Wheaton College currently offers the following courses for Mandarin Chinese.
Featured Course - Chinese through Scripture
This course (CHIN 302) introduces students to basic Christian terminologies and statements in Chinese about God, Jesus, worship, and prayer. Cultural topics within a Chinese context are discussed in class from a Christian perspective. This course’s integration of faith and learning enhances students’ awareness of their own linguistic, cultural, and religious heritage and helps them learn to relate with respect and consideration for diverse backgrounds as enlightened citizens of the world and worthy representatives of Christ’s kingdom. Specially, students explore how learning Chinese can be a part of their fully assuming identity as redeemed and regenerated world Christians.
Specific course assignments include: Preparation of devotionals in Chinese; visits to Chinese churches; conducting an interview with a Chinese Christian; presentation of Bible stories from the book of John; reading short on-line news releases about Chinese Christians, creating a “Bible Scroll”, etc.
One student who has taken this course commented that the most valuable component of this course was giving him the tools to integrate his faith into his culture and began experimenting Christian discourse in Chinese. Another student commented that this class was incredibly valuable and he became conversant in the Gospel and Christian language in Mandarin—the application to personal life and evangelism was immediate. Students also said that having discussions about more complicated topics like Christianity helped them in their overall speaking ability in Chinese.
This course was initially inaugurated in fall 2012 as a 2-credit bridge course for students to take alongside the upper-division skill courses and as an elective for the Chinese minor. After being offered another two times in fall 2013 and fall 2015, and due to students’ popular demand, this course has now been changed to a 4-credit course and is offered as part of our regular Chinese curriculum. This change adds more options to the current Mandarin Chinese Major and Minor requirements.
Mandarin Chinese Courses at Wheaton College
- CHIN 101, 102 Elementary Mandarin Chinese
- CHIN 201 Intermediate Mandarin Chinese
- CHIN 301 Chinese Character Acquisition (every other year)
- CHIN 302 Chinese Through Scripture
- CHIN 303 Chinese Grammar
- CHIN 331 Chinese Conversation
- CHIN 332 Chinese Composition
- CHIN 334 Chinese Civilization and Culture (in China)
- CHIN 335 Business Chinese (every other year)
- CHIN 336 Chinese Cinema
- CHIN 337 Readings in Chinese Society and Culture (Global Perspectives [GP])
- CHIN 338 Advanced Chinese in China (in China, Global Perspectives [GP])
- CHIN 341 Special Topics in Chinese Language and Culture (Global Perspectives [GP])
- CHIN 346 Modern Chinese Literature
- CHIN 351 Classical Chinese Poetry (every other year)
- CHIN 494 Senior Seminar (topic varies)
- CHIN 495 Independent Study (Departmental permission required)
See the Course Catalog for a list of all Chinese courses and their descriptions.