School of Chinese

Chinese Language Enhancement Programme

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One of the principal missions of the Chinese Language Enhancement Programme (CLEP) is to design and deliver courses for undergraduates in ALL Faculties of the University, courses that are intended primarily to raise their level of competence in the Chinese language.  Emphasis is placed on practical and professional writing skills.  Unless exemption is granted by the home Faculties under special circumstances, all full-time undergraduates have to take the compulsory Practical Chinese Language Courses (PCLCs) to fulfil the UG5 graduation requirements.  These courses, together with the voluntary Putonghua courses, language workshops and Special Study Modules, cater to the specific needs of students from different backgrounds and disciplines.  The ultimate goal of the Programme is to train students to be effective communicators and life-long learners and to equip them for future careers.

The year of offer of the PCLCs varies from one Faculty to another, and students will be notified accordingly.

FACULTY BASED COURSES

1. Faculty of Architecture

   CARC1001 Practical Chinese Language Course for Architecture Students
   Designed to enhance the students' command of Chinese for the architectural profession, this course aims to help the students to master the business letter writing techniques and the language of target-oriented architectural proposals, plans and reports. In the Chinese Characters component of this course, the students are required to do practical drills in order to strengthen their grasp of the specialized vocabulary in the profession.

   CREA1001 Practical Chinese Language Course for Real Estate and Construction Students
   The main objective of this course is to enhance the students' command of Chinese for the real estate and construction profession. This course helps the students to master business letter writing techniques, target-oriented writing skills for instructions, brochures and leaflets, and the language of proposals and reports. There are also drilling practices to familiarize the students with the simplified written forms of the specialized terms in the profession.

2. Faculty of Arts

   CART1001 Practical Chinese Language Course for Arts Students
   This course is intended to equip the students with the skills to effectively use the Chinese language in the workplace. It trains the students to become conversant with the styles and conventions of different types of practical writings such as memos, emails, letters, brochures, leaflets, and reports. Drilling practices are provided to familiarize the students with simplified Chinese characters frequently used in the workplace context.

3. Faculty of Business and Economics

   CBBA0001A Practical Chinese Language Course for Business, Economics and Finance Students
   This course aims to enhance the students' Chinese proficiency to meet the demands of business communication. It helps the students to become conversant with the forms and conventions of business writings such as letters, notices and announcements, minutes, and reports. Drilling practices are provided to familiarize the students with the simplified Chinese characters that are frequently used in the business sector.
   
   CBBA0001B Practical Chinese Language Course for Business, Economics and Finance Students
   This course is intended to enhance the students' Chinese proficiency to enable them to meet the demands of the developing information economy in Hong Kong. Emphasis is placed on the skills to integrate information and communication technologies with practical writings such as emails, letters, notices and announcements, presentations, leaflets, and reports. In the Chinese characters component, drilling practices are provided to familiarize the students with the technical terms frequently used in the industry.

   CBBA0001C Practical Chinese Language Course for Business, Economics and Finance Students
   This course aims to sharpen the students' skills in the use of the Chinese language so that they are able to meet the communication needs in the workplace. It helps the students to master the techniques of writing emails, letters, reports and promotional brochures.  Drilling practices are provided to familiarize the students with a wide range of specialized terms in their simplified forms.

   CBBA0001D Practical Chinese Language Course for Business, Economics and Finance Students
   CBBA0001D is an intensive course held in summer semester. To cope with the needs of the profession, Chinese grammar, email writing, PowerPoint presentation in Chinese and language strategy are taught to enhance the students' Chinese language proficiency. There are also drilling practices to familiarize the students with simplified Chinese characters frequently used in the workplace context.

   CBBL0001 Practical Chinese Language Course for BBA(Law) Students
   This course is designed to enhance the students' Chinese language proficiency for legal uses. The students are trained to master the skills to write business letters, notices and announcements, minutes, and reports for legal purposes. Topics that are closely related to the students' future careers include "The Use of Chinese in Statutes" and "The Use of Chinese in Commercial Documents such as Contracts and Agreements". There are also drilling practices to help the students memorize frequently used legal terms in their simplified forms.

4. Faculty of Dentistry

   CDEN1001 Practical Chinese Language Course for Dentistry Students
   Designed to enhance the students' Chinese proficiency for the dentistry profession, CDEN1001 aims at sharpening the students' skills of writing formal business letters, notices and announcements, as well as articles for dentistry journals. Components such as "The Use of Chinese in Dental/Medical Reports" are of practical relevance. For the Chinese Characters component, this course has drilling practices to introduce the students to the dental terminology in their simplified written forms.

