Perspectives programs interweave information and experience, so that what you hear in class helps you understand more deeply what you experience and what you experience helps you understand what you hear in class.   Working with community service organizations will be rich in experiences and class time will help you to reflect on what you are learning, share what you have learned with others, and gain perspective through understanding more about the historical and contemporary context.   Here are just some of the experiences that you can expect to have as part of the Community Service-Mandarin program.  

Asking your homestay families in Shanghai and Suzhou about the effects of the one-child policy

Attending question and answer sessions with government, business, and education leaders about the state of China and their view of its future

Being shown around a traditional Chinese water town by students from the local high school and having them introduce you to the local delicacies over lunch

Designing and implementing a plan to protect migratory birds with members of the Shanghai Wild Birds Society and learning the basic issues and the ways to take effective action to protect these birds that are now often hunted for food or to be sold to restaurants

Discussing with business leaders the challenges they face in working towards sustainable development

Enjoying long discussions with Chinese college students, who are serving as program teaching assistants, comparing education in China with education in other countries

Gaining an understanding and appreciation for those Chinese not benefitting from the rapid economic growth by working alongside them in community service projects

Searching out and eating in restaurants featuring the distinctive cuisines from around China.   Then planning menus at those restaurants for students from the entire program

Holding your Mandarin tutorial in a traditional Chinese tea house

Learning first-hand about the problems that go along with the new wealth and extreme construction projects that are the more visible symbols of the new Shanghai

Learning to navigate the city–the subways, buses, taxis–so that after four weeks Shanghai, the city of 20 million, feels like “your” city

Practicing your Mandarin skills bargaining at a street market, ordering in a restaurant, or trying to compare views of your favorite musical groups with a Chinese high school student

Reading, discussing, and asking a wide variety of Chinese to learn just what the “Confucianism” that is so talked about really means

Hearing from government officials describe what the city of Shanghai has done and is now doing to improve the environment Stretching your Mandarin reading and speaking skills on a Mandarin-only city scavenger hunt

Asking Liu Yonglong, General Secretary of Grassroots Community, why, after graduating from Fudan University and working in the for-profit business world, he decided to leave his job and take on the leadership of this volunteer organization

Working alongside Zhang Yichao, a young man who graduated from college in 2001 and then single-handedly founded a non-governmental organization to help disadvantaged children

Learning to improve your badminton and ping pong skills from intensive instruction from Chinese high school students