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Appalachian awarded funding for second STARTALK Program — an immersion in Chinese language, culture

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Students in Appalachian’s summer 2018 STARTALK Program learn a Chinese fan dance with Rachel Zhao, a teacher at Eastway Elementary School in Durham, far left in foreground, who participated as an instructor in the program. Photo by Ellen Gwin Burnette

Edited by Jessica Stump
Posted May 7, 2019 at 1:45 p.m.

BOONE, N.C. — For the second consecutive year, high school students of the High Country will have the opportunity to embark on a virtual journey to Beijing and learn about Chinese language and culture through Appalachian State University’s STARTALK Program.

Dr. Xiaofei Tu, assistant professor in Appalachian’s Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, received $89,815 from STARTALK — a project funded by the National Security Agency and administered by the National Foreign Language Center — to host the Chinese immersion program on Appalachian’s campus from July 8–26.

Tu collaborated with Dr. Wendy Xie, associate professor in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, for the project.

Students in the program will receive six hours of formal classroom instruction each day and participate in several Chinese cultural activities, such as martial arts/Taiji, calligraphy, painting, Chinese chess games, Chinese singing and dancing, cooking, film viewing and paper cutting/crafts.

Rising ninth through 12th grade students with limited or no previous exposure to Chinese are eligible for participation in the program.

The STARTALK grant covers all program costs — room and board, tuition, textbooks and other learning materials — for the selected students.

To learn more about the program and how to apply, visit https://dllc.appstate.edu/undergraduate/startalk. For questions about the program, contact Tu at 828-262-6649 or [email protected].

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About STARTALK
About STARTALK

STARTALK is a project funded by the National Security Agency and administered by the National Foreign Language Center at the University of Maryland. STARTALK’s mission is to increase the number of U.S. citizens learning, speaking and teaching critical-need foreign languages. STARTALK offers students (K–16) and teachers of these languages creative and engaging summer experiences that strive to exemplify best practices in language education and in language teacher development.

Learn more
‘The High Country Meets the Middle Kingdom’
‘The High Country Meets the Middle Kingdom’

Appalachian’s STARTALK Program immerses students in Chinese language, culture

May 7, 2019

Through the three-week program at Appalachian, 20 students from regional high schools will explore Chinese language and culture in and beyond a structured classroom setting.

Read the story
Learn a language, expand your worldview
Learn a language, expand your worldview

Q&A with Dr. Wendy Xie

May 7, 2019

Appalachian’s Dr. Wendy Xie teaches Chinese. She talks about the value and importance of learning another language.

Read the story

About the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures

The Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures offers courses that enhance students’ understanding of other cultures and languages as well as their own, making them prepared for lifelong learning in a multicultural world. Learn more at https://dllc.appstate.edu.

About the College of Arts and Sciences

The College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) at Appalachian State University is home to 17 academic departments, two centers and one residential college. These units span the humanities and the social, mathematical and natural sciences. CAS aims to develop a distinctive identity built upon our university's strengths, traditions and locations. The college’s values lie not only in service to the university and local community, but through inspiring, training, educating and sustaining the development of its students as global citizens. More than 6,800 student majors are enrolled in the college. As the college is also largely responsible for implementing App State’s general education curriculum, it is heavily involved in the education of all students at the university, including those pursuing majors in other colleges. Learn more at https://cas.appstate.edu.

About Appalachian State University

As a premier public institution, Appalachian State University prepares students to lead purposeful lives. App State is one of 17 campuses in the University of North Carolina System, with a national reputation for innovative teaching and opening access to a high-quality, cost-effective education. The university enrolls more than 21,000 students, has a low student-to-faculty ratio and offers more than 150 undergraduate and 80 graduate majors at its Boone and Hickory campuses and through App State Online. Learn more at https://www.appstate.edu.

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Appalachian Today is an online publication of Appalachian State University. This website consolidates university news, feature stories, events, photo galleries, videos and podcasts.

If you cannot find what you're looking for here, please refer to the following sources:

  • Podcasts may be found at Appalachian State University Podcasts
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Appalachian Today is an online publication of Appalachian State University. This website consolidates university news, feature stories, events, photo galleries, videos and podcasts.

If you cannot find what you're looking for here, please refer to the following sources:

  • Podcasts may be found at Appalachian State University Podcasts
  • Stories and press releases published prior to Jan. 1, 2015 may be found in University Communications Records at the Special Collections Research Center.
  • A university-wide Google Calendar may be found at Events at Appalachian
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