Mandarin Chinese 1 (Beginners)
Enrol-by Date
- 7 October 2024
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Thursdays 18:00 - 20:00
Fees from £288
Tutor: Fei Wang
Classroom course at South Kensington
Previous experience: This adult education evening class is designed for those new to the language (absolute beginners)
This Mandarin Chinese Beginners 1 course aims to provide you with a thorough grounding in the sounds of Mandarin Chinese, as well as some basic speech patterns that will equip you to deal with everyday situations. You will also learn some unique features of the Chinese language and its fundamental differences from the English language.
The aim is to get you communicating in Mandarin Chinese as quickly as possible and so in-class practice and role play will be used to encourage you to start speaking in the language.
Using the text book Complete Mandarin Chinese, co-written by Ruth Herd, Imperial's Coordinator for Mandarin Chinese, as our guide, topics covered will include:
- Basic greetings and introductions
- How to talk about likes, dislikes, and abilities
- Counting with numbers and measure words
- Hobbies.
The focus of the course will be on speaking and listening, but you will be also taught the rudiments of Chinese script, after which you can choose whether to learn the language solely through the medium of Romanised Chinese or, in addition, learn characters using online tools.
We will also look at some of the interesting aspects of Chinese culture, history and geography, to gain a greater understanding of China and its people.
Class Recordings
These classes are not recorded
Attendance Certificate
Successful completion of this course leads to the award of an Imperial College attendance certificate
Terms and conditions apply to all enrolments to this course. Please read them before enrolment
Course Information
Your Tutor
Fei Wang is experienced in teaching Mandarin Chinese as a foreign language at Imperial College for over a decade. He was born and brought up in China and has worked as a Chinese language journalist and teacher in China and the UK.
His teaching methodology makes classroom teaching a lot of fun and enhances the learning process effectively by applying diverse exercises to teaching.
His previous media working background enables him to develop multimedia teaching materials to assist students’ learning. As a consequence, his students’ pronunciation and intonation are always exceptionally good.
He also naturally imparts a lot of Chinese cultural elements into language teaching and makes the language learning process more interesting and interactive.
What course level should I choose?
Choosing the right language level
It is very important to book onto a course which is a good match for your level of ability, and we aim to make the process of deciding which is the right course level for you as simple as possible.
This course only accepts absolute beginners, ie. those with no prior knowledge of Mandarin Chinese (when booking please confirm by selecting the 'No previous knowledge' item on the existing skills drop-down menu).
Please contact our Mandarin Chinese Coordinator, Dr Ruth Herd, with any questions about your level: ruth.herd@imperial.ac.uk
Course Fees and Rate Categories
Weeks | Standard Rate | Internal Rate | Associate Rate | ||
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20 | Early Bird: £482 Full price: £536 |
Early Bird: £288 Full price: £320 |
Early Bird: £380 Full price: £422 |
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All fee rates quoted are for the whole 2-term course. Early Bird rates are available until the end of 30 September 2024. Part-payments are not possible. |
Rate Categories and Discounts
Standard Rate
- Available to all except those who fall under the Internal Rate or Associate Rate category.
Internal Rate
- Current Imperial College students and staff (incl. Imperial NHS Trust, Imperial Innovations, ancillary & service staff employed on long-term contracts at Imperial College by third-party contractors)
- People enrolling under our Friends & Family scheme
- Alumni of Imperial College and predecessor colleges and institutes, including City & Guilds College Association members
- Students, staff and alumni of the Royal College of Art, Royal College of Music and City, UAL and the City and Guilds of London Art School
- Students, staff and Governors of Woodhouse College and the IC Mathematics School
Associate Rate
- Austrian Cultural Forum staff
- Co-operative College members
- Francis Crick Institute staff, researchers and students
- Friends and Patrons of the English Chamber Orchestra
- Friends of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens
- Friends of Leighton House/ Sambourne House
- Friends of the Royal College of Music
- Harrods staff
- Historic Royal Palaces staff
- Lycee Charles de Gaulle staff
- Members of the Friends of Imperial College
- Members of the Kennel Club
- Members of the London Zoological Society
- Members of the South London Botanical Institute (SLBI)
- Members of the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP)
- National Health Service (NHS) employees
- Natural History Museum staff
- Residents of postcodes SW3, SW5, SW7, SW10 and W8
- Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council staff
- Royal Geographical Society staff
- Science Museum staff
- Staff of Exhibition Road Cultural Group (Discover South Kensington) organisations
- Students (non-Imperial College)
- Teachers and other staff of UK schools
- The American Institute for Foreign Study
- Tutors and other staff of institution members of the Association of Colleges
- Tutors and other staff of other universities and higher education institutions
- Victoria and Albert Museum staff
Late enrolment
It is possible to enrol on many of our adult education courses after the course has already started. For non-language courses this is subject entirely to agreement by the tutor. For language courses it is subject to agreement by the language coordinator conducting level assessment. If you want to join a course late do bear in mind there might be work you will need to catch up on, particularly in language courses.
Friends and Family Scheme
This course is eligible for allowing Imperial College students and staff to share their discount with their friends and family.
Term Dates 2024-2025
Weeks | Autumn term | Spring term | Summer term | ||
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20 | Week starting 14 October - week ending 14 December 2024 (9 weeks)* | Week starting 6 January - week ending 22 March 2025 (11 weeks)* | n/a | ||
*This is a 2-term course - Autumn term PLUS Spring term - with the Christmas break in between |
Enrolment Process
Web enrolment for this course starts shortly. Early bird discounts available until end of 30 September 2024
Enrolment and payment run through the Imperial College eStore. When enrolling:
- Do check on the drop down menu above called "Course Fees and Rate Categories" to see if you are eligible for a discounted rate and also do make sure you select that rate when enrolling on the eStore
- If you are a first-time eStore user you will need to create an account before enrolling. You can do this by entering an email address and password. This account can then be used for any future enrolments via the eStore.
When you have enrolled you will be sent the following email notifications:
What is sent | When is it sent | What does it contain | |
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1. Payment confirmation | Is sent straight away following submission of your online application |
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2. Enrolment confirmation | Is usually sent within 10 working days. Please treat your payment confirmation as confirmation that your applicant details and payment have been received |
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3. Programme information | Is usually sent on Friday late afternoon the week before term starts |
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Any Questions?
If you have any questions about the academic content or teaching of these courses please contact our Mandarin Chinese Language Coordinator, Dr Ruth Herd, ruth.herd@imperial.ac.uk
If you have any questions about your enrolment or payment processes please contact the Programme Administrator, Christian Jacobi, eveningclass@imperial.ac.uk