BYU Chinese Flagship Announcements

The Office of Chinese Language Council International (Hanban) recently granted the BYU Chinese Flagship Center status as an official HSK testing center.  The HSK (汉语水平考试)is the official Chinese government proficiency test for Chinese as a second language (similar to TOEFL in English) and is the standard test for Chinese learners studying in China.  Moreover, HSK is increasingly used along side other proficiency tests outside of China. HSK is divided into three categories: beginning level (HSK Basic), elementary to intermediate level (HSK Elementary-Intermediate), and advanced level (HSK Advanced).  There is also a specialty test for business language and a new exam for young learners.

The Flagship Center will begin to offer the test in Fall 2008 to BYU students and other students in the region, including high school students.  Please contact the center’s office for more details (chineseflagship@byu.edu or 801-422-9189) 

Two recent news articles talk about the growing presence of Chinese education in Utah schools.

Provo’s Daily Herald reports about an elementary school that is planning a 6-year Chinese Immersion program.

 Provo School District recently received a six-year grant to start an immersion program in Chinese at Wasatch Elementary School, across the street from Brigham Young University. Children in select classrooms will learn most of their subjects in Chinese, beginning in kindergarten or first grade, through the end of sixth grade. The school has a year to research curriculum and set up the program, which is slated to begin in the fall of 2009.  (Read the rest of the article.)

KUTV News reports on a classroom participating in BYU Chinese Flagship Center’s EDNET program:

Welcome to Chinese class. It’s the first year of a pilot program at Olympus high school it’s small and was a last minute addition to the curriculum but teachers say the demand is slowly growing. (Read the rest of the article and watch the video.)  

Brendan McMonagle reports on this year’s “Chinese Bridge” competition:

The 7^th “Chinese Bridge” competition for foreign college students is set up with the purpose to stimulate enthusiasm and interest for learning Chinese while helping foreign students of Chinese improve understanding of the Chinese language and culture. The Office of Chinese Language Council International and the University of Maryland Confucius Institute sponsored the competition. The theme for this year, 2008, was “Fervor with the Olympics, fun with Chinese.”

The competition is divided into three parts: speech, question and answer as well as a performance. The most points are awarded in the speech portion of the competition. To prepare for the competition students give a speech pertaining to China, the Olympics or one’s own experience while studying Chinese. The topic of my speech was, “Welcoming the Olympics, looking to the future.” The second part of the competition was a question and answer session with questions coming from four categories: The Olympics, Chinese culture, Chinese language and the state of China. In order to prepare, students are given a packet containing 400 questions from each of these topics. The final part is a performance where students may perform a song, dance, martial arts, poem, etc. Although I do not consider myself a singer, I became fond of karaoke on my study abroad in Taiwan and hence chose to perform a song by Wang Li Hong called “Descendants of the Dragon.”

In order to prepare for the competition, I wrote and memorized a speech regarding my own experiences studying Chinese as well as the Beijing Olympics. I had to spend many hours studying the questionnaire packet as well as practicing the song. In all, it was a very worthwhile experience and I was glad to have the opportunity to represent BYU and the Chinese program at the University of Maryland. It was great to meet and converse with the many Chinese professors, diplomats and fellow contestants representing other universities. 

Now announcing the 2008 STARTALK Teacher Training course! Applications and information are available by clicking here. 

We have extended the application deadline for Session 1: Levels 1 and 2 of the STARTALK Chinese camp.  Limited spaces are still available.  We are no longer accepting applications for session 2.

Click Here to apply for STARTALK 2008, by mail or online.

Click Here to learn more about the Chinese STARTALK 2008 Program. 

The BYU Chinese Flagship Center is pleased to announce STARTALK 2008, offering High School Chinese Levels I, II and III this Summer. Click here to access a printable application, or click here to apply online.

Mon. June 23rd - Wed. July 16th

• Chinese I
• Chinese II

 Mon. July 21st-Wed. August 13th

• Chinese I
• Chinese II
• Chinese III

Class availability is subject to demand.

The Startalk Chinese Camp is a 3 1/2 week Chinese immersion experience where high school students can learn Chinese.  Students are housed in BYU on-campus residencies where they can speak, live, and eat (on occasion), like the Chinese! Students participate in traditional and modern Chinese cultural activities and excursions, work closely with qualified Chinese teachers and tutors, and live with native Chinese Resident Facilitators.  At the end of the camp, parents are invited to BYU as the students put on a celebration banquet demonstrating all that they’ve learned and experienced over the 3 1/2 weeks.  At the Startalk Chinese Camp you’ll learn Chinese, experience the culture, make friends for life, and have the most fun all summer!    

Click here for the PDF application, or here for the online application. 

Need-based scholarships are available; if you would like to be considered for a scholarship, please submit the separate Scholarship Application by email or mail along with your application.

The content of the prospective student’s page has been updated. We recommend propsective students to visit the prospective students link to get the latest updates on funding and application procedures.

Here’s an excerpt from an article in The Chronicle for Higher Education which talks about, among other things, the role of National Flagship programs and the importance of education in “critical languages”:

A Failure to Communicate

Despite pressure from government and industry, universities do not produce enough graduates fluent in ‘critical languages’

By BURTON BOLLAG

College Park, Md.

. . .

As China’s economic and political influence has grown, enrollments in Chinese rose 75 percent to 34,000 from 1990 to 2002. Experts estimate that enrollments have increased by nearly 50 percent since then. Chinese is now the “best resourced,” of the critical languages, says Catherine W. Ingold, director of the National Foreign Language Center, a research institute at the University of Maryland. Chinese departments can draw from the large number of Chinese graduate students in the United States, though officials say it is hard to find instructors trained to teach languages. At the elementary- and secondary-school level there is an acute shortage of certified teachers of Chinese.

. . .

[Read More]

Congratulations to Anna Khmelenko, Cole Carrigan and Kristie DiLascio, the BYU Chinese Flagship Students who were selected to participate in the 6th Chinese Bridge/Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students on the topic “China Welcomes the Olympics”. We are pround of all the students who participated and would like to acknowledge Anna Khmelenko who placed 2nd and Kristie DiLascio who placed 3rd in the competition. Anna Khmelenko will be competing internationally in Beijing, China this August during the final round in the Chinese Bridge Competition. Click Chinese Bridge Competition for more information.

The BYU Chinese Flagship Program, in conjunction with the BYU Center for Language Studies, received a STARTALK award for 2007. The award will be used to create summer workshop opportunities for high school students interested in learning Chinese. There will also be workshops for high school and university instructors interested in learning about Chinese language curriculum.

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James Fowler, a 2006 graduate of the Chinese Flagship Program, received a post in the United States Department of Commerce in Washington, D.C. His responsibility directly relates to US - China relations within the Department of Commerce.Congratulations to the eight BYU Chinese Flagship students who received superior ratings on the ACTFL oral proficiency interviews.

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Thank you to all those who applied to the BYU Chinese Flagship Program in January 2007. We are in the process of conducting interviews and will begin testing in the next two weeks. Final decisions will be made by March 31, 2007.

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The BYU Chinese Flagship Program will begin working with the Utah State Department of Education in Fall 2007 to help initiate Chinese level 1 and level 2 classes in Utah State high schools. We are currently looking for instructors interested in participating in this exciting new initiative.