By Ana Ceballos, Staff Writer
It has been approximately five years since San Diego State began taking part in the Summer Service Learning Program in China. With support from the Wang Foundation and Tsinghua University, students are able to participate in a program that helps alleviate poverty through education. The program consists of two sessions: one month of intensive Chinese language and culture study at Tsinghua University in Beijing and two weeks implementing a service learning program in one of Tsinghua’s 200 e-Learning Centers in China’s poorest regions.
“This program is a great influence on Chinese students deprived from higher education,” President and Vice President for the Association for Chinese Communication Studies Dr. Mei Zhong said. “When a native English speaker teaches them (Chinese students) English they are immediately exposed to a world that was unknown to them.”
Throughout the program students are exposed to the poorest areas in China. This low-cost, high-impact program enables hundreds of Chinese and American students to incorporate a common language in the battle to mitigate chronic poverty at the grass root level by promoting higher education to underprivileged students. Students teach English to elementary and high school level students, and even elementary school teachers in order to nurture the English language in China’s most rural areas.
“The goal is to encourage both Chinese and American students to have a broader understanding of other cultures and to provide critical educational resources to the poorest areas of China,” Zhong said. “The more they learn from the unfamiliar the higher the probability for Chinese students to want a wider perspective about the world.”
According to Zhong, SDSU is the second largest group within the 35 groups involved in the Summer Service Learning Program, and is currently receiving 20 scholarships from the 70 scholarships offered through 10 institutions in the United States. These scholarships include all expenses except airfare and insurance. The scholarship is open to students from any major and at any level of undergraduate or graduate study. Applicants should be native English speakers and have an interest in learning Mandarin and Chinese culture and language. But most importantly, they should have an interest in providing guidance and support to individuals deprived of higher education.
“This was an eye-opening experience,” Summer Service Learning Program returnee Ashley Shoshan said. “I am looking forward to going back to China and teaching English full time, there is a huge difference that can be made with service programs like these.”
