The U.S. Government Sends Its High School Students to Learn Chinese at Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages and Exchange Experiences with Elementary School Students Studying in Remote Areas

The U.S. Department of State has sent 12 of its top high school students (NSLI-Y Taiwan students) to Taiwan since September of 2023. They have been studying Chinese for eight months at the Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages (WZU). During their stay, they not only learned Chinese but also participated in international educational exchanges by visiting schools in various parts of Kaohsiung, such as the Padan Tribe Elementary and Junior High School (in Shanlin District), Shihhu Elementary School, and Kaohsiung Girls’ Senior High School. The Taiwanese and American students communicated in Chinese and English, and shared their respective local traditional games, cuisine, sports, and culture, enhancing their cross-cultural experiences in a relaxed atmosphere.
　
Since 2017, WZU’s Department of Applied Chinese has been collaborating with the U.S. Department of State and iEARN-USA to organize the National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) scholarship program. The program has provided high-quality Chinese courses and arranged homestays in Kaohsiung to help American high school students develop Chinese communication skills and intercultural communication abilities. Over the past eight years, nearly 270 elite American high school students have benefited from the program.
　
Since their arrival last September, WZU has offered the NSLI-Y students a rich array of cultural experience courses, including wearing frog suits to catch groupers at the Yong’an Fish Farm (in Kaohsiung), preparing banquet meals (in Neimen District, Kaohsiung), carrying palanquins around the Songboling Shou Tain Gong Temple (in Nantou County), picking and processing tea as well as assembling black tea-related cultural and creative works at a tea garden (in Mingjian Township, Nantou County), tracing the Sanzhan North River (in Hualien), and learning woodworking under the guidance of carpenters in a workshop (in Taitung), immersing them deeply in Taiwanese culture.