Fall – CHIN 211

  • Fall Start

    • This Semester’s Objectives

      For most students, this is Fall of freshman year.
      Your main objectives are as follows:

        • Get a bead on your academic and extracurricular load.
          Academic Strategies for Fall of Freshman Year
        • Meet our minimum GPA and Chinese course grade to avoid going on probation or being removed (review our Academic Standard).
        • Explore a wide range of courses and extracurriculars.
        • Get to know older Flagship students.
        • (Re-)Assess your 4-year plan (Re-)Assess your 4-year plan (do I need to add / drop / change a major, minor, or special program?)
    • Preliminary Preparation for Spring, Summer, and Beyond

      • Default plan

        • Spring: CHIN 212
        • Summer: CHIN 215 in Shanghai
        • Fall: CHIN 313 back at the Oxford campus

      • Alternate Plan(s): Spring, Summer, and/or Fall abroad

        • Visit our Fall / Spring Abroad page and check whether this might be an advantageous / necessary option.

      • Capstone Plans

        • Every Flagship student must have a plan that includes Capstone
        • Beginning now, and throughout the semester, be considering how any potential changes in your situation, goals, or interests might affect your timeline for attending Capstone.
        • Make an appointment immediately with us if you realize you should/must do Capstone early or are concerned that you may not be able or willing to attend.
          Changes in the Capstone participation timeline usually require strategic changes to occur 4 or 6 semesters before you actually plan to attend, so you cannot afford to put this off.
          Choosing not to go to Capstone usually means exiting our Flagship program. You will want to be strategic in how you do this so as to best achieve your linguistic goals (limited as they may be) and to comple the Chinese major or minor.
    • Logistics

      • Passport

        Make sure that your passport will be valid until at least December of this fall semester. If not, begin the application/renewal process IMMEDIATELY!! See Prepare Your Passport page.

      • Grades

        Take note now of special requirements in the Flagship Academic Standard for attending our Shanghai Universty program, and plan accordingly.

      • Fall Flagship Meeting on Overseas Travel

        Be prepared to attend a briefing in the first week or two of class in which you will hear from older students who spent the summer abroad doing intensive summer programs, including at our Shanghai University site.
        This will be extremely helpful in your own plans. You should take note of which older students have gone where and what their majors and special programs are.
        Identify the ones who will be able to give you good advice in the future that is most relevant to you.

      • Costs & Scholarships

  • Mid Fall

    • Applying for External Scholarships

      Now is a good time to re-check application timelines for any external scholarships you may want to apply to: External Summer Scholarships Page

    • Thinking about Summer

      There’s a good chance that you and your parents will begin thinking about logistics for the upcoming summer.
      While it is too early to take concrete steps at this time, the info below should address some things that may be (and should be) on your mind.

      • Trip Prep: Pre-Departure Briefings 1 & 2

        There will be two pre-departure briefings for the Shanghai summer program. The first will be in early spring and will cover general policies and logistics for purchasing airfare, etc. The second will be in late spring and will cover what to pack, how to approach the language pledge, etc.

      • Trip Planning & Buying tickets

        Advice
        • Do not attempt to buy tickets before the first pre-departure briefing.
        • Every fall, Dr. Yang travels to China to finalize plans with Shanghai University and sign updated contracts. This is very early for a Chinese university.
          If anything were to affect the start and end dates before they are finalized, you may have to pay hundreds of dollars in change fees.
        • There is also the possibility that you may find yourself on probation or even dismissed by the end of this semester, which could affect your strategy in buying tickets.
        • For now, the most productive thing that you and/or your family can do is to talk about your summer dates and how they may affect any other summer plans.
        • You can also talk about whether you would like to stay in China (and/or East Asia) beyond our program dates and travel with friends or family.
          After a few weeks of the summer program, when the workload is at its peak, many students beging wondering why they’re in China when they have to spend so much time with their books.
          The Beijing trip helps, as do some other excursions. Still, it’s easier to stay positive, even at the most challenging moments, when you know that all your hard work will be rewarded with a week or more of unstructured, ungraded interaction with China and its people.
        • This is a good time to talk to other members of your cohort about their own plans and what you might do together.
          Some students have very much enjoyed traveling together around China as well as Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, etc. Some intentionally bought tickets that had stop-overs in one of these countries.
          Airfare among them is relatively cheap, so buying one round-trip ticket to and from China is usually your best bet. Then, you supplement this with other flights, usually with airlines based in East Asia.

