Overview

Studying Chinese requires strong motivation and discipline, which makes it a good fit for New College, a school that attracts some of the top students in the nation. As a student here, you’ll not only enjoy learning the Chinese language and reading and writing, but you’ll also have access to many other opportunities. In recent years, quite a few students in our Chinese program have received Critical Language Scholarships from the U.S. Department of State, and over the past three years more than a dozen students have received grants from the Chinese government to study in China. Four students were fully funded for the 2010-2011 academic year, and three were funded for study in the spring 2011 term. All received full scholarships, including tuition, board and stipend. Many of our graduates have gone on to study, work or live in China.

The Chinese Area of Concentration (AOC) at New College is an interdisciplinary program that prepares students linguistically and intellectually to interact with the Chinese world, while introducing them to China’s long and rich cultural traditions. It is intensive in its language requirement, which means that starting in your first year you will use as little English as possible. You will also be required to complete seven semesters of sequential Chinese language courses in order to graduate. Advanced students have the opportunity to read original texts in small group tutorials. In addition to offering courses and tutorials in both classical and modern Chinese literature and culture, we encourage interdisciplinary investigation as we push students to take related courses from other disciplines such as history, government and politics, religion and international studies.

In addition to courses and tutorials, our Chinese program offers a weekly language table led by our Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant (FLTA) from China. There are also activities throughout the year, including a Chinese film series, talent shows and dumpling festivals organized by the China Club and the FLTA.

Our Chinese AOC provides the training and cultural background needed for graduate school success and China-related careers in fields such as higher education, international business, government, international relations, as well as media and communications.  The flexibility of a New College education means that working with our faculty you can develop a plan of study that matches your individual interests and goals. Some of our students delve into Chinese language, literature and art, while others focus on the fact that China is one of largest trading partners of the United States. Many of our students complete joint-disciplinary or slash degrees, as we call them, combining their interest in Chinese with other fields in the humanities and social sciences, especially International and Area Studies.

Many of our graduates continue to learn Chinese while teaching English in China. Two of our recent graduates teach English at a college in China while another is pursuing a master’s degree in Chinese Studies at Nanjing University with a full scholarship from the USF Confucius Institute.

Study Abroad

We strongly encourage all students in our Chinese program to study abroad in China to enrich their learning experience. While most students do so for a semester, some participate in a year-long study abroad program. Over the past several years, quite a few of our students in Chinese have also earned Critical Language Scholarships from the U.S. State Department, through which they have received intensive language training and full funding for summer travel to China. Other students have received fully-funded scholarships through our connections with the Confucius Institute at the University of South Florida.

Placement Test

Please contact Professor Zhang (jzhang@ncf.edu) to schedule a placement test if you are a first-year student or transfer student who has taken Chinese classes prior to enrollment at New College. The placement tests are held during the week before the first day of classes.

Curriculum

Students with an AOC in Chinese are expected to develop a high level of proficiency in all aspects of the Chinese language, a broad historical and cultural knowledge of classical and modern Chinese culture, and in-depth knowledge of certain authors, genres, periods or themes. In light of the interdisciplinary nature of the Chinese program, students are encouraged to take courses from related fields and disciplines, and/or complete a combined AOC with another discipline.

To complete an AOC in Chinese, students are required to take a minimum of twelve courses, tutorials and ISPs, both within the Chinese program and in related fields, and to complete a thesis focusing on any aspect of Chinese literature and culture. Students are encouraged to take more classes and do ISPs and tutorials in areas that interest them and are welcome to pursue their own specific topics after consulting with Professor Zhang and Professor Li. Students may also do advanced work in a specific genre and/or a time period, as long as it is first approved by Professor Zhang and Professor Li.

Required courses in Chinese include six semester-long language courses, one (1) advanced reading in classical or modern Chinese, one (1) survey courses in classical or modern Chinese literature and culture, one (1) tutorial in a subject of the student’s interest, and one (1 ) special topic course in classical or modern Chinese culture. Special topics and tutorials are interchangeable depending on course availability. In addition, students must take two (2) China-/East Asia-related courses in other disciplines of the Humanities and Social Sciences, including but not limited to political science, philosophy, religion, art/art history, history, gender studies, anthropology and sociology.

To complete a combined AOC with another program, students are required to take the 5th-semester course (or equivalent) of Chinese language, two (2) courses in classical or modern Chinese culture, and one (1) China-/East-Asia-related course in the Humanities or Social Sciences.

For additional requirements, check out our General Catalog.

