This course contains three modules and one final self-assessment.
Module 1 introduces the changes of Chinese characters from pictures of objects to text and it includes 3 lessons:
Lesson 1 The evolution of Chinese characters
Lesson 2 Chinese calligraphy
Lesson 3 Traditional and simplified Chinese characters
Module 2 introduces how Chinese characters are structured based small parts and it includes 4 lessons:
Lesson 1 Chinese character basic strokes
Lesson 2 Chinese character stroke orders
Lesson 3 Chinese character common-used radicals
Lesson 4 Chinese character structures
Modules 3 aims at explaining how Chinese characters were formed and it includes 5 lessons:
Lesson 1 Pictographs
Lesson 2 Ideographs
Lesson 3 Combinations of pictographs and ideographs
Lesson 4 Combinations of radicals and phonetics
Lesson 5 Borrowed characters
Before starting this course, you should be mentally prepared to make efforts on learning Chinese characters. You have the motivation to explore different aspects of Chinese characters. You have basic knowledge of Chinese language and computers. Especially, you know how to scan documents and upload and share files through Google Drive. Previous knowledge of Chinese characters is not required.
For this course, I designed the course overview, learning activities, reviews and practice, and assessment; created rubrics for formative assessment; added appropriate images and software to lecture notes; integrated the online learning resources into the course. Most of the content of lecture notes was adopted from Chinese textbooks and other resources. Please check the references below:
1. Fang, T. (2011). Zhen Bang. St. Paul: EMC Publishing.
2. Lee, P. Y. (2003). 250 Essential Chinese characters for everyday use. Tuttle Publishing.
3. Leyi, L. (1992). Hanzi Yanbian Wubaili. Beijing: Beijing Language and Culture University Press.
4. Shen, H. H., Wang, P., & Tsai, C.-h. (2009). Learning 100 Chinese Radicals. Beijing: Peking University Press.
If you think I can't use above resources, please contact me at graceyang668@gmail.com or use follow contact form, and I will remove the content immediately. Thanks a lot!
A computer with reliable Internet access, as well as sound and voice (built-in or external) recording capabilities is required. You may need to install or allow to run Flash Player on the computer to be able to interact with certain content.In addition, make sure you have a Gmail account so that you can open the links I share with you through Google Drive. A recent version of Microsoft Word or similar word processing software is needed that saves documents as .doc, .docx, or .rtf files, or Google Docs. To complete the video project, video editing software is needed too, such as Movie Maker and iMovie. If you need any technical support regarding to assignments, please email me or use follow contact form.
After completion of this course,
1. given the introduction of Chinese character evolution, you will be able to describe the process of Chinese character evolution in a right order with 100% accuracy. (Remember)
2. given the introduction of Chinese characters basic strokes and structure types and examples, you will be able to identify given characters’ basic strokes and their structure types with at least 80% accuracy. (Understand)
3. given Chinese character stroke order rules and examples, you will be able to write 5 given characters in correct stroke order with at least 80% accuracy. (Apply)
4. given the introduction of 50 common radicals and examples, you will be able to classify characters by radicals they contain correctly with 100% accuracy. (Understand)
5. given the introduction of Chinese character formation, you will be able to define and explain all five types of Chinese character formation in two or three sentences. (Remember)
6. given five types of Chinese character formation and examples, you will be able to create a 2-minute video to demonstrate your understanding of these five types of Chinese character formation in a week or less. (Create)
Learning Objectives
Course Content
Lu Yang
Online Chinese Instructor (Current)
Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth
Iowa Department of Education Iowa Learning Online
Certified Chinese Teacher in China, Thailand and USA
BA in Chinese Language and Literature
MS in Instructional Design and Technology
E-mail: graceyang668@gmail.com
About Me
Learner Prerequisites
Description
This course is designed for beginner Chinese language learners to study basic knowledge of Chinese characters. This is a self-paced Chinese character foundation course which will help you to learn Chinese characters systematically from basic strokes to the whole structure. After this completion of this course, you will gain a basic knowledge and understanding on the compositions of Chinese characters and thus you can establish a relationship between their forms and meaning in characters so that you are able to transfer what already know when you learn new characters.
About Course
Course Credits
Technical Requirements
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