Gatton Academy, WKU Students Participate in Innovative Chinese Language Program

Story Courtesy of WKU News

This week’s View From the Hill television segment also focuses on Chinese Language Flagship.

Ashley Norman of Union, Ky., planned to attend another university until she learned about a new program at Western Kentucky University—The Chinese Flagship Institute Pilot Program.

The Flagship is an intensive, four-year Chinese language program funded through a Diffusion of Innovation Flagship Partner Planning Grant from The Language Flagship of the National Education Security Program at the U.S. Department of Defense.

Norman, who studied Chinese at Larry A. Ryle High School, said she changed her mind “almost instantly” upon learning of the Flagship program and other opportunities offered through WKU’s Honors College.

“The Honors College opportunity and the Flagship program are the primary reasons I decided to attend WKU,” she said. “The Chinese experience I had in high school motivated me to continue with Chinese language education, and I feel as though I caught on to the language rather quickly. For this reason, I felt that an intensive program would keep me enthralled to the highest degree.”

Amy Eckhardt, Director of WKU’s Office of Scholar Development, said WKU and the University of Kentucky are the only universities in Kentucky to offer four years of intensive Chinese language instruction.

“We are part of one of the most exciting innovative advances in foreign language education in this country,” Eckhardt said. “This will provide needed opportunities for Kentucky high school graduates to continue Chinese language studies.”

WKU is one of nine funded programs in the United States, along with Indiana University, Ohio State University, Brigham Young University, Arizona State University, University of Rhode Island, University of Oregon, University of Mississippi and San Francisco State University.

Ed McDermott, program manager for The Language Flagship, said the organization was proud to add WKU by creating the pilot program because of the commitment the University demonstrated in its proposal.

“Western Kentucky demonstrated that it intends to integrate this program across disciplines and meet the students’ needs,” he said. “That’s the direction we want to go.”

WKU has recruited Liping Chen as Academic Director of the Flagship and an assistant professor of Chinese language and linguistics. Dr. Chen, who has a doctorate in linguistics from Rutgers University, came from the University of Pittsburgh where she was the Chinese language coordinator.

“The moment I saw the job posting, I told myself I wanted this job because it fits both my passion and my expertise and experience with Chinese language and linguistics,” Dr. Chen said. “I see WKU as an exciting opportunity to use my expertise in Chinese linguistics and language pedagogy to help shape and develop its Chinese Flagship program.”

The Flagship curriculum incorporates a series of overseas experiences and internships, she said. It is also outcome based and student proficiency level will be measured by a series of assessment tools.

“Clearly, it is an ambitious project that calls for the commitment and dedication from both the administration and the students,” Dr. Chen said. “And I am convinced that WKU has both.”

“Students who participate in the Chinese Flagship program are committing to studying Chinese during their entire course of study at WKU,” Eckhardt said. “Along with access to excellent and personalized teaching and advising, students will receive scholarships to support summer language study and at least two funded overseas experiences in China as part of the pathway to proficiency.”

With China’s importance in the global economy, the Chinese Flagship program will play an important role in Kentucky’s economic development, Eckhardt said. Not only will learning Chinese help students become global professionals, having the program in Kentucky will have a positive impact on the state’s trade relationship with China, she said.

That importance was cited by Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear in a letter to WKU President Gary Ransdell. Beshear, who recently attended an economic development conference in China, said the Flagship program would be a positive correlation for Chinese investors and for economic development with China in Kentucky.

Dr. Ransdell added: “If there is a language that is going to help define this small global village, we’ll put our stake with the Chinese language.”

Eckhardt added that Chinese is also considered a critical language to the U.S. military.

Rachel Reetzke, a senior from Franklin, enrolled in the Flagship program after traveling to China this summer through the Honors College. For one month she volunteered and observed at the Chengdu Autism Training Center as an independent research project.

“It was through my volunteering and observations that I developed a passion for further learning the Chinese language in order to continue to help the children that I had the opportunity to work with,” the communication disorders major said. “After completing this Flagship program at WKU, I hope to utilize my new language skills to continue helping the individuals with autism in China.”

