A four-week intensive exposure to China, its language, history, people, culture, and economy

July 10-August 6, 2011, in Shanghai

Come explore China and learn Chinese with Foundation Global Education’s Perspectives China---a four-week program that exposes and engages participants in rich and possibly life-changing learning experiences.  Perspectives China offers a unique language and culture larning experience designed to bring China into the classrooms and bring participants out into China.  The program is designed with a mixture of classroom sessions and experiential learning, including field studies, oral histories, museum visits, and work with local high school students.  Experienced schoolteachers and administrators from the West serve as program administrators and supervise all teaching.
A major focus of the program is Mandarin that is guided by the basic belief that people learn a language to communicate in real life situations in order to foster understanding and build relationships, our program aims to

• equip participants with language learning strategies that will lead to acquisition of language skills for communicating effectively in culturally appropriate manner
• engage participants in active encounters with people and places in Shanghai to facilitate and enhance their learning experience
• foster a desire for continuous learning beyond the term of the Project period

Classes will be led by experienced and well-trained teachers who are familiar with Western pedagogical practices and with a knowledge of Western learning styles.  These teachers are energetic, passionate, and dedicated to sharing their rich knowledge of Mandarin with participants through engaging activities.  Instruction will be task-based, and performance-oriented.  Students will be guided to build interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational modes of communication skills.  They will engage in making comparisons and connections, as well as involving the community in their learning process.  Effective and purposeful language learning games will be employed to facilitate learning.

Our classes promise to have learners

• speak more of the time than instructors do
• move around and engage in real life interactive language use instead of sitting down for grammar drills
• engage in active learning by being guided to use strategies to find out how the language work, instead of being fed with language by repeating heard vocabulary and sentences
• use a variety of learning strategies and tools to aid and enhance learning
• be able to use language to interact with local Chinese people in situations they may encounter and perform tasks such as greeting, leave taking, shopping, dining in a variety of eating establishments, getting around in on foot or in public transit or taxis, etc.

Perspectives China welcomes participants with no prior Mandarin exposure and those who have varying degrees of Mandarin skills alike. Instruction will be learner centered and be guided by the needs of all learners. Diversified instruction schemes will be used to involve participants in collaborative learning activities that will maximize the potential of each and every learner.  

Participants with prior Mandarin exposure will be assessed for their Mandarin skill and be placed accordingly in classes that  best suit their skill level to strengthen prior skills and to expand and raise skill level.

Our instructors are familiar with the IB, the AP and SAT II Mandarin assessment schemes and are able to guide students to gain skills necessary to for successful handling of the communicative tasks these exams set out to measure students’ language proficiency level.