School Year Abroad - China

China

In 1994, the Chinese government allowed School Year Abroad to begin a program in Beijing. It was the first of its kind at either a high school or college level, with students being placed in host families for the full school year. The program operates out of the Second High School Attached to Beijing Normal University. SYA China is open to both beginners and students who have already studied Mandarin. All students take Mandarin Chinese Language, Chinese History and Chinese Society and Culture along with English and math, for a total of six credits. These courses meet four or five periods each week with the exception of Chinese Culture and Society, which meets two periods each week in addition to guest lectures and field trips. All courses except for Advanced Algebra with Functions, Precalculus and Advanced Topics in Mathematics, and Chinese Society and Culture are taught at the honors or AP level.

Martial arts, traditional Chinese brush painting, calligraphy and music are offered as noncredit courses, pass/fail. Each course meets once per week. Home schools may accept these courses for credit if deemed appropriate. School Year Abroad does not distinguish between eleventh- and twelfth-grade students in the organization of classes.

Students are placed in class according to their proficiency in Chinese, which is assessed by a diagnostic exam administered at the beginning of the school year.

In order for students to experience China beyond Beijing, School Year Abroad organizes a number of study trips to places of historical and cultural importance. Travel destinations change each year, and in the past SYA has visited almost every province and major city in the country. During the first semester, travel focuses on places of historical significance, including important urban centers. During the second semester, the focus is on remote destinations, with emphasis on trekking through rural villages and homestays with China’s ethnic minorities.

On such trips, School Year Abroad China generally arranges activities with local schools so that students can get a taste of what life is like for their peers in various areas of the country. SYA students experience significant educational travel and are involved in Rural Projects for Sustainable China (RPSC) throughout the school year. With the exception of personal spending money, trip expenses are included in SYA’s tuition. Independent travel by students in China is not permitted.

Winterim In the vacation period that surrounds the Chinese New Year, SYA takes the classroom on the road for an extended journey outside of Beijing. Armed with a bound reader of Chinese- and English-language materials, students depart Beijing for a three-week trip throughout a rural region of the country. Destinations vary each year and are typically concentrated in southern and southwestern China. In recent years, travel has included “off-the-beaten-path” experiences such as hiking and rural homestays with welcoming families. Occasionally, students spend the night in a youth hostel, where they share stories with peer travelers from around the world. Long train rides through the countryside provide students with time to catch up on their reading assignments and discuss their experiences with their classmates. Winterim is an authentic immersion into rural Chinese culture that, in many ways, remains as it was centuries ago.