5. Faculty of Education

   CEDU1001 Practical Chinese Language Course for Speech and Hearing Science Students
   This course aims to promote the professional use of the Chinese language in the field of Speech and Hearing Science.  It introduces the students to the art of persuasion in writing formal letters, notices and announcements, proposals and reports, and journal articles. The students can familiarize themselves with the fundamentals of Cantonese phonetics. Through the problem-based assignments, they can reinforce their mastery of what is covered in class. The students are required to set questionnaires, interview clients, collect and analyze data, and present both oral and written reports on speech problems confronting the people of Hong Kong. There are also drilling practices to get the students to learn the frequently used specialized terms in their simplified forms.

   CEDU1002 Practical Chinese Language Course for Language Education Students
   As a course specifically designed to enhance the students' Chinese proficiency for the language teaching profession, CEDU1002 aims to sharpen the students' skills of writing formal official letters, notices and announcements, proposals and reports for the education sector. Special emphasis is given to presentation skills and the pronunciation of Cantonese. There are also drilling practices to familiarize the students with the frequently used specialized terms in their simplified forms.

   CEDU1004 Putonghua Course for Language Education Students
   With a strong emphasis on the accuracy of pronunciation and ability of listening comprehension in Putonghua, CEDU1004 features a needs-based approach in instruction and drilling practices that are put in place to elevate the students' standards. In order to motivate the students to learn, terms and sentences frequently used in the language teaching workplace are used as teaching materials.

   CEDU1005 Practical Chinese Language Course for Information Management Students
   Designed to enhance the students' Chinese proficiency for the information management profession, CEDU1005 aims at helping the students to master the skills of writing formal business letters, notices and announcements, leaflets as well as feature writings for librarians. Drilling practices are also put in place to familiarize the students with the simplified Chinese characters frequently used in the workplace.

   CEDU1006 Practical Chinese Language Course for Exercise and Health Students
   This course aims to promote the professional use of the Chinese language in the field of Exercise Science. It helps to sharpen the students' skills in writing formal official letters, notices and announcements, memos, faxes, target-oriented instructions, brochures and leaflets, proposals and reports. There are also drilling practices to familiarize the students with the frequently used technical terms in their simplified forms.

   CEDU2001 Practical Chinese Language Course for Liberal Studies Students
   This is a tailor-made course specifically designed to enhance the Chinese proficiency of students majoring in Liberal Studies. It aims at sharpening the students' skills of preparing formal letters, minutes and announcements, project proposals and reports and at improving their oral communicative competence. In the Chinese characters component, drilling practices will familiarize the students with the frequently used technical terms in their simplified forms. Selected topics in language and cultural issues in educational settings are covered in order to broaden the students' professional horizons.

6. Faculty of Engineering

   CENG1001 Practical Chinese Language Course for Engineering Students
   This course is designed to enable the students to gain a mastery of the variety of the Chinese language as used in the field of Engineering. Its primary objective is to sharpen the students' skills in writing business letters, notices and announcements, proposals and reports. The regional differences between China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore in the use of the Chinese language are also explored in the module "Characteristics of the Written Language Used in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore". Equipped with such knowledge, the students are uniquely positioned to take advantage of the increasing job opportunities on the Mainland following the signing of the CEPA. In the Chinese characters component, there are drilling practices to familiarize the students with the frequently used terms in their simplified forms. 

   CENG1003 Advanced Language Studies in Chinese for Engineering Students
   A continuation of CENG1001, this course provides advanced language training to the Engineering students. It seeks to acquaint the students with the differences in the ways in which the Chinese language is used in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and Singapore, differences that reflect the unique cultural, social and commercial conditions in these regions. The students' language needs in job hunting and career planning are addressed. The language skills crucial to designing and promoting Chinese websites in the profession of engineering are also taught.

   CENG1004 Practical Chinese Language Course for Civil Engineering (Law) Students
   This course is designed to sharpen the students' Chinese language used in the Engineering and Legal profession. A key objective is to sharpen the students' skills in writing conventional letters, office documents, proposals and reports in the workplace. In the Chinese characters component, there are drilling practices to familiarize the students with the frequently used terms in their simplified forms.

7. Faculty of Law

   CLAW1009 Practical Chinese Language Course for Law Students
   This course is designed to enhance the students' proficiency in the use of the Chinese language in the legal profession. As a variety of the Chinese language, legal Chinese has its own distinctive characteristics, which are explored in this course. A special topic in this course is "Characteristics of Chinese Legal Language". The students are trained to express their ideas and views lucidly in Chinese in a legal context. Drilling practices are provided to familiarize them with the simplified forms of frequently used legal terms.

8. Faculty of Medicine

   CBIO0002 Practical Chinese Language Course for Nursing Students
   This course is designed to enhance the students' competence in the use of the Chinese language in the nursing profession. A key objective is to sharpen the students' skills in writing conventional letters, office documents, comments and assessment reports in the workplace. The module "Presentation Skill" is designed to raise the level of accuracy of the students' pronunciation of Cantonese for vocational communication. Drilling practices are put in place to familiarize the students with the specialized terms in their simplified written forms.