Here’s a list of recent course offerings in Chinese Language & Culture:

First-Year Modern Chinese I & II
This is the first introductory language course in Modern Standard Chinese (Putonghuà) designed for students with little or no background with a focus on speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills. The first semester, which will cover the first 10 chapters in the Integrated Chinese (Third Edition), introduces the basic phonetic system, some basic grammar, the writing system, and everyday conversational vocabulary and sentence patterns. Our in-class meetings will concentrate on the training of oral and aural skills. Students are also required to attend a one-hour lab session or group meetings with the TA.

Second-Year Modern Chinese I & II
This course is open to students who have completed First Year Modern Chinese I and II (or equivalent). Building upon the vocabulary and sentence structures mastered in the first year, students will learn more useful expressions and more complex structures, and continue to develop greater fluency and competency in listening, speaking, reading and writing. Students are expected to grasp all the major grammar points by the end of the year and will be introduced to different aspects of Chinese culture and society.

Third-Year Modern Chinese I & II
Full course for one semester. This course is designed for students who have completed at least two years of Chinese language (or equivalent). It is designed to expose students to more advanced and comprehensive knowledge of Mandarin Chinese, emphasizing both linguistic capacity and communicative competence. While students continue to expand their vocabulary and their understanding of grammar and structure, students will begin to discuss in greater depth both orally and in written forms, on various cultural topics and by using more sophisticated sentence patterns and expressions. Students will learn to read and write in a variety of styles of written Chinese, such as descriptive, expository, and argumentative.

Introduction to Classical Chinese
Intensive introduction to the grammar of classical Chinese through the study of selections from ancient literary, historical, and philosophical texts. This course can also be offered as a group tutorial depending on the student needs.

Fourth-Year Readings in Modern Chinese
This course explores modern and contemporary Chinese literature, culture and society through intensive and extensive reading of original essays and short stories by well-known writers and critics. In addition to issues related to literature, we will also discuss cultural, social and economic changes in contemporary Chinese society through one or two films. Students are expected to work hard and expand their vocabulary, and further develop skills in listening, speaking, reading comprehension and writing. The emphasis is on rapid reading, reinforced by conversations and compositions. Students will continue to learn new grammatical points, but more importantly, they will review and practice grammar/sentence structures already learned in the past through discussion, reading and writing.

Cinema and Cultural Memory: “New Cinema” in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China
This course is designed for students who are interested in either film or in Modern Chinese society and culture. Through a comparative exploration of films made in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the PRC, three different “Chinese” regions, in the recent decades, we will study Chinese cinema as a unique genre of modern arts, a powerful social and political discourse, and an instrument of cultural memories. In other words, we will explore what cinematic styles and techniques employed by generations of filmmakers and how cinematic differences and changes reflect social, cultural, and political concerns, and demonstrate diversities, specificities, contradictions, as well as interactions within and between these Chinese communities.

Heroism and Chinese Narratives
What makes a Chinese hero? How does the image of a hero vary across time and media? How do gender, sexuality, and class affect the construction of a hero in literature? How do stories and images of heroes contribute to the formation of an individual’s identity? We will discuss these issues while reading stories about valiant warriors, wise ministers, selfless martyrs, loyal bandits and unruly gods in traditional Chinese narratives. Many of these characters, such as the female warrior Mulan, the Hegemon King of Chu, the General Guan Yu, and Monkey King, have entertained popular imagination both in and outside China. By tracing the heroic prototypes and their transformations into mock heroes, anti-heroes, and female heroes that occurred in literature especially during historical transitions, we will observe the historical, social, and literary changes in the imperial China. Most of the readings are short prose fiction and chapters from longer fiction. Important contextual materials will be provided, such as historical reviews and excerpts from the treatises of early schools of thought such as Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism. Movie clips will also be used to illustrate modern reception and transformation of traditional heroes. All readings are in English.

Classical Chinese Literature – A Survey
The purpose of this course is to acquaint students with some of the world’s greatest literature through the exploration of selected masterworks produced in China over a three thousand year span ending in the 19th century. While it is impossible to cover such a long period in a truly comprehensive way, readings will include examples from most of the major literary forms, genres, and writers and will demonstrate the trends of cultural continuity, innovation, and reinvention in pre-modern China.  Students are expected to acquire the basic skills to conduct textual analysis of literary texts and to familiarize themselves with some major resources for further research. All readings will be in English translations; Classes will combine lecture and discussion formats.

