Introduction to Intermediate 1 Courses in Cantonese and Mandarin 8 May 2008 Balmoral Hotel Edinburgh

Jim McDonald Qualifications Manager NQ Languages Fan Lin NQ Development Officer

Aims of the event  To familiarise delegates with structure and delivery of Course  To explore approaches to assessment of Course

Outline of the event  Background  Presentation  Workshop

Fan Lin Chinese Languages Development Officer

Background to Developments  Scottish Government’s Stronger Engagement with China initiative  Ten Point Plan included the development of National Qualifications in Chinese, by 2010  SQA set up the Chinese Steering Group which ratified proposals for Qualifications in Cantonese and Mandarin

Introduction to Chinese Languages National Courses: Qualifications Framework National CourseSCQF Advanced Higher7 Higher6 Intermediate 25 Intermediate 14 Access 33

Overview of the National Course A Course award (A/B/C/D) is made on the basis of successful completion of both:  Unit Assessments (internal assessment conducted and marked by teacher/lecturer) and  Course Assessment (the final external exam)

Introduction to Intermediate 1  Speaking  Listening  Reading  Writing Four skills are assessed in both Unit (internal) and Course (external) assessment:

Introduction to Intermediate 1 Three Units are assessed at this level:  Personal and Social Language  Transactional Language  Language in Work

Units: Internal Assessment  Reading: One text of characters. Approximately 40 minutes  Listening: Eight items approx 5-15 seconds in length. Approximately 20 minutes  Writing: Short piece of text in Target Language in response to 3-4 requests for information. Approximately 40 minutes

Internal Unit Assessment: National Assessment Bank (NAB)  NAB assessment items will be available for all three Units  The NABs indicate the standard of assessments required at this level  NABs can be downloaded by SQA Co-ordinators from the secure area of SQA’s secure area

Speaking Assessment  Speaking assessed by the centre  Stimulus activities included in NABs  This Speaking Assessment also meets the speaking requirement of the external examination (dual purpose)  The assessment consists of face to face conversation/simulation/role play — two minutes approximately  Assessment results are subject to Verification by SQA

External Examination  Two texts at characters and two texts at characters. Questions in English — glossary  45 minutes. 35% of the whole examination  Dictionary: Yes  Additional Information: Answer in English Reading

External Examination  10 items at 5-15 seconds each — questions in English  20 mins max. 20% of the whole examination  Dictionary: No  Additional Information: hear each item twice Listening

External Examination  Compile simple personal profile under specific headings  30 minutes, 15% of the whole exam  The headings are fixed and the same year on year  Candidates write three sentences in response to four headings  Candidates can use a dictionary. Writing

Approval  All candidates for NQ Courses (including Access 3) must be entered by an SQA Approved Centre  Centres wishing to seek Approval should contact SQA’s Customer Contact Centre:

Workshop Activities  Activity 1 — Familiarisation with Units  Activity 2 — Specimen Question Paper

For more information visit:

Contact: Fan Lin

Thank you! xie xie!