'Experience China' Provides Education Opportunities

Summer camp in the land of the Great Wall of China?

Youths, parents, teachers and other interested travelers will have that opportunity this summer as participants in University Extended Education’s Experience China.

A partnership between the People’s Republic of China and UEE, Experience China offers three programs aimed at “build[ing] a bridge of understanding between America and China, and promot[ing] friendship between the two peoples,” says Lisa Xue, UEE director of international programs, China. “We also hope to encourage development of international business and cultural exchange through outreach delegations.”

Spend the Summer Teaching in China, the third program of Experience China, comprises two components. In one, qualified English as a Foreign Language/English as a Second Language-certified teachers will instruct methodology classes for Chinese public school teachers. The other component will include K-12 teachers teaching English in special summer camps designed to help Chinese youth better understand the American culture, language and people.

Xue, who joined UEE last year, directed similar programs at the University of Utah. About the summer camps, “the students always say it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” she says. “And many of the teachers who have gone maintain contact with their students – the teachers they taught.

“Teachers in China are more focused on knowledge-based teaching and memorization, whereas our [American] teachers work to motivate and stimulate creativity through student involvement and active use of the language,” adds Xue. “They help the Chinese teachers develop instructional strategies, which engage and encourage students.”

Both Xue and Harry L. Norman, UEE dean, agree that Experience China is just the beginning for similar future projects. “We don’t plan to stop with China,” says Norman. “We’d like to roll out these kinds of programs, in the next year or two, probably in the Pacific Rim.”

Cultural exchanges, such as Experience China and programs that bring people here from other countries, “continue to strengthen our ties with the global community,” he says.

Adds Xue, “This is going to benefit both countries. If people would understand each other, we’d have less conflict. It’s not only about academic, cultural and business trade – we’re promoting world peace.”