Instructor: Alex Tang
Dates: January 9 to March 13, 2022
Time: Sundays from 9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Location: Online
Cost: $250
COMMUNICATION. At the end of the class, students will have acquired a novice mid proficiency level, which means they will be able to handle successfully a variety of basic communicative tasks necessary for survival in a Cantonese speaking context. More specifically, students completing Elementary Cantonese will be able to:
- Introduce themselves to others
- Exchange personal information
- Ask and answer questions
- Express likes and dislikes
- Talk about future plans
- Express degree
- Talk about abilities and knowledge
CULTURES. Students will have gained a deeper knowledge and understanding of the cultures of the Cantonese-speaking world. They will be more acquainted with the places where Cantonese is spoken, will have explored some of the main cultural, social, and historical events of the Cantonese world, and will have increased their awareness of the U.S. Cantonese communities.
CONNECTIONS. Students will be able to acquire new information and reinforce their knowledge of other disciplines through the Cantonese language.
COMPARISONS. Students will have developed new insights into the nature of language and culture that will allow them to establish comparisons not only between languages, but also between the Cantonese cultures and their own.
COMMUNITIES. Students will be able to use the Cantonese language to participate in Cantonese communities at home and around the world.
Course Textbook
Yip, V., & Matthews, S. (2017). Basic Cantonese: A Grammar and Workbook: A Grammar and Workbook. Routledge. 2nd Edition. ISBN: 9780415815598
Week 1 – Introduction Week
Week 2 – Tones and Pronouns 我 / 你 / 佢
Week 3 – Possession and Existence
Week 4 – “to be” verb 係 and Noun Classifiers
Week 5 – Midterm Week
Week 6 – Adjectives and Adverbs of Manner
Week 7 – Adverbs of time, frequency, and duration and Comparison 過 / 啲
Week 8 – Prepositions: space and time and Negation
Week 9 – Verbs of motion 去 / 嚟 and Verbs of giving 畀
Week 10 – Course Summary
This course will be taught entirely online using Microsoft Teams. Courses will be primarily synchronous with some asynchronous activities and elements.