Grant to UO will teach students Chinese for business, diplomacy.Byline: Greg Bolt The Register-Guard As part of an effort to boost the number of Americans fluent in strategically important languages, the University of Oregon The University of Oregon is a public university located in Eugene, Oregon. The university was founded in 1876, graduating its first class two years later. The University of Oregon is one of 60 members of the Association of American Universities. is developing what will be the nation's first Chinese language program that follows students from kindergarten to college. The UO's Center for Applied Second Language Studies is working with the Portland School District under a $700,000 federal grant from the National Security Education Program. The idea is to produce students with a mastery of the language that allows them not just to converse (logic) converse - The truth of a proposition of the form A => B and its converse B => A are shown in the following truth table: A B | A => B B => A ------+---------------- f f | t t f t | t f t f | f t t t | t t but to write contracts, develop proposals and communicate at a business level. "The idea isn't just that you know enough about the language to go be a tourist," said Carl Falsgraf, CASLS CASLS Center for Applied Second Language Studies director. "You get to what we call the superior level of proficiency, which means you can use it professionally." To get to that level, Falsgraf said, it's important to start young. By developing immersion programs in Mandarin Chinese starting in kindergarten and continuing all the way to college, the program hopes to develop students who grow up learning the language and becoming fluent in Chinese culture through exposure to native speakers, internships with Chinese businesses and other outreach programs, in addition to classroom instruction. It will be the first K-16 program in Chinese under the National Flagship Language Ini- tiative. The culmination will be the UO Flagship Scholars, an intensive, four-year college program in which students will take a variety of standard college courses such as math and biomechanics The study of the anatomical principles of movement. Biomechanical applications on the computer employ stick modeling to analyze the movement of athletes as well as racing horses. Biomechanics taught by professors who will lecture in Chinese and use Chinese textbooks and other materials. Students also will have the option of taking their junior year at Nanjing University Nanjing University (Chinese: 南京大学; Pinyin: Nánjīng Dàxué; colloquially 南大) is a national comprehensive university located in Nanjing, an ancient capital of . "It's not like they're going to just sit and read Chinese poetry Chinese Poetry is the most highly regarded literary genre in China. Traditionally, it is divided into shi (詩), ci (詞) and qu (曲). There is also a kind of prose-poem called fu (賦). ," Falsgraf said. "They're going to be getting lectures in biomechanics in Chinese and reading a text on biomechanics in Chinese, and at the end of the term taking a test on biomechanics in Chinese." As part of the program, the UO will award a dozen Flagship scholarships each year starting next fall to students already skilled in Chinese. The scholarships will cover all in-state tuition, housing and books, and will include special tutoring and career counseling Noun 1. career counseling - counseling on career opportunities counseling, counselling, guidance, counsel, direction - something that provides direction or advice as to a decision or course of action , including introductions to government and private employers. The rigorous course load is intended to produce graduates who will be prized by corporations that do business around the world, as well as government agencies increasingly in need of foreign specialists. The scholarships will ensure that students are able to focus on their studies. "I think this program is going to be so demanding it will be like being on the varsity football team," Falsgraf said. "They're not going to have time to be working at McDonald's or something like that." The program will be open to students in all majors, not just those majoring in Chinese. Amy Harter, the flagship coordinator, said students in international business, math, computer science and other fields are expected to apply. The university is working with the Portland School District on the kindergarten, elementary school elementary school: see school. , middle school and high school portions of the curriculum. Falsgraf said the UO has been working with the district since its inception 11 years ago. He said Portland is nationally recognized for its foreign language immersion The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. Please help [ improve the introduction] to meet Wikipedia's layout standards. You can discuss the issue on the talk page. programs. Ultimately, the goal is to develop a model program that can then be used throughout the country to produce new generations of Chinese speakers. The Flagship program "is a strategic partnership between the U.S. national security community and higher education higher education Study beyond the level of secondary education. Institutions of higher education include not only colleges and universities but also professional schools in such fields as law, theology, medicine, business, music, and art. to address serious deficits in languages critical to national security," said Robert Slater, director of the National Security Education Program. The program is run through the National Foreign Language Center at the University of Maryland University of Maryland can refer to:
FLAGSHIP SCHOLARS Information: casls.uoregon.edu/flagship |
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