New Study Abroad Program Immerses Students In Chinese Culture
Katlyn Storey was one of six USI students to travel to China for five weeks this summer during the pilot of the USI-China Study Abroad Program at Southwest University, Chongqing. The cross-culture collaboration between the two universities was organized by Lin Pang Adams, USI instructor in Chinese, and involved four students in Chinese language courses within the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and two in Teacher Education.
While in China they studied local language, culture, history, education, and economics. In addition to coursework, they taught English at elementary and high schools, and were paired with college student “language partners” at Southwest University. Along with a mountain-climbing excursion, teaching English to the children was Storey’s favorite experience. “The amount of attention and respect the students gave their teachers was astounding,” Storey said. “We observed English classes and were amazed to see what young children were learning in their foreign language classes.”
Storey, an anthropology and criminal justice major from Benton, Illinois, applied for the program because she wanted to better understand Chinese through immersion in the culture. “Chinese is one of the hardest languages to learn,” she said, explaining that words change meaning depending on which of five tones is used, and that understanding words requires learning both the Chinese and Roman characters (a system called pinyin).
Before the trip, Storey took three semesters of Chinese language, and currently is enrolled in a fourth. Upon her return she said, “I have more insight and picked up more vocabulary.”
Storey found college students in China similar to herself and her friends in the United States, but their study habits differed.
“Each student we talked to at Southwest University told us how much they applied themselves to their studies. It wasn’t just certain students — it was all of them.”
Dr. Silvia Rode, chair of the World Languages and Cultures Department, said she hopes next year USI students will have the opportunity to study at Southwest University for a full year or semester.
Photo: Katlyn Storey poses with first graders at a rural school north of Chongqing University.
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