The Overview of AP Chinese Language and Culture Course
Advanced Placement Chinese Language and Culture is commonly known as AP Chinese Language and Culture or AP Chinese. The College Board offers this course as a part of the Advanced placement Program in US. It`s a foreign language course and allows middle school students taking it as an elective course. Students will take the course for two years and if pass the exam, they could get college course credits or take advanced Chinese course as elective. About 90% American and Canadian colleges and about 20 colleges of other countries admit its class credits.
Each fall, all secondary schools in the United States and Canada and select schools in other countries are invited to register for participation in the AP Program through a Participation Form that asks the schools to indicate which AP subjects and examinations will be offered in the school that academic year and approximately how many students per subject will participate in the Program. From fall 2006, they would be able to select AP Chinese.
This course includes five parts which are listening, speaking, reading, writing and culture. It equals to American college the second language of four semesters level which is about 250 class hours. Mandarin Chinese is the target language. And simplified & traditional characters are both included. The main aim of AP Chinese course is training students` all-around abilities such as listening, speaking, reading and writing. It will make students know Chinese culture better.
According to Goals and Standards for K-12 Chinese Language Learning which is also called 5-C Goals & 11 Standard, there are five learning goals: communication, culture, connection, comparisons and communities.
There are three basic communication modes of AP Chinese courses, which are interpersonal communication, interpretive communication and presentational communication.
1. interpersonal communication
students engage in conversation, provide and obtain information, expess feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions.
2. Interpretive communication
Students understand and interpret written (in characters and / or phonetic transcription) and Spoken language on a variety of topics.
3. Presentational communication
Students present information concepts, and ideas to an audience of listeners or raders on a variety of topics.
Culture:
Gain knowledge and understanding of the Chinese Culture.
1. Practices of Culture：
Students demonstrate an understanding of social patterns and the practice of conventions，and interact appropriately in Chinese Culture Setting.
2. Products of Culture:
Students demonstrate knowledge and understanding of significant of components of the Chinese culture，such as traditions，art，history，literature，music.
Connection:
Connect with other disciplines and acquire information.
1. Making Connection：
Students reinforce and further their knowledge of other disciplines thru the study of Chinese.
2. Acquiring New Information：
Students acquire information and recognize the distinctive viewpoints that are only available through the Chinese language and culture.
Comparisons:
Develop insight into the nature of language ＆ culture.
1. Language Comparisons：
Students demonstrate understanding of the nature of language through comparisons of the Chinese language and their own.
2. Culture Comparison：
Students demonstrate understanding of the concept of culture through comparisons of the Chinese culture and their own.
Communities:
1. Language Beyond School
Students use the Chinese language both within and beyond the school setting.
2. Life-1ong Learning
Students show evidence of becoming life-1ong learners by using the knowledge of the Chinese language and culture for personal enjoyment and enrichment.
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