Taipei, July 3, 2010, 11:00 a.m.
OhStudy Taipei Office
(See here for address and directions.)

Kaohsiung, July 3, 2010, 4:00 p.m.
OhStudy Kaohsiung Office
(See here for address and directions.)

For more information please contact Jenny Lin our Taiwan Representative Office Manager or contact OhStudy in Taiwan.

Congratulations to Ikuko Aoyama, 2005 ALLEX Japanese lecturer at Baylor University and current doctoral student at Baylor, for having her research profiled in the Chronicle of Higher Education this week. See the full article here.

Unscrambling Mandarin Chinese sentences into correct ones is not necessarily an early afternoon brainteaser many students would call a good time. But the eight HWS students working in pairs in teaching Associate Yi-Tung Wu’s Beginning Chinese 101 language lab this semester, were fully engaged in the exercise, and enjoying the challenge.

Not surprising.

Their Taiwanese teaching associate — who like her predecessor last year is at the Colleges because of an award from the Alliance for Language Learning and Educational Exchange (ALLEX) — not only loves her native language, but wants the students she works with to love it as well.

Wu earned her master’s degree from the University of Kansas in education, focusing on teaching English as a second language and has taught English at various capacities in Taiwan. Before coming to HWS, she participated in ALLEX’s intensive, seven-week training program at Ohio State University that taught her the intricacies of teaching Mandarin Chinese to native English speakers.

Speaking from Taiwan, where he recruits top notch language instructors like Wu, ALLEX executive director Tom Mason said providing instructors who are able to effectively teach their native language is key in fulfilling ALLEX’s goal of enhancing high-quality, college level Chinese and Japanese language programs.

That’s reassuring to someone like Jonathan Bernbaum 『10, one of Wu’s students who previously took a stab at learning Chinese in boarding school and wasn’t very comfortable with it.

“It’s so much better learning it here,」 he said, noting he finds the instructional pace much more comfortable in his Beginning Chinese 101 class made up of mostly American students. 「We have a great teaching staff.」

Bernd Kroell 『10, a German native who transferred this year from the University of Cologne, and who is pursuing a dual major in economics and Asian studies, is also quite impressed with the Asian Language and Cultures Department, its Chinese program and the required, two-hour language labs with Wu each week.

The lab is amazing. It’s challenging,」 he said. 「You have a chance to participate. I like coming here. As you can see, it’s a lot of fun,」 he said.

And it’s instruction like Wu’s that makes it fun. Her teaching methods are appropriately animated and upbeat, punctuated with praise and encouragement as indicated. It’s clear she’s created an atmosphere highly conducive to learning and invites student participation.

Each of the nearly 50 HWS students studying Chinese at the beginning, intermediate or advanced level is required to take three class hours with either Professor Chi-Chiang Huang or Assistant Professor Jinghao Zhou and the two labs with Wu in which she works with students on vocabulary, sentence structure and reinforcing what they learn in class.

Though not required, she attends the nine classes each week that Huang or Zhou teaches so that she can stay on top of what students are learning and tailors her instruction to provide additional help where she sees a need. Students are also encouraged to come to her office if they need additional help.

In one class this semester, the teaching associate listened intently as the pairs of students deciphered the intricate Chinese characters and words, and formed sentences. As different students took turns suggesting the right answer, Wu, nodded affirmingly when the responses were correct, repeating them and emphasizing the proper pronunciation of words if mispronounced. Then she had all the students repeat them.

When someone gave an incorrect answer, she would try to get him or her to come up with the correct one.

Huang, also the Chinese Program chair, said he is grateful to have another capable teaching associate through the ALLEX program again this year.

「Yi-Tung is doing great,」 he said and praised the well-trained teaching associates that go through rigorous training and preparation before getting to HWS.

ALLEX places between 40 and 50 Chinese and Japanese instructors in American universities each year with only a few of them going to smaller, private liberal arts colleges. The Colleges compete for them through a highly competitive process.

「I really love working here,」 raved Wu. 「I really enjoy working with my students.」

2007年錄取者郭玫君 Shirley Kuo

Texas Tech University 應用語言學所碩士生

現在想起來，ALLEX讓我美夢成真，有機會實現自己的夢想。

很高興能獲得ALLEX的青睞至美國教中文及唸碩士。我是2006年經 過ALLEX甄選，至美國教書。我現在在德州理工大學Texas Tech University（TTU）的應用語言學所碩士班主修英語教學。同時，我在這所大學的外語學院教美國大學生中文。

我想因為ALLEX，我有機會拓展自己的視野，認識許多不同的文化，最重要的是，我實現了我留學的美夢，並且在這同時豐富了 我的工作經驗，讓華語教學成為我的第二專長。感謝ALLEX讓我有機會展翅高飛，美夢成真！

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ALLEX語言教學聯盟（Alliance for Language Learning and Educational Exchange）為一非營利機構，總部設於美國麻州。成立的宗旨是在美國及加拿大的大學中，建立質優的日文及華語教學專案，促進國家與國家之間的相互理解，擴大國際間的教育交流。

ALLEX的前身是秋尾晃正先生（Akio Terumasa）於1988年設立的北美大學教育交流委員(Exchange:Japan)。此委員會與美國日語教學界的最高權威艾林諾爾．喬丹博士（康乃爾大學名譽教授），及全美的日語教授協會密切合作，培養優秀的日語教師。

基於美國各大學的迫切需求，且得到美國華語教學權威—俄亥俄州立大學基諾爾．沃卡博士(Galal Walker)的大力協助，自2005年開始增加華語教學專案，甄選錄取者前往分發的美國大學擔任華語教學的工作，同時選修課程或攻讀學位。

ALLEX全額獎學金