Program Overview
Spend this summer immersed in a dynamic language learning environment that compels you to explore beyond the classroom. In eight weeks with the Summer Intensive Chinese Language program, you’ll complete the equivalent of one year of university-level Chinese coursework at one of the country’s most prestigious universities.
Through intensive Mandarin language training, weekly sessions with Chinese peer tutors, a homestay option, and cultural excursions you won’t simply study Chinese – you’ll live it.
In Beijing you will:
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Improve your language skills through 20 hours of intensive in-class language coursework per week, and individual and small group tutorials with Peking University graduate student tutor
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Study the equivalent of one year university-level Chinese coursework in eight weeks while exploring Beijing and surrounding areas
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Enrich your study by choosing from among a number of language and area study electives
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Take in an acrobatics performance, go hiking, volunteer with disabled youth, and explore traditional sites such as the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square and Temple of Heaven
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Volunteer in a needy organization, or participate in smaller, topic-oriented cultural activities and lectures that provide meaning to what you learn in the classroom and give you additional tools to understand your experience of living in another culture
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Choose an extended weekend excursion outside Beijing, designed around a specific theme
The CIEE Difference
Homestays
Grasp the unique opportunity to live with a local Chinese family. Since Chinese family members speak Chinese only, this option is highly recommended for students who want to live in an entirely Chinese language environment and who are motivated to make rapid progress in Chinese language. Eat traditional food, immerse yourself in local custom, and form relationships that endure long after your program has ended.
Excursions and Cultural Activities
Students participate in an extended weekend excursion during the summer program. CIEE will offer a few different itineraries, each going to different locations and with different trip themes and under leadership of different CIEE staff teams. You will sign up for and take part in the trip that interests you the most. Through these specialized trips, with smaller group sizes, you can experience more personal interaction, as well as learn about a topic of particular interest. Past selections have included visits to the birthplace of Confucius in Qufu, under the theme “Traditional Chinese Philosophy,” a visit to the bustling port city of Dalian themed “Urbanization and Dream of Modernity,” and a village visit and hike in the mountains of northern Shanxi province, under the theme “Environment and Rural Governance in China.”
Guided field trips are organized to cultural destinations or events in and around Beijing, and might include historic sites such as Tiananmen Square, the Great Wall, and Forbidden City. Activities may also include more contemporary events, such as plays, rock music performances, modern art exhibitions, day hikes near Beijing, and interactive volunteering activities at orphanages or institutes for autistic children.
Language Tutors
The CIEE Language Tutor program is a unique hallmark of our program and ensures that your linguistic and cultural fluency progresses throughout your stay. You will be paired with a Peking University graduate student, or CIEE staff trained in teaching Chinese as a second language, for twice weekly one-on-one Chinese language tutorials, for a total of 90 minutes per week, and small one-to-three group tutorials once weekly for 90 minutes, with more hours available upon request. These tutorials provide you with extra conversational practice in Mandarin and guidance with homework assignments.
Eligibility Requirements
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Overall GPA 2.75
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2–6 semesters of college-level Mandarin Chinese or equivalent
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1 semester of college-level Chinese studies recommended
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Peking University does not accept students who are citizens of the People's Republic of China, Taiwan ROC, Hong Kong SAR, or Macau. This includes those who are permanent U.S. residents.
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.
Where You'll Study:
Peking University - summer
As one of China's most prestigious universities, Peking University (PKU) was founded in 1898 and has a long tradition of scholarly excellence and political activism. Its primary mission is to train scholars for advanced research in the natural and social sciences. More than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students are enrolled. The PKU campus comprises a blend of modern buildings and traditional Chinese architectural structures, and is celebrated for its beautifully landscaped grounds and lake.
Program Requirements
All participants are required to take Readings in Chinese and Spoken Chinese.
Recommended Credit
summer: 10 semester/ 15 quarter hours
Duration
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Summer 2011: 8 weeks late June - mid-August
CIEE Fees - Check the CIEE website for current fees.
CIEE program fees, inclusions, and estimated additional costs, are outlined below. Please note that CIEE reserves the right to adjust its fees in the event of significant change in exchange rates or other factors beyond its control. The actual cost of the programs may vary slightly for students from different institutions.
Orientation
The mandatory orientation is conducted by CIEE at Peking University at the beginning of the program. It introduces students to the country, the culture, and the academic program, and provides practical information about living in Beijing. Ongoing support is provided on an individual and group basis throughout the program.
Housing & Meals
Housing is included in the program fee. Students live with a homestay family, in the foreign student's complex (Shaoyuan) at Peking University, or at the off-campus facility which is a 15-minute walk from the South West Gate of campus. Due to limited accomodations in the student complex, students may be placed at the off-campus facility. Students may not live in private accommodations outside of CIEE-arranged housing.
Living conditions in both the on-campus and off-campus housing facilities are comfortable, but simple, and provide standard amenities such as beds, desks, television, private bathroom, and Internet access. Kitchens are not available at either facility. Students are housed two to a room; single rooms are not available.
Students also have the unique option to have a homestay experience with a local Chinese family, most of whom are former or current faculty or staff at PKU. Chinese host families are located within 15-20 minutes from campus by public transportation and have two or three bedrooms. Students have their own room and share the living room, kitchen, and bathroom. Students are invited to family meals twice a week, but should budget for all other meals on the program. Chinese family members speak Chinese only. This option is highly recommended for students who want to live in an entirely Chinese language environment and to make rapid progress in Chinese language outside of class.
Meals are not included in the program fee and are the responsibility of the student. Students usually eat at the many diverse cafeterias available on campus. In addition, there are also several affordable restaurants on and off campus.
Internet
There is Internet access in the Peking University library and computer center. However, Internet access can be quite erratic and slow. Students can also access the Internet from their accommodation; Internet fees very by housing option. Students are encouraged to bring wireless-enabled laptops.
Cultural Activities
Cultural Activities and Field Trips
Guided field trips usually include visits to historic sites in and around Beijing such as the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, the Temple of Heaven, the Great Wall, and the Lama Temple. Cultural activities also include the Beijing Opera, classical and popular music concerts, and an acrobatics show. Non-credit classes in Chinese painting, calligraphy, and taijiquan may also be offered.
Cultural Reimbursement
As a means of encouraging students to enrich their study abroad experience in Beijing, CIEE offers a Cultural Reimbursement Program, allowing students to be reimbursed for their participation in local cultural activities such as tickets to Chinese movies, theatrical performances, traditional music concerts, visits to local museums, and historic places of interest.
Special Lectures
Students are invited to meet with locals and expatriates including journalists, diplomats, educators, and business people to gain ideas and views on living and working in Beijing and China. Past speakers have included a U.S. Embassy officer, the Vice President of the American Chamber of Commerce, and a former CIEE participant who owns a business in Beijing.
Peer Language Tutors
Program participants are paired with Peking University students for weekly one-on-one Chinese language tutorials. These tutorials provide students with extra conversational practice in Mandarin, help with homework assignments, and offer students an opportunity to see firsthand the lifestyle of their Chinese peers. Language tutors are an integral part of the program and are considered a student's best link into the nuances of the Chinese language. Past students have stated that their peer tutors were one of the best and most unique aspects of the CIEE program.
Target Language Meals
To encourage students to utilize their Chinese, CIEE arranges for students to eat meals with their tutors or Chinese friends. Students participating in the language meals are required to only speak Chinese while learning more about the Chinese culture through their tutors and friends.
