as jǐ, duō shǎo and the use of yǒu.

Under the direction of a qualified, native Mandarin speaker, you’ll engage in a range of activities and games to consolidate your knowledge and practise conversations.

Join us today to improve your skills in this relaxed and enjoyable class.

Who is it for?

This is the second of three beginners’ modules. It is ideal if you have completed part 1, or an equivalent course elsewhere (approximately 20 hours of prior learning). See our eligibility section to check your level.

Timetable

This course takes place once a week at 18:30 for 10 weeks.

Benefits

• A great starting place if you’ve already studied for 20 hours
• Follows the HSK proficiency test for language learning.

This course teaches you the language needed to carry out daily activities and engage in everyday conversation.

By the end of the 10 weeks you’ll be able to

• talk about dates and days
• discuss your daily routine
• talk about family and ask about someone's family
• discuss your job and workplace
• discuss schooling
• talk about weekly plans.

Grammar

• question word jǐ and duō shǎo
• sentence structure cóng…dào
• the use of yǒu
• affirmative/negative question structure hǎo bu hǎo/xíng bu xíng
• past perfect tense
• present continuous particle zài
• huì to indicate future tense
• three particles ma, ne and ba
• question words shénme shíhou and ji hao, xing qi ji.

You will be awarded an official City, University of London certificate on completion of the course if you attend over 70 per cent of the classes. The course is not formally accredited.

Teaching

Learning is designed to be fun and interactive and includes:

• pair and group work
• roleplay
• classroom discussion
• grammar in context
• pronunciation and intonation.

You will be given weekly homework to practise what you have learned in class.

Eligibility

To keep up in class, you’ll need to have some simple understanding of Mandarin (approximately 20 hours of study). This course is the right level if you can:

• understand Pinyin pronunciation on a basic level
• know basic sentence structures and word orders
• talk about countries, nationalities, people, jobs and occupations
• count numerals
• respond to comments and pay compliments
• understand particles ma, ne
• use the question words nǎli and shéi
• use past tense particle le
• negate verbs using méiyǒu/ méi
• use basis speech pattern dàn shì.

Absolute beginner? Join part 1 of the course or enrol on the full beginner’s syllabus (parts 1, 2 and 3) to get the best price.

Too easy? Try part 3 if you have studied Mandarin for around 40 hours.

English requirements

You will need a good level of spoken and written English to enrol on this course.