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Taiwan Academic Year Program

Language(s): Mandarin Chinese
Age of Students: High school students ages 15-18
Class Hours: 50 hours/5 hours per day during summer preparatory intensive and 12 hours per week of language during academic year.
Target Proficiency: Intermediate and Advanced
Overseas Partner: iEARN-Taiwan
Overseas Language Institution: Center of Chinese Language, Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages, Kaohsiung, Taiwan 
In-Country Accommodations: Host families in the Kaohsiung area.

Course and Program Description
The Program aims to provide an immersion learning environmenin which students will be able to improve significantly language proficiency and enhance cross-cultural compet t ence and communicative skills. Specifically, the program will employ a carefully designed mix of learning activities, which will include:

 
  1. 360 of in class intensive Mandarin Chinese instruction at the beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels, including individualized tutoring (2 hour tutoring session per week);
  2. 72 hours of hand-on cultural courses to choose, which may include Chinese calligraphy, tai-chi, kung-fu, Chinese yo-yo and/or Chinese chess;
  3. 10 month long home-stay with Taiwanese families;
  4. 2 hours per week of organized interaction with Chinese student “buddies” from the Applied Chinese department;
  5. choice of school electives.
Text Books and Materials
The Center of Chinese Language will carefully choose textbooks for students according to their Chinese language proficiency background. The specially designed two-week intensive preparation courses during the summer will adopt material organized by respective teachers. During the regular autumn and spring courses books will be supplemented with authentic and current language materials, which may include selected readings from newspapers, TV programs, films, or other relevant Chinese materials.
 
Cultural Activities
In addition to the above mentioned culture courses, educational activities will include orientation, campus and local tours, student clubs, voluntary service groups and all other activities offered by the Center of Chinese Language and the Office of International Programs for our international students.
 
Final Presentation
Upon program completion, each student will be required to give a formal presentation based on an assigned language and/or cultural project focused on an aspect of Taiwanese society, culture or on a topic of their own choice in consultation with the program directors. Students will also be asked to submit a written report based on their project as part of the program requirements.
 
Course Goals
The goals of the 2011 NSLI for Youth Chinese Language Program is to:
 
  • Develop students’ Mandarin Chinese skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) at the elementary, intermediate and advanced levels in an immersion-learning environment.
  • Improve students’ understanding of traditional and modern Taiwanese culture through various kinds of interactive cultural activities.
  • Build new personal and institutional relationships between our students and their Taiwanese peers, between our students and Taiwanese host families, between the participants and Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages, and finally, between the United States and Taiwan, the Republic of China.
  • Foster continued study of Chinese language and culture upon the students’ return to the United States.
  • Enhance students’ self-awareness and confidence and build interpersonal communicative skills.

 

National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y)

About the Program

The Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, in cooperation with American Councils for International Education, AFS-USA, and iEARN-USA, is awarding U.S. government funding to high school and just-graduated students (ages 15 – 18) to participate in summer and full-year language programs in countries where these languages are widely spoken. 

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