The Flagship is already attracting the “kind of students every teacher wants,” Dr. Chen said. “They are extremely smart, polite, motivated and dedicated,” she said. Of the 16 currently enrolled in the Elementary Chinese class, eight are members of the Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science in Kentucky, a residential program at WKU for select gifted high school juniors and seniors. Others are studying in areas such as photojournalism, the arts and psychology.

“Students came to my office hour the first day of class to practice their pronunciation and they could tell each other’s Chinese names in the second meeting of class,” Dr. Chen said. “I can’t wait to see them communication in Chinese when we are in China in January.”

Participants in the inaugural Chinese Flagship Institute Elementary Chinese class

WKU Students
Chris Groves, Bowling Green, Ky.
Jesse Hazel, Bowling Green, Ky.
Charles Meredith, Bowling Green, Ky.
Sara Moody, Bowling Green, Ky.
Ashley Norman, Union, Ky.
Angel Piper, Sebree, Ky.
Rachel Reetzke, Franklin, Ky.
Darra Jackson, Atlanta, Ga.

Students in the Gatton Academy for Mathematics and Science in Kentucky at WKU
Amy Cordero, Pikeville, Ky.
Samuel Firkins, Taylorsville, Ky.
Jason Ludden, Columbia, Ky.
Ballard Metcalfe, Eminence, Ky.
Jared Mink, East Bernstadt, Ky.
Joshua Robinson, Elizabethtown, Ky.
Sarah Schrader, Bowling Green, Ky.
Benjamin Venable, LaGrange, Ky.

More about the Chinese Flagship program at WKU

The WKU Chinese Flagship Pilot Program is an intensive undergraduate four-year course of study that leads to an Honors degree in a home major and to certified proficiency in Chinese. It is the only fully articulated four-year Chinese language program in the state and will offer students from Kentucky and throughout the U.S. an affordable, high-quality undergraduate education that combines the study of Mandarin Chinese with rigorous academics in an engaged Honors community setting.

The WKU Chinese Flagship Pilot Program will be an independent Honors-level certificate program housed in University College, with formal affiliations with the Honors College, Potter College of Arts & Letters and the International Office.

No prior Chinese language experience is required, but students must commit to the intensive study of Chinese for the duration of their degree program at WKU.  Students must also commit to a year of study and professional internship in Nanjing, China, and all students must be admitted to,  or be in good standing in, the Honors College.

There is a Pre-Flagship Summer Intensive Language Training for students with no Chinese or with beginning (Novice level) Chinese.  Students (entering freshman, transfer, or currently matriculated students) who are accepted into the program will receive full scholarships for an intensive Mandarin language course in the summer term before their first fall term in the Flagship program.

In years 1-4, students will enroll each year in a minimum of 12 Chinese credits (eight credits in fall and spring and four credits during winter term).  These classes will count toward Honors College credit requirements.
Additionally, each year between the fall and spring semester, students will participate in an intensive four-week Winter Language Practicum in China during WKU’s winter term.   This immersion overseas language program will allow students to engage authentically with the culture and language from the outset. Financial support for this program is available to all Flagship students through the generous support of the Honors College and the Office of Internationalization.

All students graduating in this program will complete a capstone year of study at Nanjing University and an internship experience in China. The timing of the Capstone year is determined by each student’s language proficiency and academic major.  Staff and faculty from the Honors College, the WKU Chinese Flagship, the Office of Scholar Development, and the Study Abroad office are available to provide guidance and personalized advising to students. While at Nanjing, they complete courses in their major and work individually with native-speaking tutors. Immediately following the semester in Nanjing, scholars complete professional internships at various locations in China.

For more information on WKU’s Chinese Flagship Pilot Program, visit http://www.wku.edu/chineseflagship/ or call (270) 745-2081.

More WKU news is available at http://www.wku.edu/news/index.html and at http://wkunews.wordpress.com/.

For more information, contact Amy Eckhardt, (270) 745-2081.

China, Chinese Language Flagship, Honors College, Office of Scholar Develo, Office of Scholar Development, The Language Flagship, WKU