Modern Chinese Literature: A Survey
The purpose of this course is to provide an overview of Chinese literature of the twentieth century covering major literary genres such as fiction, poetry, prose and essay. It introduces major Chinese writers and literary trends in the twentieth century, emphasizing the intricate relationship between literature and social change, between narration and nation as “imagined communities,” between modern intellectuals and their audience. It focuses on the literary and cultural “obsession with China” as well as the complex issue of modernity in relation to tradition, gender, sexuality, and revolution, exploring important literary trends and cultural events while introducing such key terms as literary revolution, New Culture movement, May Fourth movement, Left-wing literature, root literature, avant-garde literature, and postmodern literature. All readings are in English translations.

Revolution, Love and Modern Chinese Fiction and Film
This course investigates the popular formula of revolution plus love in modern Chinese fiction. Revolution has been a major literary and cultural motif in twentieth-century China as the past century was often viewed as a century of revolution, and the Chinese revolution has been intimately related to the theme of love, personal freedom and women’s liberation. It focuses on such issues as revolution in love, love in revolution, revolutionization of love, romaticization of revolution, and body and revolution; at the same time, it explores the historical developments of this formula, paying attention to its connection to the formula of “beauty and talented scholar,” which has been widely popular in classical Chinese literature. This course emphasizes detailed textual analysis, content and form. Students are to learn not just to summarize but to critique, to have an opinion, about characters, structures and writers, with or without further research. All readings are in English translations.

The Representation of Youth in Modern Chinese Literature and Film
This course explores the representation and construction of youth and youth culture in modern and contemporary literature and film in the context of modernization, revolution and globalization. Power relationships between the modern and the traditional, the urban and the rural, the younger generation and the older generation will be investigated in relation to identity issues of gender, class, sexuality, ethnicity and nationality. Course materials will include texts from Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Overseas Chinese history perceived and represented themselves. Primary and secondary materials are in English.

The Cult of Qing: Culture and Literature in the Late Ming and Qing China
In this reading-intensive seminar we will explore the concept of qing (variably translated as “love,” “desire,” or “sentiments”), an important catalyst of literary invention and production in late Ming and Qing China.  Qing is a defining element in a wide range of literary works of diverse genres including short stories, informal essays, plays, and full-length novels from the late 16th-century to the 18th-century China.  We will start with debates on qing in ancient philosophies and among the 16th-century literati, which we will examine with references to Western theories on sexuality and gender, and go on to unravel the central conflicting desires in the Chinese texts, such as private love vs. social duty, beauty vs. morality, female talent vs. virtue, heterosexual desire vs. homosocial brotherhood, etc..  At the same time, we will attempt to historicize qing by examining the cultural and historical context of these works, including the rise of merchants, material culture and quotidian aesthetics, the revival of print culture, and the dynastic transition from Ming (1368-1644) to Qing (1644-1911).  Our discussion will focus on the canonical novel The Story of the Stone (Hong lou meng 红楼梦) from the sixth week.  Through a careful reading of this voluminous novel that contains all the important literary genres including poetry and theater, the students are expected to grasp the narrative conventions in Chinese vernacular fiction and gain a deeper understanding of the literary culture of this period.

Traditions of “the Strange” in Classical Chinese Literature
This course explores narrative conventions and cultural functions of a prominent tradition in classical Chinese narratives, writing about the strange.  This tradition gave rise to two short narrative genres: zhiguai 志怪 (“records of the strange”) and chuanqi 傳奇 (“transmissions of the marvelous”), so favored by literati writers that they have continued to enrich the otherworldly imagination of modern and contemporary Chinese writers.  We will start with the earliest narratives that illuminate the basic religious concepts and death rituals, trace the development of writings of the strange as a literary tradition, and then focus on the 17th-and-18th-century, when the last and perhaps the most traumatic dynastic transition in Imperial China gave rise to a revival of the literary fantastic and strange.  The major issues we will discuss in class include the interactions between fiction and history, how to theorize the literary strange, gendered imagination of the strange, dream and memory, and social critique embedded in the narratives of the supernatural.  Classes combine lectures and discussions and a tour to the Ringling Museum of Art.

