CSA Language Program Description

* Pre-Kindergarten
* Kindergarten
* 1st Grade
* 2nd Grade
* 3rd Grade
* 4th Grade
* 5th Grade
* 6th Grade
* 7th Grade
* 8th Grade
* SAT-Chinese Language with Listening
* Chinese as Second Language
* Chinese Language for Adults
    i. Beginning
    ii. Intermediate
    iii. Chinese Language for Business

Pre-Kindergarten Class
The Pre-Kindergarten class serves as an entry level for younger kids, to get them ready for Chinese language learning. The class will be focused on teaching kids instructions, classroom environment and studies together with other kids. Classroom activities will focus on:
• Teacher instructions, daily dialog, greetings, songs, games, etc.
• Scenes, materials, and events that are suitable for the age kids and in Chinese
• Getting to know Chinese culture and traditions
We expect that parents and their children speak Chinese at home or any proper situations as much as possible.
Teacher will prepare their own, specific teaching materials

Kindergarten Class
The Kindergarten class aims to improve students’ listening and speaking skills in Chinese. Classroom activities will focus on:
• Daily dialog, greetings, songs etc. to develop the oral/speaking skills
• Short stories, classic poems, nursery rhymes, tongue twisters etc. to improve the listening skill
• Some entry-level writing will also be introduced and practiced in class
• By the end of the academic year, students should recognize about 200 basic Chinese characters. We expect that parents and their children speak Chinese at home or any proper situations as much as possible.
Textbook "Pin Yin" by Jinan University will be used as reference

1st Grade Class
The first grade class serves as an introduction to Modern Standard Chinese. This class will focus on:
• Proper pronunciation to develop the oral skills
• Read, write, and make simple sentences
• ?Essential Chinese grammatical structures
By the end of the year, students are expected to learn 200 new basic characters. They should be able to conduct simple conversations, read annotated texts and write simple sentences. Students will be encouraged to use learned basic Chinese language (words, sentences, and simple dialogues) in class and at home. Textbook will be Zhong Wen No. 1 by Jinan University.

2nd Grade Class
The 2nd graders will start to learn Han Yu Pin Yin in additional to the normal textbook. Emphasis will be on developing listening and speaking skills. Reading and writing ideographic characters will also be getting started in this grade. By the end of the 2nd Grade, students should be able to listen and understand basic Chinese Language and speak correctly. Textbook will be Zhong Wen No. 2 and Pin Yin by Jinan University.

3rd Grade Class
The 3rd graders will continue to learn Han Yu Pin Yin while moving along with increased focus on reading and writing skill development. By the end of the 3rd Grade, students should be able to correctly speak and write meaningfully related subject-predicate-object sentences in Chinese. Textbook will be Zhong Wen No. 3 and Pin Yin by Jinan University.

4th Grade Class
Knowledge of the Pin Yin system is required for the purpose of pronunciation. The course continues to focus on developing communicating skills with an increasing emphasis on reading and writing in ideographic characters and expanding vocabulary. Students will dedicate more time to developing phrases and writing sentences by using given words or characters. Chinese History and Geography will be taught. It aims to build a vocabulary based on 1200 characters. Textbook will be Zhong Wen No. 4 book by Jinan University.

5th Grade Class
Grammar structures will be reviewed. Communicating skills are the focus with special emphasis on expanding vocabulary, reading and writing at some length. Course work includes 3 weekly recitation sessions. Throughout the whole semester, the teacher will assign homework using the exercise books from Monday to Friday. It aims to build a vocabulary based on 1600 characters. Textbook will be Zhong Wen No. 5 book by Jinan University.

6th Grade Class
On the bases the student built so far, this grade will extend a student's skills in writing. Speciall focus will be givien to enhance student's ability in reading comprehension speed and extended daily Chinese language practice. More Chinese History and Geography will be introduced. Textbook will be Zhong Wen No. 6 book by Jinan University.

7th Grade Class
This is the highest grade of middle-level Chinese language classes. This class focuses on preparing a student to advance to the advanced classes at CSA (grade 8-12) by introducing various customerized Chinese language usage, daily Chinese life and culture, and effective using Chinese language. For those who may not continue learning Chinese at CSA, this class also focus on setting them ready to explore Chinese language and culture by themself in the future. Textbook will be Zhong Wen No. 7 book by Jinan University.

8th-12th Grade Class
Continues to focus on reading and writing skills as well as in-depth review of grammar. Students are expected to read, write, analyze and discuss in Chinese. SAT II Chinese prep and AP Chinese are part of this class' curriculum. Textbook will be Zhong Wen No. 8-12 book by Jinan University, combining with teacher prepared materials for reading, writing skill enhancement and for SAT II, AP Chinese preparations.

Chinese as Second Language
CSA Chinese as Second Language (CSL) Classes are specifically designed for students who have no Chinese language background and are from no Chinese/Mandarin-speaking families. The classes are taught in bilingual

The goal of CSL classes is to have a student's Chinese language
skill and knowledge to reach the beginning level of regular 3rd
graders. That means, after three years of studies, a student in
CSL class can enroll to a regular CSA 3rd grade class and
continue his/her Chinese language study.

CSA CSL Classes comprises three levels:
• CSL1 - 1st grade for 1st year beginners
• CSL2 - Transitional grade for 2nd year students
• CSL3 - 2nd grade for 3rd year students

At any time should a CSL class student feel that he or she is
ready to move to a regular language class, the parents can contact the
school to arrange evaluations conducted by CSA teachers. The student
can then either stay or move to a new class based on recommendation of
the teachers.

Chinese Language for Adults
This Course (CLA) is specially designed to provide the most comprehensive and balanced curriculum, combining class instruction with free after-class language tuition. Focusing on speaking and conversations of daily Chinese language, the program utilizes accelerated teaching methods to ensure most of beginner students to acquire language skills required for effective communication in a short period of time. Meanwhile, it also allows advanced students to gain expression proficiency at an abstract level. The program will include descriptive and comprehensive tutorials of basic Chinese grammar with various vocabulary words and sentence structures follow.

Teachers and supervisors are native speakers who are highly experienced and qualified, and hold university degrees in teaching Chinese as a foreign language. Different levels are available.

Three classes are offered for adults:
     i. CLA I - Chinese language for beginners
This is for adults who have never touched Chinese language. At the end of the study, a student is expected to be able to gain basic knowledge about Chinese language and its structure, in addition to speak and understand about 100 daily sentences in Chinese

     ii. CLA II - Chinese language for intermediate level of listening, speaking, and conversations in Chinese language
Continue the study from CLA I, a student is required to be able to give a 3-5 minutes talk in Chinese and to understand most common Chinese conversations with some help and simple explanations where needed

     iii. CLA Business - Chinese Language for Business
This class is for those who are interested in learning Chinese language specifically for business purposes. The program will focus on the most commonly used business language in Chinese. In addition, Chinese culture will be introduced as background knowledge in the class. Current social and business environment in China will also introduced.

While basic Chinese conversations will be taught in the class, the class will be mostly taught in English. At the end of the class, a student is expected to
a). gain awareness of Chinese culture and its impact to business exchanges
b). be able to use about 100 daily Chinese conversation sentences and
c). be able to understand at most time the meaning of some key business terminologies in Chinese