Intensive Summer Chinese Language Program
Sponsored by the ALLEX Foundation and the ALLEX Consortium for Chinese and Japanese Teacher Training (Cornell University, Ohio State University, Portland State University, and Washington University in St. Louis).
Program Dates: June 25 – August 10, 2012
Portland State University, Oregon
Application Deadline: May 20, 2012
(Applications received after May 20 will be considered as space permits.)
The ALLEX Foundation will offer an intensive Mandarin Chinese program (2 hours of classroom instruction a day plus 3-4 hours of mandatory self-managed study) in Portland, Oregon from June 25 to August 10, 2012.
Focus:
This course is designed to train you to speak and listen to Mandarin Chinese, and to introduce you to reading and writing the language. At the end of the course you will be expected to perform in all four skills—speaking, listening, reading and writing—at a basic level of proficiency. You will not only learn to speak the language; you will also develop an understanding of Chinese interpersonal behavior. The ultimate goal is to teach you not just to speak Chinese, but to function successfully in Chinese culture using Mandarin—to present yourself as an intelligent person in Chinese culture using the Chinese language. You will learn to speak and perform correctly in a variety of social situations. In each setting you will learn how to perform in the Chinese language in a culturally appropriate way.
This course is appropriate for:
1) Students with no Chinese background. The course will assume that you have no exposure to Chinese language.
2) Students with one to two years of high school or college Chinese in courses that focus on reading and writing. This course focuses on oral proficiency. Some of our most successful students have come from Portland area high school Chinese programs.
3) College students, high school students (age 15 or higher), business people, and others are welcome to apply.
This course is not appropriate for:
1) Heritage speakers. Students who speak Chinese at home will find this course much too easy.
2) Students who want to enter Portland State University’s own Chinese language course sequence. The ALLEX Foundation summer course uses syllabi and texts that are different from the PSU 101,102,103 Chinese sequence. Students will have to take a placement exam to enter the regular PSU Chinese courses after the ALLEX program.
Dates:
June 25 to August 10, 2012
Seven weeks
Credits:
4 credits from Portland State University
Time:
Two hours of intensive classroom performance in the morning (9:00-9:50 and 11:00-11:50) plus 3-4 hours of required self-study in the evening.
Estimated Tuition:
Oregon Residents: $749 (Scholarships available; see below.)
Non-Residents: $2,066 (Scholarships available; see below.)
A $300 deposit will be required two weeks after acceptance by ALLEX. Tuition and fees are set by PSU. These figures are estimates based on information from PSU.
Scholarships:
Substantial tuition aid is available through the ALLEX Foundation. Support from ALLEX will bring tuition for out-of-state students to $749, equal to Oregon residents. In addition, both residents and non-residents can expect substantial additional financial support worth several hundred dollars. Please contact Eriko Akamatsu at allexoffice@allex.org for more information.
Application Procedure:
1. Complete the “ALLEX/PSU Intensive Chinese Language Program Application Form” and send to allexoffice@allex.org by May 20, 2012. Applications after May 20 are considered on a rolling basis as space permits.
2. Upon approval by ALLEX and the PSU faculty, you will receive a “Letter of Invitation” from ALLEX. A $300 non-refundable deposit (applied to tuition) will be due two weeks after you receive the “Letter of Invitation”.
3. The “Letter of Invitation” will provide a link to PSU’s online “Non-Degree Entry Form”. Fill this out to get your PSU student ID.
4. PSU will open summer course registration in May. ALLEX will send you the registration link and you will enroll in the course through PSU via their online system.
5. Tuition balance (minus the $300 deposit) is due to PSU by the first day of class.
Additional Program Details:
Tuition for this course is about 10% of similar Chinese intensive summer programs, such as Middlebury, Cornell, Monterey, Harvard, and Princeton programs, all of which charge over $7,000 for tuition. How is this possible?
This course is part of the ALLEX Foundation’s Chinese Teacher Training Institute. In this program, four universities—Cornell, Portland State, Ohio State, and Washington University—collaborate on a summer course to train Chinese teachers. The course is led and supervised by master teachers who are experts in the field. Working under the master teachers are a group of graduate students—native speakers who are preparing to be language instructors at universities all over the U.S.
