Mandarin Chinese IV

Mandrin Chinese IV begins with a short review of Mandarin Chinese III and continues to build up the four language skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening. Students continue to strengthen their speaking and listening skills, while simultaneously focusing on improving reading comprehension and writing skills. Conversation topics are similar to Mandarin Chinese III, but with expanded vocabulary use. Students learn to express their personal opinions on everyday topics with ease, with themes such as friends, school, sports, movies, and music. Students learn about culture through extensive reading in Chinese. They improve their writing skills through short essays, replying to emails from their pen pal in China and by writing short stories in Chinese from provided picture prompts. Students develop a further appreciation for the language and culture by reading in Chinese from authentic sources, such as magazine and newspaper articles, the Internet, contemporary Chinese movies and by learning current pop songs. Mandarin IV serves as additional skill-building for students interested in continuing to the AP level.