Programs by Country: China + Dialogue of Civilizations
Multiple Locations: Chinese Language and Culture (Summer 1) (Closed)
Dialogue of Civilizations | Beijing, China
Information Session: October 30. 415SH, at 6:00pm – 7:15pm.
Faculty: Prof. Hua Dong, (h.dong@neu.edu)
Study Abroad Coordinator: Daisy Biddle (d.biddle@neu.edu)
Term: Summer I
Courses: LANG 1990 Chinese Language Immersion (multiple levels) & CLTR4944 Dialogue of Civilizations: Globalization, Humanities and Culture
Program Description:
Now in its sixth summer, the language-intensive China Dialogue based in Nanjing offers students a chance to improve their Mandarin proficiency in the best possible way – by speaking it in China. You will not only use it to find your way around some of the most famous landmarks in the world – the Great Wall and Forbidden City, for example – but in daily interactions with local residents while you live and study Chinese at Nanjing University. Furthermore, you will have the opportunity to use the language you learn in a workplace setting – maybe a magazine editorial office or relief agency headquarters – while you take part in a Chinese internship program related to your specific major. You will also be able to witness first-hand how China’s, environment, culture, economy and politics in both urban and rural areas are being affected by its progress; you will speak with students, businesspeople, activists, workers and artists about their jobs, lives, and perspectives on the issues facing China and its relationship with the world today; all this while putting the Chinese you learn in the classroom to good use. Best of all, because of the small class sizes, local language partners and always-available evening tutors, this program is open to students of all majors and levels of language proficiency.
The program looks like this:
- We arrive in Beijing, the last imperial capital and the site of the 2008 Summer Olympics, filled with landmarks both ancient and modern. In the five days of our stay in Beijing, we will explore the city and experience its unique culture, speaking with various NGOs about the issues of rural migrant workers in the city and cultural preservation in the face of ever-increasing urbanization.
- We then move south to Nanjing, ancient imperial capital, site of the Nanking Massacre, and now at the forefront of China’s transition toward global power. Here we will settle into student life at Nanjing University, one of the country’s premier Sino-Anglo exchange institutions. While in Nanjing, each student will stay with a Chinese family for a week. Besides daily 4-hour language classes, we will hold dialogues with speakers from the media, expatriate community, professional firms and peer college students. In the final weeks of our stay, students will participate in internships/job shadow around the city for a total of 30-40 hours.
- After the midterm exam, we will take a long weekend retreat to Anhui, and stay in a rural village with well-preserved historic architecture and culture in Anhui. It is also the home of the China House in the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts.
- After the final exam, we will relocate to Shanghai, the host city of the 2010 World Expo. Here, at the pinnacle of China’s economic progress. During the four days, we will visit landmarks and multinational corporations, meet with business people, government officials, entrepreneurs, architects and artists to get a feel for what the future of the city and indeed the country might look like, and to expand the network for your future career as well. We will also meet with the hosts of ChinesePod.com, a wonderful resource for Chinese learners.
Because you will be completely immersed in Chinese language and culture, this Dialogue is not for the faint of heart. However, the results are among the best of any Chinese program offered at Northeastern; former students will tell you that the experience is easily worth the hard work. You can’t understand China without learning Chinese, and you can’t learn Chinese without understanding China. This program is a fast-track to both. We look forward to receiving your application. For more information, check out the daily blogs by the students from the past years (http://neuinchina.blogspot.com [2010], http://neuinchina2011.blogspot.com [2011]), and http://neuinchina2012.blogspot.com [2012]), or contact Prof. Hua Dong, h.dong@neu.edu.
Multiple Locations: Chinese Language and Culture (Summer 2) (Closed)
Dialogue of Civilizations | Kunming, China
Info session: Tuesday, Nov 6th, 6pm, Ryder Hall 277
Please RSVP to this event by emailing q.cai@neu.edu
Faculty: Prof. Qinghong Cai (q.cai@neu.edu)
Study Abroad Coordinator: Daisy Biddle (d.biddle@neu.edu)
Program Description:
The Summer II China Dialogue program that takes place in 3 exciting Chinese cities offers intensive and immersive Chinese language training including practical introduction to Chinese history, culture and businesses.
Students who enrolled in this program will spend 34 days in Kunming, China; 3 days in Taipei, Taiwan and 2 days in Hong Kong, SAR of China. Both Hong Kong and Taipei are famous international cities known as two of the four Asian little dragons in East Asia for its economic successes. Hence, students will have the opportunity to experience Chinese culture as a whole in 3 distinctively different regions either developed or developing with each of their own unique governmental structures and different Chinese culture variations as well as customs within this one program.
This program will be based in the Chinese Language Center of Yunnan University, situated in Kunming, which is also known as “City of Eternal Spring”, famous for its perpetual spring like weather with blooms and lush vegetation all year round. It will certainly offer you a not so typical summer.
Participating students will be offered with 100 hours of practical Chinese classes (equivalence to one semester Chinese course in NEU including CHNS 1101), which is 4 hours per weekday, and 50 hours of cultural classes, which is 2 hours per weekday. In addition, each student will be accompanied by a Mandarin native speaker as a language partner whose major is teaching Mandarin Chinese as a foreign language, throughout their 34-day stay in Kunming except during class lessons. They will have lots of opportunities to interact in depth and practice their Chinese with their language partners.
The 2-hour per weekday cultural classes in this program offers interesting introduction to one of the oldest and most complex culture in the world. This includes activities such as Introduction to Chinese Martial Arts, Calligraphy, Chinese Paintings, Chinese Tea Ceremony, Chinese songs and so on. We also provide optional workshops, such as Chinese Business language and culture workshop, HSK (Chinese Proficiency Test) workshop, and etc.
Kunming’s average highs are around 75 °F in summer, thus Kunming is the most favorable city weather-wise during summer time in China.
Besides the 150 hours of practical Chinese and Cultural lessons mentioned above, during weekends (per program schedule), you will get to visit nature wonders and historical sites such as Stone Forest, Dianchi Lake, and Minority Ethnic Villages, Western Hill and Yun Tong Temple. You will also get to make cultural and business field trips to Yunnan Chinese Medicinal Hospital, Kunming Steel Factory, Yunnan Cigarette Factory and Yunnan Buddhism Institute. In addition, there will be an organized 3-day tour to Lijiang/Shangri-La(Qinghai-Tibet Plateau).
In this program, we may also arrange additional post-dialogue trips to Shanghai. These trips will present opportunities for students to test and practice their Chinese after 34 days of intensive Chinese lessons in Kunming.
You are welcome to access Summer II China Dialogue Presentation on YouTube via: http://www.youtube.com/user/NEUChinaDialogue#p/u