News

Chinese Students Spending Semester at SLUH

by Joel Ocampo '13
Prep News

Three new Chinese exchange students have joined the SLUH community for the second semester: Jerry Jiannan Yang, Cathryn Yining Chen, and Tom Qitong Cao.  Since 1994, SLUH has hosted a select number of students from its sister school in China, the Nanjing Foreign Language School, which sends its students in order to immerse them in American culture and help them gain a greater understanding of the English language.

The Nanjing Foreign Language School is known as one of the leading foreign language schools in China and prepares many of its students to study and work internationally. As part of their education in the Nanjing Foreign Language School, the students have been learning the English language since the age of nine.

When asked about the differences between the learning experience at SLUH and the classroom experience in China, Cao said, “The campus is large, and we have to find our classrooms, but the faculty and students are very helpful and answer any questions that I have.” All three of the students commented on the liveliness around SLUH and really enjoy the energy and class participation that they have found in each of their classes.

Yang expressed his excitement for the hands-on activities and labs. “There are many devices here which is different from the classrooms in China,” he said.

As the three students spend the semester here at SLUH, the host families will expose them to different cities and customs in America.

The students have already experienced many different types of meals such as toast, eggs, and hamburgers. Yang noted that his favorite drink so far has been the gas station slushies which his host family introduced him to on his second day.

In addition to the exchange program, Chinese teacher Ching-Ling Tai is working to initiate a new two-week summer program which would bring more Chinese students, from ages 9 to 17, to different host families from SLUH. Tai hopes to find more host families that will act, as Tai describes, as “tutors creating both a cultural exchange and a long-term friendship with these students.”