Prerequisite: C- average in previous English class.

Chinese I, a course based on Indiana’s Academic Standards for World Languages, introduces students to effective strategies for beginning Chinese language learning, and to various aspects of Chinese-speaking culture.  This course encourages interpersonal communication through speaking and writing, providing opportunities to make and respond to basic requests and questions, understand and use appropriate greetings and forms of address, participate in brief guided conversations on familiar topics, and write simple sentences using characters.  This course also emphasizes the development of reading and listening comprehension skills, such as recognizing Chinese characters and sounds of familiar words and comprehending brief oral directions. Additionally, students will examine the practices, products, and perspectives of Chinese-speaking culture; recognize basic routine practices of the target culture, and recognize and use situation-appropriate non-verbal communication.  This course further emphasizes making connections across content areas and the application of understanding Chinese language and culture outside of the classroom.