Chinese Immersion Program: Intermediate Chinese for Advanced Beginners

Catalog description

This intensive summer immersion course is specifically designed for heritage learners—students who have grown up with exposure to Mandarin or another Chinese dialect in their homes or communities but have had limited formal training in reading and writing Chinese. Building on learners’ existing linguistic and cultural foundations, the course develops functional proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, and writing, with particular emphasis on strengthening literacy, expanding vocabulary, and refining standard spoken Chinese, including pronunciation. Equivalent to a full academic year of study, the course integrates Elementary Chinese for Advanced Beginners (CHIN-SHU111) and Intermediate Chinese for Advanced Beginners (CHIN-SHU211) within the NYU curriculum. The curriculum is designed to bridge the gap between students’ oral/aural abilities and their developing literacy, while also engaging directly with the cultural experiences and questions that often shape heritage learners’ relationships to the language. Students begin with a systematic review of Pinyin (the romanization system) alongside foundational character recognition and writing. The first half of the course centers on themes closely connected to students’ lived experiences—such as cultural identity, family lives, and Sino–U.S. social and cultural dynamics—inviting students to reflect on their own linguistic and cultural backgrounds. The second half expands outward to examine the role of Chinese language and culture in broader societal, political, and global contexts. Topics include social etiquette, identity and representation, cross-cultural perspectives, societal values, public policy, and contemporary social issues in China. In this way, the course affirms heritage learners’ existing knowledge while also challenging them to critically examine and expand it.