  • Fall End

    • Check your grades
      • Once all grades are in, check to make sure that your fall grades have met the Flagship Academic Standard.
        We will write you over the break to let you know if there is any change to your status, but it is a good idea for you to check yourself as well.
    • Locate your passport
      • You must bring your passport to campus at the beginning of spring semester so that we can submit the visa applications promptly.
      • Avoid any chance of missing our deadline and/or possibly having to pay for FedEx by locating your passport and taking any steps to make sure it comes back to campus with you at the end of winter break.
        Set up a reminder on your phone if necessary.
    • Get Feedback On Your Proficiency
      • Students are expected to reach Intermediate Mid (IM) in speaking, listening, and reading, by the end of spring semester.

        If your instructors believe you are behind the curve in your language gains, you will want to dedicate more of your winter break to catching up.

        See “Winter Break Language Maintenance” section below.

    • Check External Scholarship Deadlines

      Once again re-check application timelines for any external scholarships you may want to apply to: External Summer Scholarships Page

    • Degree Progress So Far

      • Course

        Credits

        Toward Major
        CHIN 111 5 –
        CHIN 112 5 –
        CHIN 211 5 –
        Total 15* 0**

        * Subtract credits for any courses you skipped
        ** Courses begin counting on the 300 level (usually fall of sophomore year, or CHIN 313 for Flagship students)

  • Winter Break

    • Winter Break Language Maintenance
      • While you may feel some burn-out from a semester of tests, presentations, and daily quizzes, you will regret it if you put Chinese out of your mind for the whole break.
        Follow any advice your instructor gives you for maintaining your language.
        Using our Quizlet flashcards is a good idea. Go back over old sets and star only the items that you may forget over time (though not necessarily the most obscure characters). Adjust the settings to only quiz you on starred items, and pare them down until you know them all.

        REMEMBER: there are sentence flashcards, too, which could be a more interesting way to identify words and grammar items that may be fading from your memory. Just use the cards that start with Chinese characters, and turn the sound on. Don’t look at the cards as you flip between them; just let the Chinese play and see if you know exactly what’s being said. Eliminate the easy sentences so that you can hear the most useful ones at the highest possible frequency.

    • Prepare Your China Visa Documents for Early Spring (optional but advisable)
      • Completing your China visa application can be a tedious process, involving a number of steps:

        1. Go to a local drug store or post office and get passport photos made
        2. Get cash or a check in the exact amount of the China visa application and brokerage fee
        3. Fight with your computer and printer to get the form filled out electronically (this usually takes multiple attempts)
        4. Get a number of documents and ID’s scanned and/or printed
      • Most of these things will probably be more convenient to do from home than from your dorm room.
      • Look ahead to the China Visa section in “Early Spring” below, and consider completing as many steps as possible. This could save you a lot of trouble in the first week(s) of next semester.

Spring – CHIN 212

  • Spring Start

    • This Semester’s Objectives

      For most students, this is Spring of freshman year.
      Your main objectives are as follows:

        • Work toward spring’s Chinese proficiency benchmarks
        • Start / Finish Applying for Any / All External Summer Scholarships
        • Complete all logistical procedures for our Shanghai program
        • Maintain your grades in all classes
        • (Re-)Assess your 4-year plan (do I need to add / drop / change a major, minor, or special program?)
    • Preparation for Summer, Fall, and Beyond

      • Default plan

        • Summer: CHIN 215 in Shanghai
        • Fall: CHIN 313 back at the Oxford campus
        • Next Spring: CHIN 314 on the Oxford campus
        • Next Summer: mandatory 2nd Summer Abroad

      • Alternate Plan(s): Summer, and/or Fall abroad

        • Visit our Fall / Spring Abroad page and check whether this might be an advantageous / necessary option.

