Specifically intended for students with native or near-native speaking ability in Mandarin Chinese, but little or no reading and writing ability. The course focuses on reading and writing Chinese. The goals of this course are to help students: (a) achieve control of the Chinese sound system (the 4 tones and Pinyin) and basic components of Chinese characters; (b) be able to write 400-500 characters, (c) express themselves clearly in written form on a variety of covered topics using learned grammar patterns and vocabulary, (d) improve their basic reading skills (including learning to use a Chinese dictionary).