Chinese program receives $1M grant

This summer’s Beijing Olympic Games captivated a gigantic audience as NBC averaged more than 27 million viewers a night.

The Chinese economy is also on the rise with its president, Hu Jintao, suggesting the total value of goods and services produced in China will reach $4 trillion by 2020, according to China Daily.

Here at IU, the Chinese language program is one of the most respected in the country, and they just got some help.

The IU Center for Chinese Language Pedagogy has received a $1 million grant from the Language Flagship, an initiative of the National Security Education Program within the U.S. Department of Defense. The center will receive the money over three years.

One of the goals of the program is to produce global professionals, something Jennifer Liu, director of the Chinese Flagship partner program, believes IU can achieve.

“It will allow us to create a link for students in professional programs with interests in Chinese,” she said.

Over three years, the flagship program has given out seven grants within a pool of numerous applicants.  

Liu has extensive experience over her 22-year career in Chinese language education, including authoring a Chinese textbook series used at both Harvard and Stanford universities.

Last year, Liu directed the flagship program at University of Oregon and will now utilize her experience to make IU’s program successful.  

Liu’s program, “Developing Global Professionals with Superior Mandarin Proficiency: Creating a Flagship Model at Indiana University,” will use the grant money to fund scholarships for IU students to travel to China and take classes in their various areas of study.

Liu said oftentimes, international students come to the U.S. to attend college, but this program will allow for the reverse.

The program will also help students like junior Adam Molon secure internships abroad.
Molon, who is pursuing a degree in finance, came to IU having no prior Chinese language experience but said he was influenced to study the language after attending a conference at Northwestern University during his freshman year on the emerging economies of China and India.

“The whole reason I started is the Chinese economy is so large,” Molon said. “I finally realized this is something I need to learn more about.”

After only one year of studying Chinese at IU, Molon obtained an internship in Beijing, working for a real estate Web site founded by IU alumnus Mo Tianquan.  
Molon said he enjoyed the experience.

“It was fun and challenging, and eventually my language skills got good enough,” he said.

Janet Donley, the program administrator of the CCLP who works with Liu, said sending students overseas to China is important to establish closer ties with such an emerging country.  

“We want to create more citizens in our country that can communicate with the Chinese,” she said.

Donley added that this will go a long way toward improving the belief that Americans don’t want to learn foreign languages.

“Americans are notorious for bad foreign-language communication,” she said. “The U.S. government is saying we can’t have this anymore.”

Other than funding scholarships for students to travel to China, the grant will also allow for additional language and culture courses and faculty, going beyond the fourth level of Chinese.

Liu is also adjusting to the changing times through her idea to create online materials that can make her teachings more widespread and interactive. Part of her mission is also to spread her teachings to high school educators to make students better prepared when they get to IU.

Upon coming to IU, interested students will learn at an institution known for its Chinese program.

“Our program is unique in its scope and intensity,” Liu said. “It can produce students that can be (as good as) native speakers after four years.”