   CBIO0003 Practical Chinese Language Course for Chinese Medicine Students
   This course is intended to enhance the students' competence in the use of the Chinese language in the medical profession. Its helps the students to develop a firm grasp of both classical and modern Chinese. A key objective of the course is to sharpen the students' skills in writing business letters, office documents, and case reports. Drilling practices are put in place to familiarize the students with the specialized terms in their simplified written forms.

CBIO0005 Practical Chinese Language Course for Pharmacy Students
This course is designed to enhance the students’ proficiency in the use of the Chinese language in the pharmacy profession.  It aims specifically at sharpening the students’ skills both of preparing official documents (such as letters, notices, announcements, and reports) and of effectively communicating with patients.  Particular emphasis is placed on how to use Chinese pharmaceutical terms in a precise and concise manner.  There are also drilling practices to familiarize the students with the simplified forms of these terms.  The growing importance of the Chinese language in academic and professional settings is increasingly evident in the modern world.  This course’s ultimate goal is to equip students with the necessary knowledge and skills in Chinese applicable in the workplace and to expedite their progress toward excellence in professional language use.

9. Faculty of Science

   CSCI0001 Practical Chinese Language Course for Science Students
   This course aims to enhance the students' competence in the use of Chinese in the workplace. It helps the students to master the techniques of writing different types of documents such as memos, emails, letters, brochures, leaflets, and reports. In addition, topics addressing the style and rhetoric of reader-based scientific/technical writings are included to heighten the students' linguistic sensitivity. Drilling practices are put in place to familiarize the students with the simplified Chinese characters frequently used in the workplace.

   CSCI2002 Advanced Language Studies in Chinese
   This course aims to further enhance the students' Chinese proficiency for effective communication in the fields of science and technology. It seeks to expand the students' vision of culture, history and literature; it also helps them to develop their sense of logic that is essential for text analysis, information collection, selection and sharing in the field of science. In response to the students' request, workshops on the use of the Chinese language in writing application letters are organized. Such workshops include 'Pre-service training I: Chinese language proficiency tests for job applications', 'Pre-service training II: Writing application letters' and 'Pre-service training: Essay writing for job entry tests'.

10. Faculty of Social Sciences

CSSC1001 Practical Chinese Language Course for Social Sciences Students
This course aims to improve the students' ability to use the Chinese language in the workplace.  A key focus is on the integration of Chinese IT with the writing of emails, letters, office documents, brochures and leaflets, and reports. In addition, topics addressing the use of rhetorical figures in reports and journal articles also help to hone the students' communication skills. In the Chinese characters component, drilling practices are provided to familiarize the students with the simplified Chinese characters frequently used in the workplace context.

• NON-FACULTY-BASED COURSES

CUND0002 Practical Chinese Language & Hong Kong (In Putonghua)
This course is designed for the students from the Mainland. With Putonghua as the medium of instruction, it aims to underscore the characteristic styles and formats of practical Chinese writings in the workplace context in Hong Kong. The students are trained to write business letters, office documents, proposals, and reports. Also, topics addressing the rhetorical strategies for reader-oriented business writings are included to strengthen the students' command of the language. In the Chinese characters component, drilling practices provide ample opportunity for the students to learn to convert simplified characters into their traditional forms. Besides, this course also includes topics on Chinese language and the history of Hong Kong society and culture to deepen the students' understanding of the city.

CUND0003 Cantonese for Non-Cantonese Speaking Students
This course is intended first and foremost to provide students with a proper understanding of the Cantonese dialect and with the basic skills to engage in conversations in everyday situations. Special emphasis will be placed on the correspondences between Cantonese and Putonghua, the cultural differences, the customs and conventions of Hong Kong people as well as the characteristic features of life in Hong Kong. No prior knowledge to Cantonese is required, but students must have a high level of proficiency in Putonghua and written Chinese.

• Broadening Course

YCHI0004 The Art of Presentation (available only in 2011 summer)

This is an intensive course held in the summer semester. The course introduces Marshall McLuhan's well known theory "The Medium is the Message", which postulates that a medium affects the society in which it plays a role not by the content delivered over the medium, but by the characteristics of the medium itself. In the light of this theory, students are encouraged to develop new presentation strategies in the digital era. There are dicussions on how different media invite different degrees of participation from the audience, and how this is associated with successful presentation methods. Emphasis is placed on acts of humour, appropriate gestures, choice of words and communication taboos. Chinese customs and intercultural differences are highlighted.

 

Last update: 7 Jun 2011