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Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Students of Chinese Praise Summer Experience Youth
On Saturday November 4, 2006, China Institute held a Post-Trip Gathering, where 19 alumni of the Summer Language Institute attended a reunion held in New York City. This was the first time the alumni met since returning from their six-week Institute on August 28, 2006. Angelo Ngai, an alumnus from New York City, exclaimed, "It's the greatest thing that's happened to me. Thank you for this opportunity." Other alumni also expressed how grateful they were for the experience and how it changed their future career interests. All students reported that the opportunity put them academically far ahead of their classmates, and some students even skipped a whole year of Chinese because of this experience. During the afternoon students happily shared experiences during their time in Beijing, China, where they studied Chinese and lived with a host family. Students also shared their photos in an interactive slide show, explaining their photos in both Chinese and English. The audience included parents, China Institute staff, and an ECA representative. During the Summer Language Institute students had the chance to visit historic places including The Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Temple of Heaven, and participated in activities such as Chinese calligraphy, Beijing Opera mask painting, and tai chi. Students also volunteered at a local orphanage and visited with students from a Practical Skills Training Center for Rural Women. The Summer Language Institute China was sponsored by the National Security Language Initiative, which addresses a critical language need for the security of the United States and seeks to increase the ability of Americans to engage people in other countries. The six-week institute enabled 20 American high school students to study Chinese under the auspices of an ECA grant to The China Institute. Thirteen of the 20 students were from New York City, three were from the Washington, DC area, and the other participants came from Vermont, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Washington. The grant was one of three pilot summer institutes sponsored by ECA in 2006. To view additional news from Citizen Exchanges — Youth Programs Division, visit Youth Programs News.
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