AP Chinese Syllabus (Draft)

AP Chinese Language and Culture (2006-2007)

Syllabus Outline

Semester One:
Unit one: Language and People/Chinese Language Histroy and Dialects
Unit two: Geography and History/Chinese Character and Written Language
Unit three: Festivals and Holidays/Words and Expressions
Unit four: Diet and Health/Grammar
Unit five: Life Style and Costume/Grammar
Semester Two:
Unit Six: Traditional Arts and Folk Arts/Grammar
Unit Seven: Arts and Crafts/Grammar
Unit Eight: Literature (novel and poetry)/ 修辞
Unit Nine: Music and Songs/修辞
Unit ten: Philosophy and Religions/修辞

Semester One
Unit one: Language and People /Chinese Character and Dialects (September, 2006)
1. Nationalities
2. Language, characters
3. Ethnic regional diversity and linguistic variations (dialects)
4. Schools and community
5. Current affairs
Language focus: Chinese Language History and Dialects
Technology:
• Blogging: setup personal blogs
Web Design: Introduction to Macromedia Dreamweaver (web design tool)
Assignments & quiz

Unit two: Geography and History (October, 2006)
1. Geography/regions
2. History
3. Travel
4. Transportation
Language focus: Chinese Character and Written Language
Technology:
• Internet and search (wikipedia)
• Podcasting
• Web Design: Dreamweaver
Assignments & quiz
Exam One

Unit three: Festivals and holidays (November, 2006)
1. Major festivals (Spring festival, Moon festival, Memorial Day,
2. National holidays: National Day, May 1st, Women’s Day, Children’s Day….
3. Weddings and other events
Language focus: Words and Expressions
Technology:
• Movie Maker
• Digital Photography (Photoshop)
Assignments & quiz

Unit four: Diet and Health (December, 2006)
• Food
• Diet (tea)
• Health
• Sports
Language focus: Grammar
Technology:
• Flash animation
• Web Design: Dreamweaver
Assignments & quiz Exam two

Unit five: Life Style and Costume (January, 2007)
1. Traditional styles
2. Fashion
3. Influence of globalization
Language focus: Grammar
Technology:
• MSN group discussion
• Videotaping and editing (Movie Maker)
Project Presentation: Web design, video, poster
Assignments & quiz Semester Exam

Semester Two:
Unit Six: Traditional Arts and Folk Arts (February, 2007)
• Calligraphy,
• Painting,
• Opera
Language focus: Grammar
Technology:
• Online publishing
• Digital photography
Assignments & quiz

Unit Seven: Arts and Crafts (March, 2007)
• Kites,
• Paper cuts
• Architecture, gardening
Language focus: Grammar
Technology:
• Blogging
• Digital photography
Assignments & quiz Exam One

Unit Eight: Literature (April, 2007)
• Novels
• Poetry
• Play
Language focus: 修辞
Technology:
• Wikipedia
• Podcasting
Assignments & quiz

Unit Nine: Music and Songs (May, 2007)
• Chinese classic music
• Music instruments
• Popular songs and music
Language focus: 修辞
Technology:
• Movie Maker
• Flash/animation
Assignments & quiz Exam Two


Unit Ten: Philosophy and Religions (June, 2007)
• Confucius
• Taoism
• Buddhism
• Other religions
Language focus: 修辞
Technology:
• Web project
• MSN group online discussion
Project Presentation: Web, Books, research paper, video, etc
Assignments & quiz Semester Exam

Technology:
It is a very important component of this course. Students will learn various tools and techniques in using the Internet, software/programs as well as laptop computers, pocket PC, iPod, and other devices during this course. They are required to produce presentation projects with assigned or selected themes. Their final projects will be published online or through different media. A class showcase will be set up at the end of each semester.

Parent/Community involvement:
Student learning should not be limited to themselves. Their learning should extend to outside of the classroom, beyond any physical boundaries, to their home, to their community, with their friends, and relatives, parents in U.S. as well as in China or any other places. During this course, students will interact with these people, visit local Chinese institutions and cultural centers to broaden their learning experience and become a life long learner. In fact, language and culture are the essence of their life and community.

Resources:
The Internet provides immense resources for teaching and learning. We will use as much online resources as we can for our classroom discussion, group activities, projects, etc. Of course, we are not limited to the online materials. We will also use books, magazines, newspapers, and any other useful sources. Students are required to collect materials for the course. Student projects can also be used for this course as resources. Hopefully we will have our own classroom library while we are working on this course. Here is a brief list of what I will be using:
1. World Journal (Local Chinese newspaper)
2. http://www.china.com/
3. http://yahoo.com.cn/
4. http://baidu.com/ (search engine)
5. http://zh.wikipedia.com/
6. 胡裕树主编《现代汉语参考资料》上册，上海教育出版社，1980年；
7. 胡裕树主编《现代汉语参考资料》中册，上海教育出版社，1981年；
8. 胡裕树主编《现代汉语参考资料》下册，上海教育出版社，1982年；
9. 鲁允中等编《现代汉语资料选编》，甘肃人民出版社，1981年。
10. Chinese Poetry (Books)
11. Chinese Novels (Books)
12. Classic Chinese Literature (Books)13. Other audiovisual materials and software