CN 101 - Chinese Language in Context: Novice Abroad I

The lessons encompass content such as greeting, contacting, eating, clothing, living, as well as about 150 new words and many fundamentals of Chinese grammar. It places emphasis on improving the ability of the learner to use Chinese for communication. Class activities include making dialogs, playing language games, performing skits, outdoor activities, etc. Through these exercises, students will master basic conversational sentences, and on that basis, they will acquire the ability to carry on simple conversations with native Chinese speakers.

Research has demonstrated that study abroad can enhance every aspect of language ability. One of the most important general findings of this research is, however, that study abroad is most beneficial for the development of abilities related to social interaction. Students who go abroad can learn to do things with words, such as requesting, apologizing, or offering compliments, and they may also learn to interpret situations calling such speech acts in ways that people do. In short, and logically, study abroad has been shown to enhance the aspects of communicative competence that are most difficult to foster in classroom settings (IES Abroad MAP for Language and Intercultural Communication, p. 6).