CET Greater China

CET Taiwan was my very first experience traveling abroad. I've never really been away from home for an extended period of time; even at university, I visit home quite often, and my summer work also allows me to work at home. But for the duration of my time in the CET Taiwan program, I never had even one homesick day. Actually, for me, the saddest thing about this program is that it ended and that I had to go home.

I would recommend this program to the following...

...students who have never traveled abroad or to Asia. Taiwan is a friendly and beautiful city. If you think Taiwan's too "westernized", you need to do some self introspection regarding why you think that (hint: you have some existing prejudices that should be addressed with lots of research). Taiwan is a beautiful island with a diverse history. The city you live in--Taipei--is large, eventful, and incredibly convenient with regards to shopping and transportation. The metro system is clean and punctual. The convenience stores are always stocked with cheap food, snacks, and daily necessities. A good restaurant is always within walking distance of a short ride on the metro or the bus. No matter how late it is, you can walk home in the streets without any fear. It is the best city for any first time traveler simply based on its convenience and safety.

Not only this, but our resident and internship directors were the most amazing and receptive people to ever oversee our program. Anytime we had an issue, they were always there to help us resolve it. They also organize amazing extracurricular activities and trips! The two of them really made our program worth every minute.

...students who are double majoring in Chinese and something else. CET Taiwan has a mandatory internship component. The internship component allowed me to keep up with my Computer Science major (I worked as a junior Rails developer for a marketing company), so when I returned to my home university, I wasn't any step behind my CS peers as far as coding experience was concerned. I not only improved my Chinese, but my coding abilities just as well. However, because CET Taiwan is a new program, some internship opportunities are hit or miss; some, like mine, were a wonderful addition to my Chinese learning, but I had some classmates who didn't have the same experience. If you have a second major or a strong extracurricular interest and express this clearly to the internship director, then you may improve your chances of landing an incredible internship.

...students who want to improve their Chinese as much as possible in the shortest amount of time. Students in CET Taiwan are enrolled in the ICLP at National Taiwan University. This translates to the first (and the best) International Chinese Language Program at the top university in Taiwan. ICLP was the first of its kind before any program in the mainland, and every teacher at ICLP is incredibly esteemed, usually having taught at top Chinese language programs in America. Class sizes are between one to four (five is usually considered too much), so individual attention is a given. There are many students at ICLP and many courses, ranging from introductory to intermediate and high-level culture (contemporary Taiwanese culture and society, studying radio plays, newspaper reading, ancient Chinese fables, short stories). There are one-on-one classes as well, where you spend a whole hour every single day with just yourself and your teacher! The classes are rigorous and have a strong emphasis on speaking over writing. Leaving CET Taiwan, your Chinese abilities will definitely be much stronger than when you came in.

It goes without saying, however, that CET Taiwan is incredibly rigorous! You take three hours of courses that may begin at around 8 AM and end at 12 with a break somewhere in between, then attend your internship, and then have to do a large amount of homework and preparation when you get home. Excelling in this program is definitely all about time management!

CET Beijing Intensive Language program provided me with a wonderful learning experience. The program was certainly intensive. I spent 3-4 hours a day studying, and sometimes the workload was a bit daunting for me. The academic rigor, while intense, was really valuable and was central to my progress. Aside from the academics, CET housed me with a student from Beijing. He was a fundamental part of my experience in Beijing and I have come to know him as a friend. In tandem with academic study, during your time in Beijing it's imperative that you also practice, A LOT. I feel great now and have seen real progress (completed the equivalent of at least one year of study in the span of two months). I now feel comfortable engaging in a number of day to day activities: buying food, navigating public transportation, going clubbing, making friends, and many more. I had a great time in Beijing, and I'm sure you will too.

The CET Intensive Language Program in Beijing Provided me with a wonderful experience. The curriculum certainly felt demanding at times, but the workload facilitated real progress in my fluency of the language. Aside from the academic experience, living in Beijing without restriction was a transformative experience. My roommate was a fundamental part of my time in Beijing. Living and studying with him was great, and he was and is still a valuable friend that I can practice Mandarin with. When I come back to Beijing, It'll be nice to have a friend there. I learned how to navigate public transportation, buy food, make friends, go clubbing, and many other day to day activities all in Chinese! Overall, my experience was an amazing and memorable one. Sure it was daunting and even a little scary at first, but ultimately one of the best times of my life. I can't wait to go back.

Before I left for Shanghai, CET promises the stars, they promised a summer study program at a rigorous university, Chinese language and elective classes taught by highly skilled proffesors, as well as a job internship in the heart of finincial capital of China. As the old saying goes, if something sound too good to be true, it probably is. But just 2 months after the experience, I can safely say that, if anything, CET was underselling the experience. This trip was a tranformative experience for me, as not only did my language skills improve , but I also gained the confidence and affirmation that I could actually use them to live, work , and in China, as well as gaining a global perspective on how a vastly different culture views and engages Work and education related mores and traditions. Studying abroad, and this program in particular, is something I cannot recommend hard enough to anyone/

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.