Short course
Chinese (Mandarin): Beginners – Part 2
Course status:
Course ended
Dates:
20/01/2026 - 24/03/2026
Study format:
In-person weekly
Fees:
£300.00
This 10-week course is pitched at level A1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), and completion of the course will help you meet the level requirements. To help develop your fluency in the language, the course will focus primarily on speaking and listening skills, but will also include practice in reading and writing. You will have plenty of opportunities to practise the target language through hands-on class activities such as conversations and role-plays.
Note: Pinyin and pronunciation are incorporated with vocabulary and language through all the course.
Apply for this course
This is an In-person course which requires your attendance to the weekly meetings which take place in Oxford.
Join the waiting list
Level and demands
Course aims
To enable you to communicate at a basic level with speakers of the target language in a limited range of practical, real-life settings.
Course objectives:
- To help learners’ to develop the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing for basic everyday communication in the target language.
- To help learners’ to consolidate their listening comprehension skills to understand the gist of very short, basic written texts and audio excerpts.
- To enable learners’ to use high frequency vocabulary and grammar structures for basic routine communication.
- To equip learners’ with an appreciation of the culture and civilisation of the country (or countries) in which the target language is spoken.
Programme details
Course starts: 20 Jan 2026
The weekly course schedule below is intended to give an overview of the main topic(s) likely to be covered in each session. Please note that these may sometimes change according to the tutor’s discretion to reflect the interests of course participants.
Week 1: 他真高！ (Unit 4/L1)
- Describing people’s physical appearances and occupations
- Cultural corner: about Chinese New Year (Chinese New Year’s Eve & Chinese Zodiac signs)
Week 2: 他真高！ (Unit 4/L2)
- A basic Description of people’s personal profiles
- Extended vocabulary on Chinese New Year
- Cultural corner: More on Chinese New Year (taboos and activities)
Week 3: 他真高！(Unit 4/L3)
- Communicative activities and unit review
- More radicals and characters writing
- Creating a simple personal profile including one’s appearance, age and personeity
- Cultural corner: more on Chinese New Year (Lantern Festival)
Week 4: 这是我的电话号码。(Unit 5/L1)
- Exchanging information about contact numbers and addresses
- Expressions for receiving and ending phone calls
- Continue to learn Pinyin – the tones of 不 and 一
Week 5: 这是我的电话号码。(Unit 5/L2)
- Receiving and responding to simple telephone messages
- Asking for and giving information regarding one’s address
- Cultural corner: order of Chinese addresses
Week 6: 这是我的电话号码。(Unit 5/L3)
- Communicative activities and unit review
- Providing further personal information and contact details
- Chinese character writing
- Cultural corner: Chinese way of thinking from large to small
Week 7: 今天几号？ (Unit 6/L1)
- asking for and saying days of the week and dates
- Invitations and discussing related activities
- Chinese corner: Chinese calligraphy
Week 8: 今天几号？(Unit 6/L2)
- Reading a weekly planner
- Creating a personal calendar including activities each day
- The order of expressing Chinese year, month and date
Week 9: 今天几号？(Unit 6/L3)
- Communicative activities including an event planning and unit review
- Chinese festivals and their dates
- Continue to learn radicals
Week 10: Overall Revision
- communicative activities including role play
- practising radical and characters using traditional Chinese paintbrush
Key grammar points:
* Exclamatory Sentence using 真
* Interrogative Sentences using special interrogative words like 谁、多少、多大、几
* Declarative Sentences with adjectives and nouns as predicate
* Sentence with pivotal verbs 请
Key functions:
* Describing people’s physical appearances
* Asking for and giving basic information on contact numbers, addresses, personal profile, profession
* Text messaging and making phone calls
* planning an event and offering invitations
* Creating a personal calendar
* Using dates and days of the week
Teaching methods
You will learn through a communicative teaching approach with the emphasis on actively engaging in classroom activities in the target language. These are likely to include role-plays, pair- and small-group work, and conversational practice conducted in a supportive, friendly and informal learning environment.
The course has been structured to help you primarily to improve your speaking and listening skills and to develop a basic level of intercultural awareness in the context of social communication. You will also learn and practise new grammatical structures and will be encouraged to develop your reading and writing skills in your own time.
Learning outcomes
By the end of your course, learners will be better prepared to:
- interact in a simple way using a basic range of language in routine everyday contexts;
- understand and respond to basic spoken or recorded language relating to very familiar everyday situations;
- demonstrate comprehension of very short, simple texts containing high frequency vocabulary and basic grammar structures;
- write very short texts to provide basic personal information or simple descriptions.
Assessment methods
You will be set short, optional assignments to consolidate your learning and to allow you to progress at your own pace.
Zhao Godfrey
Born in the city of Tangshan in North China, Huiqiu Zhao studied English at the University of Shandong. She has been working as a freelance translator, interpreter, teacher and examiner in the UK since 1995.
Certification
Digital badge
Upon successful completion of this course, you will be issued with an official digital badge from the Department for Continuing Education, University of Oxford. After the course, you will receive an email with a link and instructions on how to download your digital badge. You will be able to add your badge to your email signature and share it on social media if you choose to do so. In order to be issued with your badge, you will need to have attended at least 80% of the course.
Fees
| Description | Costs |
|---|---|
| Course Fee | £300.00 |
Funding
If you are in receipt of a UK state benefit, you are a full-time student in the UK or a student on a low income, you may be eligible for a reduction of up to 50% of tuition fees. Please see the below link for full details:
Recommended reading
All weekly class students may become borrowing members of the Rewley House Continuing Education Library for the duration of their course. Prospective students whose courses have not yet started are welcome to use the Library for reference. More information can be found on the Library website.
There is a Guide for Weekly Class students which will give you further information.
Additional reading:
HUANG, Betty; Discover China Workbook One (Optional) (Macmillan ISBN:9780230406384)
Oxford University; Oxford Starter Chinese Dictionary (Optional) (ISBN: 0198602588) Press, 2000
Textbooks
To participate in the course fully, you will need access to the following textbook:
- Discover China Student’s Book One / DING, Anqi; CHEN, Xin; JIANG, Lili
Please use the ‘Book now’ button on this page. Alternatively, please complete an enrolment form (Word) or enrolment form (Pdf).
This is an In-person course which requires your attendance to the weekly meetings which take place in Oxford.