Chinese (Mandarin) Certificate

Topics:

• Basic pronunciation: the alphabet, numbers, dates and times, the calendar
• personal information, asking for and answering personal information
• talking about and describing others
• family, daily routine, social language
• likes and dislikes
• leisure activities
• shopping
• jobs, nationalities, countries
• places in town, understanding directions, snacks and drinks etc.
• reading and writing the Chinese script

Grammar: Present tense, negation; interrogation; personal pronouns; possessive adjectives and pronouns; common adjectives; agreements; number and gender of nouns; prepositions; common adverbs; awareness of formal and informal usage; imperative, simple past, immediate future in indicative mood (including reflexive forms);

• communicate simply in the spoken language in a range of everyday situations in such a way that basic daily requirements can be met
• understand some specific details of simple everyday aural and written messages (e.g. postcard, e-mails)
• recognise and use some of the basic features of the grammatical system of the language, and use a bilingual dictionary confidently
• use a small range of 'repair strategies' to overcome communication breakdown in a range of basic everyday situations
• describe some differences between own language and culture and target language and culture
• understand and translate short passages
• short presentations, describing person of your choice, answering questions
• use language skills at Level A1, as described in the Council of Europe Common European Framework (CEF).

Topics:

• Personal information
• daily routine
• food and drink
• travel and transport
• social language
• accommodation abroad
• likes and dislikes
• leisure activities
• home and family
• shopping
• jobs
• health
• geography and weather
• telephone calls
• describing a place
• tourist brochures
• arranging to meet someone
• physical appearance
• describing your job and your education etc.

Grammar: Revision/introduction of: the present, past and future in indicative mood (including reflexive forms); negation; pronouns (personal, demonstrative, possessive); interrogation; possessive and demonstrative adjectives; agreements between nouns and adjectives; number and gender of nouns; a range of prepositions; adverbs and some adverbial phrases of time and place; conjunctions; formal and informal usage.

• communicate satisfactorily in the spoken language in a range of everyday social and transactional situations
• communicate satisfactorily in the written language in basic informal situations (notes, informal letters)
• understand the main points and specific details of simple aural and written messages
• recognise and use the basic features of the grammatical system of the language, and to use a bilingual dictionary competently
• use a range of 'repair strategies' to overcome communication breakdown
• describe some of the main differences between own language and culture and target language and culture
• understand and translate short passages
• describe a place, presentation skills, answering questions
• use language skills at Level A1 (all skill*areas) and selected skills areas of A2, as described in the Council of Europe Common European Framework (CEF).

Topics:

• Giving/asking for information
• asking for/giving information
• expressing likes and dislikes
• asking for/giving times, prices, and dimensions
• giving detailed descriptions
• reporting events
• asking for/ giving directions
• giving explanations
• talking about one's job/studies
• making comparisons
• asking for/giving an opinion
• describing your intentions, agreeing/disagreeing
• asking permission, giving instructions, complaining
• giving advice
• arranging dates, meetings
• using colloquial language
• summarising texts etc.

Grammar: Revision/introduction of: the main tenses in the indicative mood; basic active and passive voices; pronouns (personal, demonstrative, possessive, reflexive); nouns: gender, singular, plural; case endings in main contexts; prepositions; modals and auxiliaries; declension of adjectives/ adjectival agreement; comparison of adjectives; some principles of word formation; word order; adverbial phrases of time, manner, place; conjunctions; formation of verbs; negation; questions, the subjunctive mood.

• communicate adequately in a range of social, transactional and work-related situations
• understand the main points and specific details of everyday aural and written messages and texts
• write short everyday messages and simple letters/e-mails (informal and formal)
• recognise and use the basic features of grammar confidently and accurately, and be aware of more complex features of the language system; use a bilingual dictionary competently
• use a range of 'repair strategies' to overcome communication breakdown
• describe differences between own language and culture and target language and culture
• personal presentation on a film or a book
• understand and translate passages
• use language skills at Level A2 (all skill* areas) and selected skill* areas of B1 (as described in the Council of Europe Common European Framework (CEF).

Topics:

• Personal information
• shopping and consumerism
• jobs and work
• health
• geography and climate
• education
• the environment
• the media and manipulation
• politics
• current affairs and events, personal interest and cultural topics, etc.

Grammar: Revision/introduction of: the main grammatical features of the language, to include most tenses in the present, past, future (in indicative mood) and the conditional mood; active and passive voices; and some tenses in the subjunctive mood (where relevant); pronouns (personal, possessive, demonstrative, reflexive); a range of prepositions; adverbs and adverbial phrases; adjectives and adjectival phrases, comparison of adjectives; conjunctions; infinitive constructions; formal and informal usage.

• communicate adequately in a range of social, transactional and work-related situations
• understand the main points and specific details of everyday aural and written messages and texts, also the main points of more complex texts (such as reports, newspaper articles etc.)
• write everyday messages and simple letters, simple business correspondence and factual texts
• provide translations of simple texts into English
• recognise and use the main features of grammar with confidence;
• use a bilingual dictionary competently
• use a range of 'repair strategies' to overcome communication breakdown
• describe a range of differences between own language and culture and target language and culture
• present on a topic of interest / an event and answer questions
• short translation and interpreting
• use language skills at Level B1 (all skill*areas) and selected skill*areas of B2, as described in the Council of Europe Common European Framework (CEF).