Selected Tutorials in Classical Chinese:
Introduction to Classical Chinese
This group tutorial introduces classical Chinese to students who have completed at least three years of learning modern Chinese or present proficiency of the same level.  The course serves two goals.  One is to expose students to the written official Chinese used in China and other East Asian regions from ancient times until the early twentieth century and to the traditional Chinese characters that are still used in many Chinese-speaking regions and particularly important for scholarly work on pre-modern China and East Asia.  The other goal is to strengthen students’ mastery of the modern Chinese by demonstrating semantic and syntactic residues of classical Chinese and through translating selected pieces from the classical to modern Chinese.  The group meets weekly.  We will finish the ten lessons from the Unit 1 in Paul Rouzer’s “A New Practical Primer of Literary Chinese”, which includes a series of brief anecdotes introducing the grammar of the language and exercises that help the student to internalize standard linguistic patterns.  Supplementary materials will be given to reinforce students’ reading skills and understanding of certain cultural and literary issues.  A poetry session will be added at the end of the semester.  In addition to the textbook exercises, students are required to do Newdle assignments including recording, translating, and commenting on the primary texts.

Reading Romance of the Three Kingdoms
This intensive reading tutorial focuses on The Romance of Three Kingdoms, a fascinating 16th-century full-length novel of 120 chapters that are peopled by warriors, advisors, and statesmen vying for power and order during the turbulent years from the end of the Han dynasty to the Three Kingdoms era.  The group read 10 chapters before each weekly meeting.  Each student is assigned a major character on whom s/he should focus in discussing the original text and in researching on secondary materials.  Our discussions cover a broad range of topics from narrative conventions, historical background and transformation in fiction, and the remaking of history in fiction.  Students are expected to exchange observations on the novel and to share discoveries and difficulties in conducting research.

Reading The Story of the Stone
The eighteenth-century full-length novel The Story of the Stone is considered a milestone in the canon of pre-modern Chinese literature and has hold its influence on Chinese readers of all ages and walks of life till today.  Students who read selected chapters from this novel often express their interest in finishing the whole novel.  This group tutorial is therefore designed to meet this shared desire and to make use of students’ different approaches and goals owing to their previous exposure. In the first mod, each student finds a character or a topic to follow and to present at the meetings.  While focusing on the fictional world of the novel and trying to unpack the dense allusions and implications in its intricate narrative interspersed by poetry, the group also share their observations of and thoughts on more general issues in gender and sexuality, body politics, aesthetics, material culture, and contemporary pop culture etc.  TV adaptations of this novel in the 80s and in 2010 offer optional supplements to the reading and discussion.

Selected Tutorials in Modern Chinese Literature:
Group Tutorial: Sex and the City: Contemporary Chinese Women Writers
This tutorial examines the theme of sex and the city in contemporary Chinese literature by women in Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong . The city/the urban space, as opposed to the countryside/the rural space, had been marginalized (demonized to a point) in Chinese literary history ways. And no cities are more famous than Shanghai, Taipei and Hong Kong. Focusing on stories about these cities, this tutorial intends to explore the relationship between urban women (women’s bodies), the urban space, colonial history, globalization and popular culture while paying attention to the similar and different ways (women’s ) sexuality and the city are constructed. Students are required to read two women writers on each city, a total of six novels by six women writers.

Group Tutorial: In the Mood for Love: Romance and Contemporary Chinese Popular Culture
This tutorial examines the construction of romance and love in popular Chinese culture ( film in particular and some TV series) since the 1990s. Students are to contextualize the romantic imagination within specific historical time and space, investigating gender identities (construction of both femininity and masculinity), race, class in relation to the urban space as well as economic and cultural globalization/westernization. Students are welcome to do comparative studies between China and Korea/Japan. Sample films include Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love, Jiang Wen’s In the Heat of the Sun, Ann Hu’s Shadow Magic, Jin Yimeng’s Sophie’s Revenge, etc. Students are required to watch films, read assigned essays and write in-depth response paper each week during the first MOD. During the second MOD, students will work on putting together a 15-20-page term paper based on their previous writings.

Group Tutorial: In Pursuit of Happiness: Love, Laughter and the Rise of Romantic Comedy in Contemporary China
This tutorial focuses on the cultural politics of emotions in contemporary Chinese romantic comedy, bringing together two areas of inquiry–emotion and romantic comedy. Since Feng Xiaogang’s Be There or Be Square (Bujian busan, 1999) that set the then box-office record for domestic film to Xue Xiaolu’s Finding Mr. Right (Beijing yushang xiyatu, 2013) that has earned RMB500 million, romantic comedies have played an important role in reviving the vulnerable film industry in China. The tutorial explores the intricate relations between commercialization and censorship, globalization and virtual space, between artistic expression and audience appeal.

