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About the Program Click here to view the Summer 2008 and Spring 2009 DSIC Brochure
The program offers an intensive Chinese language program. Language classes are taught by faculty who are selected by the Duke Study in China Program. Experienced faculty from Duke University, Washington University in St. Louis, and Wesleyan University will coordinate the program. Language classes normally meet four hours a day, five days per week, including lecture, small group drill, conversation sessions, and individual sessions. Students meet for one hour a day with their Chinese language partner. Each week students are assigned a language practicum, a task-based language assignment which gives students an opportunity to use what they have been learning in a practical situation, based on their language level. In addition, there is a weekly language table during lunch with the teachers, the directors, and fellow students. Duke University Semester Course Credits Duke University awards credit for two semester-length language courses for completing the program. If you are not a Duke student please check with your university to see if these credits will be accepted and to find out about the process to transfer the credits. In order to become more proficient in Chinese, students will sign a language pledge during the second week of the program. In the pledge, students promise to speak only Chinese when they are on campus and when participating in group activities. Host Families and Language Partners Each student is assigned a Chinese language partner. Language partners are chosen by program faculty. Partners are all native Chinese speakers who are students at the host university. Students who have had more than two years of Chinese before the start of the program will have the option of living with a host family. Every weekend participants go on an excursion to a local place of interest. During the spring semester, students take a week long trip to Lijiang. During the summer session, there is a long-weekend trip to Xian. The DSIC is an extremely intensive program which does not allow much time for sightseeing or personal travel. Long distance travel should be carried out before or after the summer study program or during the week-long spring break of the spring semester.
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