| Communications and Development |  |
Published by Communications and Development
Two new courses being offered by the Department of Languages and Cultures are giving Canterbury University students a chance to study in China.
The courses, CHIN 211/ CHIN 311 and CHIN 212, are part of the Chinese language programme and provide students with an opportunity to spend time at either Wuhan or Yunnan universities in immersion programmes in Chinese language and culture.
Senior lecturer in Chinese Dr Hong Xiao (Languages and Cultures) said there had been a demand from students at UC for such opportunities and, as immersion courses were offered to students at universities around the world which had taught Chinese, “we decided we should offer this kind of programme ourselves”.
“This kind of experience is good for language students because they need exposure to the native environment of the language to bring them to a level at which they can use the language with confidence,” she said.
“Language is learned by using it and the classroom situation is quite artificial. We give them the basics but they then have to go out and use it. These courses force them to use what they have learned and, because they have to interact with native speakers of Chinese, they learn those cultural nuances that they wouldn’t pick up in class.”
The first group of students from the CHIN 211/CHIN311 course to take up the study opportunity spent five weeks at Yunnan University in Kunming, southwest China, during January and February. They took part in three language classes a day from Monday to Friday and in the afternoons were involved in cultural classes.
“The feedback from those who went was excellent and we were surprised at how much progress they had made in five weeks. They were much more confident speaking Chinese and a lot more talkative. We were very amazed and felt the course had been a huge success.”
Dr Xiao said the next course, CHIN 212, would take place mid-year, with students going to Wuhan University to take part in a four-week immersion programme involving both language and cultural classes, as well as tours of Wuhan and excursions to a Buddhist mountain outside the city and to the Three Gorges.
For further information please contact:
Jeanette Colman
Communications Manager
University of Canterbury
Phone: (64) 3 364-2260
Or email: jeanette.colman@canterbury.ac.nz