Group Tutorial: Modern Chinese Writers: Mo Yan and Yu Hua
This tutorial on two of the most important modern Chinese writers Yu Hua and Mo Yan explores issues of modernity, nation, gender, revolution, sexuality and youth in the age of gloablization through reading major works by these two authors.  Students are expected to read two novels of each author published during similar time period so as to produce informed  and well-grounded comparative studies of them, focusing on form, language, character, issue, etc. After this comprehensive comparative analysis, students have the option to choose which author of the two they would like to read, based on their recent reading experience.

Group Tutorial: Short Stories in Chinese
This tutorial is open to advanced students in Chinese. Students will be reading short stories by famous authors such as Eileen Chang and Yu Hua and write a short response paper or summary of the stories. Then students will present their writings in class as a form of discussion. The emphasis is on reading comprehension, fast-pace reading, as well as speaking and writing.

Selected ISPs:
Chinese Idioms
This ISP on Chinese Idioms combines language learning with cultural understanding. Each Chinese idiom is usually associated with a story collected in classical texts, and the goal of the ISP is for students to not only learn the meanings of the idioms, but also know how to tell the story, in Chinese with correct intonations. Students meet once a week for 2-2.5 hours. Each week, students are to read one assigned story of a Chinese idiom, and find another idiom and its story on their own on websites suggested by the instructor. During the meeting, students discuss the assigned idiom and make sure they all understand the story and the meaning of the idiom. Then each student presents his/her own idiom and its story while presenting a situation that would use the idiom. The ISP ends with a final exam in which students identify (by pronouncing with correct tones and explaining the meaning of) idioms as the idioms were called out.

Red Sorghum in Art
Inspired by the novel “Red Sorghum” we read for a modern Chinese literature course. Student decided to create a few illustrations for the story, drawing upon her background in Western art and interest in classical Chinese painting and modern woodcut art. The goal was to produce pieces of artwork representing her own reading of the novel, and she was expected to explain her vision of the project as a whole, and then how each particular illustration fits into that vision. We met once a week discussing her artistic productions as well as interpretation of the novel and her rational for choosing a particular scene (from the reading) or technique (color, lines, etc.).

For a complete list of courses, click here.

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Outcomes

Kathleen Brindley ’12 studied Chinese Language & Culture at New College and wrote her thesis on “Transformations of White Snake.” Prior to graduation she earned a full scholarship from the Chinese government to attend Nanjing University, where she is completing her master’s degree in China Studies in English. Here is what she has to say about her experience in China and how New College benefited her.

“After graduating from New College I went straight on to start my master’s program at Nanjing University studying China Studies in English while taking Chinese classes in my free time. I received a full China Government Scholarship for my master’s and Nanjing University lets me study Chinese language for free. Although the master’s program is not up to the rigor of New College, I was aware this might be the case before arriving and any disadvantage is countered by learning Chinese culture with perhaps the least amount of Western influence possible. I am still improving my Chinese language, getting a master’s degree that is fully paid for, gaining cultural living experiences, and getting to conduct my own qualitative research!

“Over the past year, I’ve also briefly volunteered for a TV show company improving the English translations in their scripts and coaching an actress for her role in an upcoming TV drama 四十九日 (“49 days”) about the Nanjing Massacre (you might know its recent film version called “Flowers of War”), and I’ve been in a few episodes of a web documentary recording the lives of foreign students in China. I’ve also helped the principal of Nanjing’s Pheonix English International schools with design and naming decisions for a new elementary school! He has big dreams of opening 20 more schools within Jiangsu province next year, and I think he can do it!  He is also the President of the Pheonix Publishing Media Corporation, so I’ve also helped him with some of the set up for an international-student-based coffee store inside one of their nearby Pheonix Foreign Language Bookstores.

“This semester I have also been studying for the GRE and researching International Relations/Politics Ph.D. programs in the US. I’m excited at the prospect of being able to take my knowledge and first-hand experiences with me into a Ph.D. program. ”

Although our Chinese Language and Literature program is still quite young, New College is proud of our numerous graduates who have built upon their Chinese studies at New College to further their education and careers. Here’s a sampling of what some of them are up to:

• Kate Boeyen is the foreign teacher manager at Mini English in Xiamen, Fujian, China.

• Nolan Bensen is attending graduate school at Columbia University for a master’s degree in East Asian Languages and Culture. While still a student at New College, Nolan earned a Critical Language Scholarship from the U.S. Department of State for study in Beijing. He is one of four New College students who has received one of these prestigious scholarships to China since 2010.

