Description

The summer Intensive Chinese Language study abroad program at Peking University in Beijing, China is designed for students who have studied one to three years of college-level Mandarin Chinese and who wish to further develop their language skills and cross-cultural training within a beautiful university campus in Beijing. Students are divided into four levels for intensive Mandarin language training: intermediate, high intermediate, advanced I, and advanced II. CIEE students are partnered with a Peking University student upon arrival to facilitate cross-cultural discussion and individual tutoring of the Chinese language.

The program supplements the language training with weekly excursions to various areas in Beijing and has an experienced on-site director to support each student.

Academic Program
Established in 1982 as the first study abroad program at Peking University, the CIEE summer language program offers intermediate and advanced students an opportunity to improve their fluency in spoken and written Mandarin Chinese while gaining insight into life in China's capital city. Students applying for this program must have completed a minimum of two semesters of Chinese or the equivalent. Equivalency may be based on a language professor's evaluation or a language proficiency exam score. Students with superior-level Mandarin language skills (using the ACTFL scale) may not be appropriate for this program.

CIEE Chinese Language Advisory Board
The CIEE Chinese Language Advisory Board (CCLAB), made up of specialists in the learning and teaching of Chinese, serves to promote the highest standards of education at the CIEE Study Centers in Mainland China and Taiwan. Specifically, the Board advises CIEE administrators, and offers guidance to CIEE teachers on curriculum issues such as goals and objectives, instructional innovations, assessment, and progress and program evaluation. Additionally, the Board offers its expertise on ways to integrate language courses into area studies curricula, encouraging the use of Chinese in area studies courses. Through close communication with both CIEE staff and members of U.S. sending institutions, the Board plays a pivotal role in providing course articulation for the CIEE Study Centers in Mainland China and Taiwan.

Academic Culture
Students take one Readings in Chinese and one Spoken Chinese course at the appropriate level. The pace of the courses are quite fast, so all students are expected to spend at least four to five hours each afternoon and evening preparing for the next day's class.

The Readings in Chinese course consists of five, two-hour Chinese classes per week. Each textbook lesson is covered in two days, totaling four hours of class time, and is broken up into the following five components: Mastering Vocabulary, Explanation of Readings and Grammar, Exercises, Dictation, and Correction and Feedback on Homework. The Explanation of Readings and Grammar section requires students to form three person discussion groups. These courses emphasize the study of written Chinese and are designed to advance reading and writing skills through the study of short essays and stories. Coursework includes exercises in tone drills, vocabulary, and grammatical usage. Every textbook includes 10 to 12 lessons, completed in eight weeks. In addition, students have an exam every week.

The Spoken Chinese course consists of five, two-hour Chinese lessons per week. Each lesson is divided into the following four components: Mastering Vocabulary, Explanation of Readings, Drills, and Dictation. The Drills section requires students to form two or three person groups to review grammar and present group dialogues to the larger class.

The Spoken Chinese course includes two one-on-one sections each Monday and Wednesday afternoon, pairing two students with one language instructor to work individually on pronunciation and speaking fluency with each student. These courses emphasize conversational Chinese through texts, which include exercises in vocabulary, grammar, and sentence construction. The exercises are content-oriented and provide students with practical vocabulary through dialogues and pattern drills. Every textbook includes 12 lessons completed in eight weeks.