Hi, I’m trying to take a Chinese class for one my of my breadth classes, and I was wondering if I could do that although I’m fluent. I have mentioned in my application that I lived in China for a while and stuff, and I’m planning on taking the Advanced Chinese class since that is the toughest class that fulfills the breadth requirement. Can I enroll? Thanks for reading.
I don’t see why not
The department wants you to take the placement test to ensure that you take an appropriate level and variant (e.g. heritage speaker) course:
http://ealc.berkeley.edu/programs/undergraduate/placement-exams
You probably can, but your classmates might not like you much if you already know all the material.
Some schools offer Basic Chinese for Heritage Speakers. Sometimes they offer intermediate Chinese for Hertitage Speakers
@NASA2014 @ucbalumnus the classes for Heritage speakers are full currently, so the next highest level i can take is the advanced one. I don’t meet the prerequisite but it also says consent of instructor, so if I do well on the test I can probably take it? Also, if they think I’m overqualified is there a chance of them rejecting me?
Ask and email the professor if it’s possible you can take the heritage class. Sometimes they go over the enrollment.
Which specific courses are you considering, and what does the placement test recommend?
@ucbalumnus so the Heritage class doesn’t satisfy the breadth requirement, but the advanced class does. I don’t know how hard the classes are, but since I’m a native speaker I should be fine in the Heritage class. However, as I mentioned before the Heritage class is already full therefore I would take the Advanced class (since it also satisfies the breadth requirement), I’m just worried if they would think I’m too qualified and boot me out.
This is just my opinion, and I’m not here to offend anyone, but considering the tuition that each of us pay and that we are here to learn, I think it’s not virtuous for a native speaker to take the foreign language class.
If the class is curved, then that is a significant disadvantage in terms of grading for those who are really trying to learn. But more importantly, the student him/herself doesn’t get much out of the class which is a waste.
I understand all these breadth requirements and the desire to receive good grades created this scenario, but being in college, especially for us Berkeley students, is about embracing the challenge. It’s not like we have to do things the hard way every time, but it would be nice to see us doing things the ‘right’ way for most cases.
@UpMagic I completely understand what you are saying, and you are not offending anyone. As a student who moved here from a different country about 7 years ago, everyday has been a challenge for me, because every subject requires ‘English’ in order to learn and communicate. Now being a college student, especially at Berkeley, everyone needs to work 10 times harder, which means I would have to work 20 times harder in order to catch up to them. When I moved here, I was the only Asian student, and I haven’t had the chance to speak my language for the past 7 years. I admit the class might be easier to me than the other students, but I just thought it would be a good opportunity for me to relearn and also thought of it as other students taking an easy breadth class. Is it that wrong? I see countless posts of students asking for easy breadth classes that they can sleep through.
About the countless posts about easy breadth classes, I used to recommend certain courses until I found out the university also knows about it and will get on the professor and request for harsher grading the next time he/she teaches. So it could’ve been easy course at some point, but by the time we take it, it could be not.
And of course, it depends what is ‘easy’ - I’m guessing easy A is the meaning for most folks. But there are courses that are difficult but gives generous A’s at the end, and there are courses that the material isn’t that difficult but ends up giving very harsh grades. So really, what we are looking for is easy course material and easy A, but it’s safer to assume such combination doesn’t exist in Berkeley, at least not permanently.
Then I noticed a bigger problem that the student taking such easy class has absolutely no interest in the material and he/she finds a way to do it poorly. Conversely, what may seem like a challenging course might be just within your interest and you find a way to work hard and ‘easily’ pull the A.
I think just about any class in Berkeley requires some significant effort to get the A; it’s a matter if you enjoy putting in the effort.
If it’s been a while you spoke Chinese and you think got a learning opportunity, then I’m all for it.
It depends on your goal. Do you want to learn more or do you want to get away with the requirement? I don’t think anyone will complain about what you do.
Which course numbers, and what did the placement test recommend?
Depends on what level of course. The East Asian language department does offer various levels of Chinese courses for heritage speakers as well as high level courses that should be suitable for those with good fluency and literacy. Not all native or heritage speakers have full fluency and literacy (note that native English speakers in the US are expected to take English courses in high school and college).
The OP should take the placement test to find out which courses are appropriate for him/her.
You are going to get a lot of answers, but do what is best for you after talking to your professors. (You also don’t need to feel you can’t take that class because someone doesn’t want you to.) No one here can tell you if you are allowed to take it under your circumstances – just your school – so find that out, and then decide accordingly. .