Taiwan Study Abroad Summer Program Deemed a Success

Morgantown, W.Va., September 11, 2007: Dr. Hannah Lin, the J. Vance and Florence Highland Johnson assistant professor and coordinator of the Chinese Studies Program in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, recently completed a study abroad program in Taiwan with a graduate teaching assistant and twelve students from West Virginia University.

During their four-week journey, the group visited Taipei, the capital and largest city on the island, to participate in the Chinese Language and Culture Immersion program with other students from Canada and Korea.

The four-hour classes were given by five teachers and held at Ming Chuan University, where the students studied Chinese reading, conversation, calligraphy and traditional songs each day.

While in Taiwan, the students participated in many cultural activities such as martial arts, knot tying, acrobatics, dancing and the Han-Tang Traditional Chinese music orchestra. Additionally, the study abroad students competed in various competitions performing Chinese poems and songs, and WVU finished first in both contests.

“The Chinese study abroad program in Taiwan this summer was an educational, fun, and productive trip,” explained Dr. Lin. “I’m very proud of the twelve students because not only did they work hard to learn about the language and the culture, they also introduced West Virginia University to the people there.”

Dr. Lin delivered a one-hour presentation titled “Chinese as a Foreign Language-Past, Present, and Future” at the Young Leaders Cultural Exchange Conference, and each WVU student gave a presentation in Chinese to the program.

For more information, please contact Dr. Hannah Lin at huey.lin@mail.wvu.edu.

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