CET Greater China

The academic rigor of this intensive language program was very high, and there was a lot of interesting and useful content covered in each of our four classes that was supplemented by nightly homework that solidified what we learned each day. All of the teachers were very helpful and approachable whenever I had any questions. And the weekends punctuated each busy week with fun, planned excursions around Harbin, and independently-planned excursions surrounding the region were also encouraged by the staff. All in all, I learned a lot about China and its language this summer.

The program is structured very well. Class work is intense and the language pledge is exhausting. But everyone's Chinese improved significantly. The dorms are VERY nice (almost like hotels) and the staff are all very devoted to the students. The only complaints would be that work was thrown at us at random occasions unexpectedly. Teachers would expect us to complete work in a short amount of time which did not seem fair, and said work was not on the syllabus. Otherwise, the weekend trips were great fun and the director of the program didn't baby us, but at the same time gave us enough support and help about anything and everything.

All in all, I enjoyed my time in Taiwan. The CET staff on the ground, Andrew and Chunling were extremely welcoming and took care of all their students' needs by providing snacks throughout the week and opening up their office for students to come in and chat.

The price is indeed steep and could have been lower if CET didn't provide for cultural immersion experiences, an opening and closing banquet, and a trip to Hualien. In the end, it is a cost for the small perks that we received.

As for the education, CET partners with ICLP-- one of the world's premier Chinese language learning institutions. Normal ICLP students take 4 hours of class but because of the nature of CET's program, CET students take 3 hours of intensive class. One is one-on-one and the other two are small classroom sized (up to 4 students). The classes are flipped-style, meaning that students must prepare their lessons before class and then during class, they are expected to recite them and use the grammar structures that they just learned to converse with their classmates and teachers.

Even though, the program takes place in Taiwan. You are by no means forced to learn traditional Chinese-- ICLP still offers its courses in simplified. But you might absorb some traditional because of the environment.

This added on top of an internship as well as an internship course (which was a bit unnecessary in my opinion) caused me to be overwhelmed at times, especially in the beginning but I gradually caught onto the rhythm of things and learned to manage my time. Let alone making friends with other Taiwanese locales, I did not have the time or energy to make friends with ICLP students. I mainly hung out with my Borderless housemates, who were welcoming and friendly. My experience with Borderless seemed like an exception--as some students were placed very far from NTU or their internships and did not talk with their roommates. Next semester, I believe housing will be different.

CET Taiwan is, however, a one-of-a-kind experience. You won't have a similar opportunity to hold an internship in Taiwan while learning Chinese at the same time.

That said, Taiwan is a beautiful country! Go visit!

If you choose to undertake this program, prepare to have your life changed forever. My two months of language study in Kunming shattered my preconceived notions about Chinese life and culture, and gave me an opportunity to truly assimilate into local life (as much as a foreigner could, at least!). By the end of the program, I was actually reluctant to return home! The language instruction is indeed rigorous, but all means doable, and within a few weeks of arrival, speaking Chinese became more natural than speaking English for me. I found the campus of Yunnan University and the surrounding area to be an incredibly warm and welcoming environment for international travelers and students. To top it off, the rich ethnic diversity, history, culture, and comfortable climate of Kunming, in my opinion, made it the ideal city in China to study. I will forever consider Yunnan in general, and Kunming in particular, to be a second home to me thanks to this experience.

Don't get me wrong, I love America, but CET may have forced me to give China a first-place rank. I started my time in China with the CET Spring Beijing Intensive Term and then I opted to continue into CET Summer Beijing Intensive. CET is incredible because firstly, my Chinese level catapulted from absolutely 0 speaking ability to being able to whole full-blown and fluid conversations with locals. In addition, I will be taking an Advanced Modern Chinese course when I start at university this fall. Secondly, through my 6 glorious months based in Beijing, I was able not only to explore a world-famous city, but also to branch out into China: Xi'an, Tianjin, Shanghai, to name a few. CET and its language pledge (which I would not change for the world) gave me the foundation of language skill confidence to be able to reach far beyond my comfort zone and venture into other Chinese cities. I am so grateful to CET for gifting me with advanced Chinese language skill and a plethora of new cultural experiences. I often question why I came home...

All in all the program was good. The environment was truly immersive. We were given many opportunities to use our Chinese, and in many cases there was no other option than to use Chinese. The majority of local places did not have a way to communicate in English, so Chinese was the only option. The teachers at CET were absolutely fantastic. They were probably the best part of the program. The Academics were very helpful and rigorous, but without the excellent teachers we had, we definitely would not have learned as much as we did. As far as what was the best part about the experience, I would say the city of Beijing in itself. Beijing is a very large and interesting city with many interesting places, so get out and explore. The homework is a lot, but you generally will have plenty of time to check out the city. So explore! When speaking Chinese, the most rewarding times were always when I was alone, exploring the city and engaging with locals in a natural way.

This program was very intense as the name suggests, especially since I was a Chinese beginner. Not being able to speak English for such a long time allowed me to be an observer, which was a very rewarding experience. Get ready for a semester of good food, great friends and going to Salintun every weekend. You will also get to see may great Chinese cultural destinations. My Chinese skills improved so much and I loved every minute of this program. I would suggest this to anyone looking to improve their Chinese speaking ability!

CET Beijing is probably one of the best programs there is in CET. I loved it. It was absolutely amazing. The dorm rooms were very immaculate because there would be someone that would take the trash out about 3 times per week and someone would come in and make your bed once a week (if you lived in zhongguofangzi). I know if you live in keyuan that they take your trash out once a day and make your bed more often than in zhongguofangzi. The classrooms were suitable to the students, and the teachers were ever so friendly and kind. The other students were just as friendly, if not more so and everyone was just all around very sweet. My best advice is to find a group of people to become friends with and do stuff with, such as exploring or shopping. But just so you know, it's okay to do things by yourself too. A lot of people might not want to go see a temple or go to this particular restaurant that you want to go to and that's perfectly fine, you can go there by yourself. But I do suggest not doing everything on your own because it would get lonely at times if you did.