Students in the course will have a language class with a master teacher, and another class led by one of the training teachers under the supervision of the master teacher. The ALLEX faculty of master teachers includes some of the nation’s top experts in Chinese language pedagogy; many have taught in elite Chinese language programs. Additionally, each student of Chinese will be assigned a teacher-trainee who will work with them individually outside class when needed.
Because the language class is also serving as a laboratory for the training of language teachers, ALLEX is able to offer the class at a very low cost. But because students will have class everyday with master teachers, and because our teacher trainees are carefully selected, bright, experienced and enthusiastic young people from Japan, Taiwan and China, you will be getting the best of both worlds: top quality language instruction at an affordable price.
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2012 Faculty:
Haohsiang Liao (Director) is a Ph.D. candidate in Chinese Language Pedagogy at Ohio State University. Prof. Liao has been teaching Chinese language since 1999 and has taught at Harvard, Williams College, Columbia-in-Beijing and Ohio State. At Harvard, where he taught for three years, he received three Certificate of Distinction in Teaching Awards and was nominated for the Joseph R. Levenson Memorial Teaching Prize for undergraduate teaching.
Cornelius Kubler, Ph.D., is the Stanfield Professor of Asian Studies at Williams College. Prior to teaching at Williams he was the Chair of the Department of Asian Languages at the State Department’s Foreign Service Institute. Professor Kubler is the author of many books and articles on Chinese pedagogy including a new set of textbooks titled Basic Spoken Chinese and Basic Written Chinese.
Yongfang Zhang, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Chinese Studies at Wofford College. She earned her M.A. in Modern Chinese from Beijing Normal University, M.A. and Ph.D. in Chinese Pedagogy from Ohio State University. Prior to teaching at Wofford, she taught at Beijing Normal University, Ohio State University and University of Akron. She was one of ten recipients of the Graduate Associate Teaching Award in 2006 at Ohio State University. She is a certified ACTFL OPI tester.
Wan-Chen Chen is in the M.A. program studying Chinese Language Pedagogy at the Ohio State University. Prior to teaching at the Ohio State University, she taught at the Chinese Language School at Clarke Middle School and Wellesley College. She is an ALLEX alumna and completed the Training Program in Teaching of Chinese (SPEAC) at the Ohio State University.
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Housing:
Many of our students live in Portland and commute from home. If you are planning to attend from other parts of Oregon or out of state, the area around PSU offers a large supply of summer-sublet student housing. See craigslist for more information.
If you would like to stay in a PSU dormitory we have a limited number of units available in The Broadway: a new building that offers studio apartments with the latest contemporary amenities. It has wireless wifi, an up-to-the-minute computer lab, and an eco-roof, one of the largest in the city of Portland! Take a video tour of The Broadway. [http://www.pdx.edu/housing/buildings-broadway]
Summer dorm rooms are limited at PSU, so please put in your room request early!
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FAQs:
Can I get high school credit for this course?
Many high schools will offer credit for taking this college level course. You should speak with your high school guidance counselor about making the arrangements.
Can I get college credit for this course?
You can earn 4 college quarter credits for the successful completion of the course. (4 quarter credits are equal to approximately 3 semester credits.)
Can this replace the PSU 101 Chinese class?
No. This course covers different material.
Can I take PSU 201 in the fall if I take this summer course?
Very unlikely. This course is 4 credits. The first-year Chinese sequence is 15 credits (CHN 101-102-103). If you do well in this course you may be able to enter a later level of the first-year sequence (102 or 103) through a placement test. But you will probably not qualify for the 201 level.
How many hours of class will I have per day?
The course consists of two hours of class per day, five days per week, for seven weeks.
May I miss a few days of the program to attend to other summer commitments I have?
Because this is an intensive course that moves quickly and covers a lot of material each day, it is essential that you attend class every day. Please contact us if there are any special circumstances you wish to discuss.
Can high school students take the class?
Yes. We welcome high school students, as long as you are 15 years or older. In the past, high school students committed to learning the language have done very well in our courses.