易胜博官网

On June 20, less than a week after finishing her sixth grade school year, 12-year-old Mia Roman traveled from Pennsylvania to 易胜博官网 to participate in an intensive two-week class in Chinese at 易胜博官网. Through July 3, while her friends at home in Bethlehem are sleeping late and watching TV, Roman and some 30 other 10- to 17-year-olds are starting their day with half an hour of martial arts before immersing themselves in the notoriously challenging Mandarin language and learning how to cook traditional Chinese dishes not found on your local take-out menu, all part of the University鈥檚 鈥淪tartalk鈥� Chinese language and culture immersion program. And it鈥檚 not that they don鈥檛 know what they鈥檙e getting into鈥攆ully half of this year鈥檚 Startalk program participants, Roman included, are returning students from previous years.

鈥淚 had such a great time here last year and made so many good friends,鈥� says Roman. 鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 wait to come back and do it again!鈥�

A part of the U.S.-wide National Security Language Initiative to increase Americans鈥� knowledge of so-called 鈥渃ritical need鈥� foreign languages, the Startalk summer program is now in its third year at 易胜博官网. Yige Wang, who has served as lead instructor for the 易胜博官网 program since its 2010 inception, says the camp, one of just over 100 offered nationwide, is an extraordinary opportunity for students to establish a foundation of Chinese.

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鈥淢andarin is a difficult language, and if you wait too late to start it can be very intimidating,鈥� he says. 鈥淭his program gives students the chance to become comfortable with the language early on, and we pair the instruction with lots of games and activities to make it fun.鈥�

With a focus on cooking, this year鈥檚 program is not only fun but delicious. After a morning of classroom instruction, students spend from 11 a.m. to noon each day in the kitchen at the Thompson School of Applied Science creating healthy Chinese dishes like shrimp with asparagus and beef with broccoli. After watching Wang run through a quick demonstration, students in small groups follow step-by-step instructions鈥攊n Chinese鈥� to prepare the day鈥檚 dish. The measure of the students鈥� success in following the instructions is an infinitely practical one; the meals they make are the day鈥檚 lunch. A missed step can mean a failed dish, and a hungry afternoon.

Wang says the Startalk team decided to build this year鈥檚 program around the theme of healthy cooking for several reasons. For one, he says, pairing the language instruction with a hands-on activity is an effective way for students to build and retain vocabulary鈥� and learn all-important phrases like 鈥渂e careful鈥攖hat knife is sharp!鈥�

For another, Wang hopes to reshape students鈥� thinking about Chinese food. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a real misconception in the U.S. about Chinese cuisine,鈥� he explains. 鈥淩eal Chinese cooking is about much more than egg rolls and fried rice. Introducing some authentic, protein and vegetable-based dishes gives the students another window into Chinese culture. It also helps them eat more healthfully!鈥�

Thirteen-year-old Jesse Kelley-Derzon of Greenland, N.H., is another Startalk returnee. She says this year鈥檚 cooking focus makes a great experience even better.

鈥淥ne of the things I like about the time we spend in the kitchen is that you almost forget that you鈥檙e learning while you鈥檙e cooking,鈥� she says. 鈥淎nd the things we鈥檝e made are really good!鈥�

Wang hopes camp participants will take what they鈥檝e learned and continue to use it at home鈥斠资げ┕偻�, Maine, or Massachusetts in most students鈥� case, though there is Roman, from Pennsylvania, and 14-year-old Taquin Krug from Utah. 鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty exciting to us to have students coming from so far away,鈥� he says. 鈥淥f all the Startalk programs running this summer, I think we鈥檙e the only one offering the cooking focus, and that鈥檚 attracted some special interest.鈥�

As the two-week camp winds down, the campers are looking ahead to the closing ceremony. Next Tuesday night, they will put on a Chinese banquet for their families, applying the skills they鈥檝e learned to everything from designing and writing the menus to cooking and serving the meal. Wang is also looking ahead to 2013, when the University will again apply for a National Foreign Language Center grant, generous external funding that has made the program possible since 2010.

The University鈥檚 chances seem good鈥攖he program received high marks from a national Startalk evaluation team that visited on Monday to observe Wang and the students at work. The team particularly praised the hands-on, content-focused teaching, just one of many indicators that Startalk-易胜博官网 is achieving the greater program鈥檚 mission of introducing important foreign languages to a broader, younger audience.

A number of this session鈥檚 campers have attended all three years, and many have built on their Startalk foundation with Chinese lessons elsewhere. At least one former student, Abi Ferguson 鈥�15, has taken her Startalk experience and turned into a bigger commitment to Chinese: the rising sophomore from Concord, N.H., recently returned from a three-week summer study abroad program at the University鈥檚 Confucius Institute 鈥渟ister school鈥� in China, Chengdu University, where she took many of her Startalk experiences to the next level ().

Says Wang, 鈥淲e hope Abi is just the first of many students who continue that connection between Startalk and 易胜博官网.鈥