Classical Chinese

An experimental hybrid course

See explanation in the section of Class Procedures below

Time: TR 3:30-4:45

Call number: 9769

Classroom: LA2-103

Instructor: Dr. Tim Xie

Office: FO3-315; Telephone: (562) 985-5278

E-mail: txie@csulb.edu, URL: http://xietianwei.net

E-text: http://www.csulb.edu/~txie/360/Etext/index.htm

Office Hours: TuTh: 2:00-3:15PM

or by appointment through email

Course Description and Objectives:

CHIN 360 is a 3-unit course, offered once a year. This course aims at building students' foundation for future professional and academic careers. It will develop students’ awareness of difference of the modern and classical written languages, the ability of reading and comprehending the historical documents, prose, poetry and other archaic writings. The learned vocabulary, grammatical and stylistic knowledge will help students better understand and continue to learn modern Chinese. Through the lectures, discussions, homework and collaborative work, students will be able to translate classical reading texts into modern Chinese and English, find some major historical documents in libraries and know how to use dictionaries and other resources to cope with the documents written in classical Chinese. The course will cover readings from the textbook and other sources.

Upon completion of this course, students will:

· Be aware of the difference between classical and modern Chinese;

· Learn about 500 characters used in classical works;

· Understand frequently used vocabulary and grammatical constructions;

· Have read and translated selected readings;

· Be able to use dictionaries in their future studies;

· Be able to locate major historical documents in libraries.

Class Procedures

The class is conducted bilingually, in English and Chinese. Class will be in a lecture/discussion format. The instructor will explain the meaning and grammatical patterns in class and lead the discussion on the reading text. The use of function words and other grammatical structures will be explained in class with the help of transparencies or computer presentations. The instructor will also ask students to provide the English translation of the readings and then discuss it with the students. In the class, the students will also work collaboratively to develop the best version of their translation.

At a certain point of time, the class will be in an “experimental hybrid course” mode, which means that we will meet once a week (Tuesdays). On Thursdays, the students will be expected do some online work by themselves. The online activities will be announced and explained in class or through email. It is experimental in the sense that the course is NOT listed in the university’s catalog as an official hybrid course. By the end of the semester, we will find out if this model is good or not and then make the decision if we will officially make it a hybrid course. Students’ comments and suggestions are appreciated. The date and time of the beginning of the ‘hybrid mode’ will be announced later in class.

Required Textbook:

Language of the Dragon: A Classical Chinese Reader by Gregory Chiang published by Cheng and Tsui Company, 1998.

Supplemental Learning Aids:

Language of the Dragon - Supplemental E-Learning Materials. by Dr. Tim Xie, 2003. http://www.csulb.edu/~txie/360/Etext (This web site provides e-version of the original texts, supplemental grammar notes, Chinese translation of each lesson, online vocabulary exercises. Each character in the lessons is linked to an online vocabulary list.)

Tentative Course Schedule

Week	Topic	Test
Week 1	Introduction Lesson 1 Mó Chǔ Chéng Zhēn
Week 2	Lesson 2 Jīng Wèi Tián Hǎi
Week 3	Lesson 3 Kè Zhōu Qiú Jiàn
Week 4	Review	Test 1
Week 5	Lesson 4 Zì Xiāng Máo Dùn
Week 6	Lesson 5 Yà Miáo Zhù Zhǎng
Week 7	Lesson 6 Shǒu Zhū Dài Tù
Week 8	Review of Lesson 6 and Lesson 7	Midterm
Week 9	Lesson 7 Bó Lè Xiàng Mǎ
Week 10	Lesson 8 Huà Shé Tiān Zú
Week 11	Lesson 10 Sài Wēng Shī Mǎ
Week 12	Review of Lesson 7-10	Test 2
Week 13	Lesson 11 Zhāo Sān Mù Sì
Week 14	Lesson 12 Yù Bàng Xiāng Zhēng
Week 15	Lesson 14 Hú Jiǎ Hǔ Wēi
Week 16	Final exam

Homework

Homework is an important part of learning. Students are required to complete each homework in due time. Homework must be completed independently. Homework can be hand-written or typed. Typing and sending homework through email is encouraged. Homework should be sent to: csulbchn360@hotmail.com

Collaborative work

The collaborative work in this course means that the students work together by discussing the meaning of reading texts, exchanging their opinions and composing translated version (in modern Chinese and English.) The completed projects will be shared by the class. This collaborative work will be assigned for selected reading passages in class. Other parts of homework should be done by students independently.

Tests and Grading Policy:

The course grade will be based on a cumulative point-percentage system calculated from scores on the following categories:

Category Point-Percentages

Tests 25%

Homework assignments 25%

Midterm 25%

Final examination 25%

T O T A L: 100%

Grade scale: A (90-100%), B (80-89%), C (70-79%), D (60-69%), and F (below 60%)

The tests and exams will be given on the assigned days only. No requests for taking the tests before or after the set date will be honored without a valid excuse or documentation.

University Withdrawal Policy

It is the students' responsibility to withdraw from classes. Instructors have no obligation to withdraw students who do not attend courses, and may choose not to do so. Withdrawal from a course after the first two weeks of instruction requires the signatures of the instructor and department chair, and is permissible only for serious and compelling reasons, such as documented illness and a change in work hours/schedule. Students should be aware that the definition of "serious and compelling reasons" as applied by faculty and administrators may become narrower as the semester progresses. During the final three weeks of instruction, withdrawals are not permitted except in cases such as accident or serious illness where the circumstances causing the withdrawal are clearly beyond the student's control and the assignment of an incomplete is not practical. Ordinarily, withdrawals in this category involve total withdrawal from the university. The College of Liberal Arts adheres to this policy strictly, and does not sign withdrawal forms in the final three weeks of class for other reasons.