Return to Institutes List

Location: Shanghai, China
Dates of program: June 18 - August 15, 2012
Hosting institution: The Alliance for Global Education at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics
Language offered: Mandarin Chinese
Levels offered: Intermediate and advanced

Program Structure

The CLS Program in Shanghai, China provides an intensive 8-week language learning environment set in one of the country’s most important economic and cultural centers. Students in the Chinese financial capital receive a minimum of 20 hours per week of classroom instruction. Participants also practice Chinese a few hours each week with peer tutors, Chinese students who act as study partners. The CLS program in Shanghai incorporates a language pledge that requires scholarship recipients to speak only Chinese during all program activities and with all staff.

CLS participant Linnea Johnson is invited to try on some the local dress after chatting with ethnic Tibetan groups in Qinghai Province.

CLS participants in Shanghai live near campus in apartments they share with Chinese roommates. Living with local students provides another opportunity to use Chinese language skills outside of class. Living with a Chinese native-speaker also provides CLS students with cultural learning opportunities and insights into day-to-day life in Shanghai.

On weekends, students in Shanghai participate in a variety of cultural excursions to explore the rich culture and history of the bustling Shanghai metropolis. Students also participate in co curricular activities during the week that help them to learn about Chinese culture and customs while using their target language. During the summer 2011 program, CLS students in Shanghai chose between classes in Shanghai Dialect or Tai Chi.

Outcomes

In 2010, the CLS Program adopted the Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) developed by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) as an additional measure of the effectiveness and quality of the institutes overseas. Before the program, students take a diagnostic OPI test; at the end of their 8-week course of study, they take an ACTFL-certified post-program OPI assessment. The scores on these tests give students a concrete, widely-recognized measure of their speaking skills in Mandarin Chinese.

Student Activities

During the summer 2011 Shanghai institute, four students traveled to Beijing to attend the Joint Conference for the Departments of Political Science and International Relations at Tsinghua University. The four CLS attendees, Rebecca Kreitzer, Jason Oaks, Emily Brandt, and Patrick Hamilton, traveled from Shanghai to Beijing to listen to presentations on a variety of topics concerning China’s role in international politics. All the sessions attended by the students were conducted completely in Chinese. After the weekend, students prepared reports for their teachers about their experiences and what they had learned.

Alumni Highlights

Emily Brandt (’11) – Ms. Brandt studied in Shanghai during the summer 2011. You can read more about Ms. Brandt, the current Alumni Ambassador for the CLS program in China, here.

Tim Ditter (’10) – Mr. Ditter was one of the 2010 Alumni Ambassador for the CLS program in China. He will be attending the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Nanjing, China this fall. You can read more about Mr. Ditter here.

Program Highlights

View videos, read highlights, and more on the CLS Blog!

Alumni Ambassadors

Emily Brandt, ’11	Tim Ditter, ’10	Nicole Baden, '10 (Beijing)