Aligning with College of Education’s missions in leadership, scholarship, and service, we offer innovative programs and services to meet the rising demand for high-quality Chinese language and culture education worldwide. We primarily work to support K-12 education in the following capacity:
Offer high quality Chinese courses and learning experiences to K-12 students.
Provide professional development opportunities for both pre-service and in-service Chinese language teachers.
Develop new teaching resources for teachers and schools as well as provide consulting to existing teachers and school districts.
Cooperating with the Michigan Virtual (MV), a non-profit online education and training corporation funded by the Michigan Legislature in July 2000, we offer online Chinese courses to secondary school students using interactive teaching methods and highly qualified instructors of native speakers of Chinese.
Why Learn Chinese Online?
Online courses allow you to complete your assignments at a time and location convenient for you.
Courses taught online provide opportunities for student-centered learning.
Help and support is available to you through online connections.
In addition, we provide opportunities for our students to apply for scholarships that give them the opportunity to further their Chinese language education beyond the classroom and online. We are proud to announce that several students in our online Chinese courses have been granted scholarships for their exceptional work and interest in studying the Chinese language.
Paul Simpson, 1B Chinese student
NSLI-Y (The US Department of State through the National Initiative for Youth) Scholarship to study Chinese language in China for 6 weeks in summer 2010
$3000 video-blog scholarship by AFS-USA Intercultural Program and NSLI-Y (The US Department of State through the National Initiative for Youth) Scholarship to study Chinese language as an exchange student in China for the academic year of 2011-2012
What Online Chinese Courses Are Offered?
Currently, we offer Mandarin Chinese 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, 3A, 3B, 4A, 4B, AP (A & B) courses through Michigan Virtual. These courses start at the novice level and continue to the AP-level courses.
What Are Our Online Course Formats?
Our online courses consist of both students self-studying the interactive daily learning tasks and students attending weekly synchronous lab sessions to elaborate on and clarify their independent learning experience. The course format is (a) four-day self-study and submission of daily assignments to Brightspace (Learning Management System) and (b) one mandatory lab session (synchronous) which is taught by highly qualified instructors who are native speakers of Chinese. Thus, the courses capitalize on the advantages of both the technologies and human instructors for language learning.
There are specific technology requirements for successful online learning. To learn more about the Chinese online courses, please visit Michigan Virtual Courses website for details.
How Do I Know Which Level I Should Enroll?
To better determine the appropriate course and proficiency level, please try one of our online placement tests below:
To enroll for the online Chinese courses, please visit Michigan Virtual website for detailed instruction.
AP Chinese
Online AP Chinese Course
AP Chinese (A and B) course is an advanced course specifically designed for students who have completed four to five years of Chinese language learning and for Chinese heritage students. The course format involves four-day asynchronous learning on Brightspace and one synchronous 50-minute lab session on Zoom per week with instructors who are native speakers of Chinese.
Highlights
High school semester pace
Focus on three modes of communication (ACTFL) and real-life Mandarin Chinese communication skills
Deep understanding of Chinese culture
Training of Simplified Chinese character reading, writing and typing
Preparation for AP Chinese test
Course Descriptions
Level A: available ONLY in Fall Semester
This course is designed for students who have completed four to five years of Chinese, or have equivalent proficiency in Mandarin Chinese. At this level, students continue to develop their Chinese vocabulary and understanding of grammar, and will be guided to pay more attention to formal language use in authentic situations. The Chinese language forms and cultural knowledge will be integrated into the activities of listening, reading, speaking and writing. Students are expected to understand the spoken language (short dialogue, statement and linguistic exchange), identify structurally and logically correct structures and identify the main/supporting ideas, themes and settings of a passage written in Chinese characters. The course aims at preparing students to take AP Chinese test. This course will be taught by a native Chinese instructor who has rich experiences in teaching Chinese as a foreign language. A mandatory weekly synchronous lab session is emphasized to enhance real-time student-instructor and student-student interaction.
Level B: available ONLY in Spring Semester
This course is designed for students who have completed AP Level A Chinese course. At this level, students continue to further their Chinese language skills by engaging in integrated activities of listening, reading, speaking and writing/typing. Students are expected to comprehend both the spoken and written Chinese language at the article-level. In addition, they are expected to synthesize and comment on the texts they have read orally or in written forms. Students will continue to practice and prepare for AP Chinese test. This course will be taught by a native Chinese instructor who has rich experiences in teaching Chinese as a foreign language. A mandatory weekly synchronous lab session is emphasized to enhance real-time student-instructor and student-student interaction.
Prerequisite
4-5 years of Chinese learning or equivalent proficiency.
For more information please contact Online Chinese Program Director: Dr. Jiahang Li at jiahang@msu.edu or check the 1A – 4B Online Courses to see other levels of Chinese courses that we offer.
The online Chinese course is delivered through a “4+1 model” per week. The 4 means there are four days of assignments, and the 1 refers to an online synchronous lab session with your instructor and classmates. A typical online Chinese course for one semester contains 20 weeks of lessons across different themes, two (or more) quizzes and a final exam. Multiple language skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing) are developed throughout the course. The final exam will need to be proctored. The course descriptions and your instructor will let you know what is expected of you.
Students are expected to log in daily and complete assignments by the dates outlined in the course syllabus and pacing guide. This typically requires at least one to two hours of work per day. Students have greater freedom and schedule flexibility in an online course than in a traditional classroom, so they must be ready to assume more responsibility for their own progress and exhibit a high level of discipline and drive. They also must have good communication skills so they can do well in the lab sessions and also receive help from their instructor when needed.