• Jacob Long was awarded a Confucius Institute Scholarship and is currently teaching English at Suzhou University in Anhui province.

• Lacey Sigmon studied abroad through CET’s Intensive Chinese Language Program and is currently attending graduate school at the University of Michiganworking toward her master’s degree in urban planning. Her research focuses on Chinese cities and the developmental issues they face.

• Anthony Circharo completed his AOC in Political Science/International and Area Studies but used the Chinese language experience he gained at New College to earn a Fulbright Scholarship to China. He currently is the admissions director for the Songwood College of Chinese.

• Sarah Brown was awarded a U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarship to study Chinese in Nanjing, China, and  currently works as a teacher/ coordinator at Around America Education in Shanghai, China. Her goal is to secure a position in risk management consulting or custom research that will allow her to develop a strong network of like-minded individuals and groups committed to bridging the gap (both culturally and economically) between China, South East Asia and the United States.

Sample of Graduate Schools Attended by NCF Students in Chinese Language & Literature

• Nanjing University
• Columbia University
• University of Michigan

Senior Thesis

Each academic experience builds toward your senior thesis project. It’s required for graduation, and our students tell us that while it’s demanding, it’s also one of the most rewarding experiences of their lives. Here are some thesis projects in Chinese Language & Literature:

“Rebel within a clause: Innovation in the Poetry of Xue Tao” by Anna Lewis

“Ascending the Heavens on Conjured Dragons:  Differentiating Between Magic and Religion in Chinese Daoist Practice” by Estefan Rodriguez

“The Chinese Examination Interregnum: Civil Service Testing in China Before and After ‘The Century of Humiliation’” by Nolan Bensen

“Strange Romances in a Fallen City: Gothic Domesticity and National Allegory in Zhang Ailing’s Chuanqi” by Jordan Campbell

“A Body of Her Own: PU Songling’s Chivalrous Woman and the Tradition of the Strange” by Kate Boeyen

“Transformations of White Snake” by Kathleen Brindley

“At the Liaison’s Gates: Spirit and Security in Hong Kong” by Benjamin Goodman

“The Local Consumed: Recreating Native-Place on China’s Hilltop Herb Farm” by Rebecca Catherine Christoforo

“A Rehabilitation of Male Subjectivity in the Fiction Of Yu Hua” by Jacob Long

“The Social Geography of Post-Mao Chinese Cities: How Policy, People, and the Market Shape City Space and Urban Lives” by Lacey Sigmon

“Violence and Gender Identities in Mo Yan’s Red Sorghum and Zhang Yiman’s Film Adaptation” by Clare Brown

“The Role of Guanxi in Chinese Economic Transition: Firm Networking & Market Autonomy” by Chelsea Dye

Resources

The Jane Bancroft Cook Library at New College is home to a broad assortment of books, scholarly journals, national and international databases, and other print and electronic media related to the study of Chinese and is available to students throughout the year. The library’s Language Resource Center (LRC) is designed to provide resources and support to language students and faculty. Audio-visual and print resources, language software and games are available. It’s also a social space where students can work individually or in groups as well as relax or interact with each other.

Each year, the New College co-hosts the International Career Development Seminar with Young Professionals for International Cooperation (UNA-USA) Sarasota Chapter. The event has brought in guest speakers from the UN, World Bank, Peace Corps and U.S. Foreign Service along with international organizations in the public and private sector in business, public health and advocacy. Through panel discussions, breakout Q&A sessions and networking with the presenters, students learn about a range of career possibilities around the globe.

Study abroad is highly recommended. Language courses taken abroad may be counted toward your requirements if they lead to at least as much progress as would be expected in a semester at New College. Many students study abroad as part of an Independent Study Project (ISP), a tutorial or as they research their senior thesis. Working with a professor, you can create an Independent Study Project or tutorial for travel during the academic year. You can also participate in the National Student Exchange (NSE).

You might also be interested in…

On Campus

• The China Club
• The Cultural Exchange Club exposes students to different cultures, promotes intercultural tolerance and brings fun and educational cultural events to campus

In the Region

• Confucius Institute of the University of South Florida
• Chinese Language Tests

National Organizations

• Asia Society Chinese Language Initiative
• The College Board Chinese Language & Culture Initiatives
• The Chinese Language Flagship Programs
• Chinese Language Association of Secondary-Elementary Schools – CLASS
• Chinese Language Teachers Association – CLTA
• Chinese School Association in the United States