Chinese Studies

Placement: A score of 4 or 5 counts toward the language studies common area requirement. It also allows placement in CHIN 401. Students with AP credit who take a course below the level of CHIN 401 will forfeit the AP credit.

Students who have completed one year or less of high school Mandarin Chinese and who do not speak another dialect of Chinese should enroll in CHIN 101. All other students should consult the Chinese language coordinator for placement during Summer Gateways Orientation or before the start of the fall semester.

Majors: Students who plan to elect a Chinese major and who have no prior study of Mandarin should begin Chinese language study in their first year at Holy Cross. Study in China for one or two semesters during your academic career at Holy Cross is also highly recommended. 



CHIN 101
Elementary Chinese 1
Common Area: Language Studies

An introduction to spoken Mandarin and written Chinese. Providing a foundation in speaking, listening, reading, writing, and communication skills and an introduction to the Chinese culture.

CHIN 199-F01
Youth Cul. in Sinophone World
Common Area: Literature

How were youth as a modern concept and a social category imagined, constructed, and deconstructed? This course uses youth culture as a keyword to explore the questions of politics, identity, education, gender, class, race, and age from the late nineteenth century to the present in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Chinese American communities. As a core component of this exploration, we will explore fiction, poetry, films, and social media that constitute what we understand as youth culture in Chinese-speaking communities. All lectures, discussions and assignments will be in English. No prior knowledge required.

CHIN 201
Intermediate Chinese 1
Common Area: Language Studies

Continued focus on the development of oral and written communication skills and on the strengthening of cultural competency in Chinese through the use of written texts and multimedia resources. Five class hours weekly. One and one-quarter units each semester.

CHIN 299-F01
Chinese Migrants & Language
Common Area: Social Science

In this course, we are going to examine the relationship between migration and second language acquisition. Specifically, we will focus on the Chinese migrants in the U.S. and consider what role “age” plays in this relationship. This course includes three sections: 1) ESL (English as Second Language) in the U.S., 2) age, cognition, and language acquisition, and 3) Teaching Chinese-born seniors English. The first section begins with an overview of the impact of various factors on second language learning for migrants in the U.S. We will discuss how factors such as age, social status, cultural origin, length of residence, distance from mother tongue to the second language, the type of migrants, etc., impact language learning in the U.S. for different communities. The second section examines how age influences second language learning. While a much larger body of second language acquisition research still focuses on children, adolescents, and young adults, second language learning in late adulthood has started to gain attention. We will learn how linguistic experiences and age-specific cognitive skills can be leveraged for language learning. The third section discusses how to teach Chinese-born seniors English by understanding their cultural and educational backgrounds, motivations, concerns, and goals.

Back to First-Year Course listing »

Back to Course Schedule »