Take your learning to the next level with this Chinese Mandarin Beginners Refresher course. An ideal follow-on from the Chinese Mandarin Beginners course, you will build on your knowledge, fine-tune your skills and grow in confidence.
You already read Pinyin and can easily introduce yourself and others in Mandarin. You can tell the time when your Chinese colleague asks you Xiànzài jǐ diǎn and talk about your daily routine. Now you want to move to the next level.
Chinese Mandarin can be a difficult language to master. This is why we have introduced Chinese Mandarin Refreshers (Year 2) course. It allows you to gain a solid grasp on the foundations of beginners Chinese Mandarin, build your basic vocabulary; and perfect pronunciation and grammar so that you are fully equipped to deal with the more complex topics covered in the Lower Intermediate (Year 3) syllabus.
The course consists of one evening class a week, for a total of 30 weeks; spread across three modules, which is ideal for those with various commitments or working full-time.
All of our language short courses are taught by qualified native speakers and delivered at City, University of London’s main campus, in the heart of the capital.
The course will revisit topics taught in the Beginners course with an emphasis on fluency and pronunciation, learning new grammar and extensive vocabulary. The course will help you build confidence, strengthen your ability to communicate more fluently and offer the opportunity to broaden your cultural understanding.
This Mandarin Chinese Beginners Refresher short course is the perfect next step after completing one of our Chinese Mandarin Beginners courses, or if you are familiar with the basics of Chinese Mandarin or other Chinese dialects.
You can check your level using our online guidelines.
The Chinese Beginners Refresher course is taught at progressive levels, starting with Module One in October. We only advise joining Module Two or Module Three if you are already familiar with the content from earlier modules (see the What will I learn? section below for module content).
This course is ideal if you have completed our Chinese Mandarin Beginners course or if you have between 30 and 40 hours of prior learning. You can check your level using our online guidelines.
Modules are taught at progressive levels so we strongly recommend starting with Module One in the autumn term.
You will need to respond to instructions and read course documents in English.
The emphasis of this Mandarin Chinese course is on listening and speaking. The lessons during the Beginners Refreshers short course focus on language that is required in authentic situations. Pinyin is used as pronunciation tool but Chinese characters will be introduced throughout the course.
Classroom activities will include:
Listening to audio clips and watching videos are an important element in our lessons. More comprehensive grammar exercises and reading texts are generally set as homework.
All evaluation will take place in a relaxed and informal setting.
There is no formal assessment and no qualification is issued at the end of the course, but you will be awarded an official City, University of London certificate on completion of the course. You must attend over 70 per cent of the classes to be eligible for the certificate.
Ping Chai
Ping Chai started her Mandarin teaching career in Nanjing University, China, where she had studied and worked before she came to the UK and studied in Westminster University and University of Sheffield.
Ping is a chartered linguist. She has been giving in-house specialised business Chinese training for professionals, diplomats and journalists, and practicing translation over many years. Ping also has guided some learners to take HSK, CEFR, GCSE and other exams and tests. She has tutored professionals to take professional Chinese qualification exams.
