Background to Modern China
In order to give students an understanding of the developments in China over the past 100 years, the system of government, rapid economic growth and opening since 1978, this survey course will meet four times and provide a background for the students’ work with community service organizations.  

 

Background to Modern Shanghai
This class, meeting just once, will introduce students to the complexities of modern Shanghai and enable them to better understand their environment before beginning their community service work.  

Mandarin
Mandarin classes will meet for two periods each class day.   The major instruction will be in tutorials of four to five students each with similar levels of proficiency in Mandarin as determined by placement tests given at the beginning of the program.   Teachers will be native-speakers, undergraduates or graduate students trained at one of the four Shanghai universities that offer degrees in teaching Mandarin to non-native speakers: Fudan University, East China Normal University, Shanghai Normal University, and Shanghai Foreign Language University.  

For beginners, there will be a focus on conversational Mandarin that will enable the students with no previous background in Mandarin to function in the culture.   Work on vocabulary that is based on what students will need for their homestays, navigating the city, or ordering in a restaurant will equip the students to practice immediately what they have learned.   Those with ability in Mandarin will have programs tailored to their particular level and interest.   More advanced students will read Chinese texts and have classes conducted exclusively in Mandarin.  

A wide variety of teaching aids will assist the small-size tutorials in greatly increasing each student’s facility in the language.   Books and DVDs of the appropriate level will be furnished to the students.   The advanced facilities of the Gezhi High School language laboratory will be available to students to help increase their listening ability and perfecting their mastery of Mandarin tones.  

Perhaps most importantly, everywhere the students turn there will be opportunities to practice, practice, practice the Mandarin that they have just learned.  

COMMUNITY SERVICE

Students will have the opportunity to work with one or two leading Shanghai community service organizations. Far removed from just reading about important issues facing China, students will actually be engaged in doing something to benefit the community. Students will meet with the directors or founders of these non-governmental organizations to hear what motivated them to begin their community work and hear what challenges and successes they have experienced. Students will roll up their sleeves and work alongside the needy and other volunteers.

At the end of the program students will be asked to assess their experience, what they have learned, and what possible new ideas they will take home with them.

Choosing a Community Service Organization
After applications for this Perspectives program are reviewed and students have been accepted and enrollment completed, students will be contacted individually to ascertain their particular interests and to inform them of the various community service opportunities that will be available. In some cases students will form a team weeks before the opening of the program in Shanghai to help design programs in conjunction with the sponsoring community service programs. All students will be informed before arriving in Shanghai as to which service organizations they will be working with and the type of work they will be doing.

Because of the complexity of linking students to various projects around Shanghai, the final scheduling of Mandarin classes and community service work time can only be done after the community service projects are scheduled. Thus, on some days students may spend their entire day doing community service. On other days, their time may be split half-and half between Mandarin and community service. It may also happen that they will spend the entire class day working on their Mandarin.

Foundation Global Education has formed good relationships with many community service organizations in Shanghai. Here is a list of some of the groups that students will have an opportunity to work with next summer.*

Grass Roots Community
Founded in 2000 by recent graduates of Fudan University and dedicated to “giving hope to the disadvantaged” and to promoting “the values of public interest in the community,” the work of this community of more than 2,000 volunteers since its founding, including lawyers and college students, has offered free legal advice, developed environmental protection and education programs, and helped children at the Sunflower Supplementary School for the Children of Migrants. The stated mission of Grassroots Community is, “Through mobilizing and encouraging volunteers to participate in community service to enrich the spirit life of the volunteers and to give hope to the disadvantaged.”

Hands on Shanghai
Hands on Shanghai coordinates volunteer work throughout Shanghai in a variety of projects such as providing education and training for physically and mentally challenged individuals, environmental protection, elderly visiting, and working with underprivileged young children.

Shanghai Wildlife Protection Center
This organization of more than 100 volunteers from all walks of life was founded in 2003 and is committed to environmental education and protection, especially in the protection of wild birds. The natural habitats for these birds are presently threatened by development and the birds themselves are often hunted for eating and for selling to restaurants.

Roots and Shoots
This international program of the Jane Goodall Institute has as its slogan, “The Power of Youth is Global.” Roots and Shoots is active in Shanghai and particularly at Gezhi High School. Our students will have a chance to work alongside Chinese high school students in environmental protection projects.

Jiu Qian Volunteer Service Founded by a college graduate in 2002 who, due to his concern about the difficulties of the more than 400,000 children of migrant workers who live in Shanghai, rented an apartment with his own money and devoted himself to the cause of helping these children to become more skillful, open-mind, responsible, and confident…empowering them through after-class education and music. Jiu Qian now has a staff of three, twenty volunteers, and works with one hundred students of high school age in four schools. Our students will tutor students in English and work with them to create a performance for their parents and the community.