      • Capstone Plans

        • Every Flagship student must have a plan that includes Capstone
        • Beginning now, and throughout the semester, be considering how any potential changes in your situation, goals, or interests might affect your timeline for attending Capstone.
        • Make an appointment immediately with us if you realize you should/must do Capstone early or are concerned that you may not be able or willing to attend.
          Changes in the Capstone participation timeline usually require strategic changes to occur 4 or 6 semesters before you actually plan to attend, so you cannot afford to put this off.
          Choosing not to go to Capstone usually means exiting our Flagship program. You will want to be strategic in how you do this so as to best achieve your linguistic goals (limited as they may be) and to comple the Chinese major or minor.
    • Logistics
      • Passport

        Complete these steps on the first day of Spring Semester

        1. Make sure you have signed your passport
        2. Take a very good scan of your passport

          You can use your phone’s camera, but make the image is clear, has square corners (i.e., an unwarped rectangle), and that all wording is clear and easily legible

        3. Save this file in a secure place, not just on your phone. You will need to be able to access it soon (when you prepare your visa application).
        4. Either

          1. Give your passport to Nate for safe keeping (in a locked file cabinet, in a locked office)
          2. Confirm with Nate that your campus is indeed on campus

          If you forgot your passport at home, you will need to have it FedEx’ed to campus.
          We cannot wait until after spring break to submit your China visa application.

      • Grades

        Take note now of special requirements in the Flagship Academic Standard for attending our Shanghai Universty program, and plan accordingly.

      • Trip Prep: Pre-Departure Briefing #1 of 2

        There will be two pre-departure briefings for the Shanghai summer program.
        The first will be mid-week, most likely in the second week of February.
        It will cover general policies and logistics for purchasing airfare, etc.
        The second will be in late spring and will cover what to pack, how to approach the language pledge, etc.

      • Costs & Scholarships

  • Mid Spring

    • Course Approval Form

      Filling out the signed Course Approval Form (provided by us), dropping it off at Liberal Arts, and then delivering it to the Study Abroad Office several days later (but before the SA application deadline)

    • Study Abroad application

      Completing the online portion of the Study Abroad application and paying the required fee (approx. $110)

    • Visa Application

      ###

    • Summer Financial Aid Application

      Summer Financial Aid Application – Shanghai (CHIN 215)☷

    • Scholarships

      Re-check deadlines for any external scholarships you are applying to: External Summer Scholarships Page

    • Submit Flight Itinerary

      Submitting your flight itinerary to us (both the Shanghai resident director and Nate)

    • Pre-Departure Briefing #1

      There will be two pre-departure briefings for the Shanghai summer program.
      The second will be in late spring and will cover what to pack, how to approach the language pledge, etc.

    • Pre-Departure Briefing #2

      The second pre-departure briefing will be in late spring and will cover what to pack, how to approach the language pledge, etc.

  • Spring End

    • Check your grades
      • Once all grades are in, check to make sure that your fall grades have met the Flagship Academic Standard.
        We will write you over the break to let you know if there is any change to your status, but it is a good idea for you to check yourself as well.
    • Degree Progress So Far

      • Course

        Credits

        Toward Major
        CHIN 111 5 –
        CHIN 112 5 –
        CHIN 211 5 –
        CHIN 212 5 –
        Total 20* 0**

        * Subtract credits for any courses you skipped
        ** Courses begin counting on the 300 level (usually fall of sophomore year, or CHIN 313 for Flagship students)

Post-Sem. OPIc

  • ###########

Preferences for CHIN 417

Summer

  • Overview

    • Flagship Students are strongly encouraged to study abroad after CHIN 314. Students who do not advance their Chinese during the summer between CHIN 314 & CHIN 417 will find themselves far less proficient than their classmates who do. In some cases, students are unable to keep up and eventually leave the program or drop down a level.

      Important: if we are giving you a scholarship, or if you are receiving any summer scholarship from the university, you must

        1. apply to Study Abroad by their deadline in early March, starting well in advance of the deadline in order to gather all necessary materials (some programs, such as Princeton in Beijing, do not have a formal relationship with our SA office and will not require that you apply. In turn, you will not need to pay any SA fees but will not earn any credits)
        2. complete the online Financial Aid summer scholarships form, which becomes available at the end of March or beginning of April.

  • Approved Programs

    • Recommended Programs

      • Below is a list of programs that we recommend, based mainly on the proficiency gains attained by past participants:
        CET Harbin
        Visit the site here.
        ICLP-Taiwan (Flagship option)
        Application Deadline: Jan. 16 (2015)
        Visit the site here.
        Princeton In Beijing – You CANNOT receive Flagship scholarship funds toward PIB. It has no affiliation with our Study Abroad office, and therefore, you cannot be registered or have scholarships processed through the Financial Aid office, which is a requirement of Flagship. Only attend PIB if you are interested and not eligible for, or interested in, Flagship scholarship funding this summer.
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