Opportunities for cultural immersion abroad
From left: Julie Chehade, Maimouna Brownrigg, Karin Hum and coordinator Lian Duan. This photo was taken in Zhouzhuang, a famous “watertown” near Shanghai, where the last scene of Mission Impossible 3 was filmed.
Courtesy of Lian Duan
Fourteen Concordia students attended the International Studies Institute at Nanjing University this past June and July. They earned 12 credits and shared the campus with other groups studying Mandarin from New York University, the United Nations and the United States Air Force.
Nanjing University is just one of nearly 100 institutions which has a formal partnership with Concordia. Usually these partnerships allow students to earn credit as an exchange student for a semester. This was the first group of students who were able to attend a summer program together as part of the Department of Classics, Modern Languages and Linguistics.
The group was initially divided into beginner, intermediate and advanced language ability. Over half were beginners, with no previous experience speaking Mandarin at all.
Leigh Hasan is a professional musician with a previous degree from Concordia. He had never been to China and enjoyed the challenge.
“There are no English signs and no English menus. Just to get food was an ordeal.” After a month, Hasan could order food, bargain at stores, and explain why he was in China.
The students spent their mornings in four-hour language classes. On Tuesday afternoons they studied tai chi and calligraphy. “Writing is a strict and important part of the culture. Not only do you have to be able to write characters correctly, you have to draw the strokes in a specific order as well,” Hasan said.
Lian Duan, the only full-time faculty member teaching Chinese at Concordia, accompanied the students on their trip. He said the program was demanding and students spent their “free” afternoons doing homework. Weekends were generally spent on supervised tours of nearby regions of social or cultural importance — all of this in on average 35°C heat.
Qualifying students were able to take advantage of the Quebec student mobility bursary. This program subsidized the students’ costs (travel, tuition and room and board) by $750 a month.
Duan was impressed by how easily the students adapted to their new surroundings. “They quickly identified all of the good restaurants in the area. We were eating Mexican, Brazilian and Japanese food.”
He also said that the intense experience of living and studying together created a family feeling over their eight-week trip.
Hasan became extremely ill two days before they were set to return to Canada.
He was too ill to participate in the students’ much-anticipated shopping spree in Shanghai, which was planned for the day before their return. Duan was impressed that another student also skipped the trip in order to help Hasan prepare his luggage to get back home.
Another student decided not to return altogether. Julie Chehade’s Mandarin improved so much that she was offered a one-year contract to teach English at a local university. She accepted the position. She is now earning more than the teachers who taught her during the summer program.
Duan said this is an indication of the possibilities that open up for those who learn Chinese language and culture. He hopes to be able to repeat the experience next year and appreciates the support of his department chair and Liselyn Adams in developing the program.
Meanwhile, Adams would like to see similar programs established in Spain or France.