Leland BlanchardProvider: Project GOKaohsiung, Taiwan2024 Summer   Much of my time studying abroad is spent studying. Class, (mandatory) tutoring, and homework takes up about 7 hours of my day – all involving some aspect of Mandarin Chinese. Typically, each day’s work involves learning 50-100 new vocabulary terms and various grammatical patterns. The course itself emphasizes spoken Mandarin – so most of our in-class work is conversations between classmates. Even though we’re given a lot of work, my classmates and I still manage to find time for fun. A picture of one of our lessons – we had to role play […]

Leland BlanchardProvider: Project GOKaohsiung, Taiwan2024 Summer Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the university administering my study abroad program, managed to find a hotel that was equally convenient to our host university, National Kaohsiung Normal University, and Kaohsiung’s MRT/subway system. In total, the walking commute is about half a mile – which can take up to 30 minutes due to the number of crosswalks and curving paths. Leland and one of his tutors, Selena. His program requires daily 30-minute tutoring sessions with graduate students from National Kaohsiung Normal University’s Center for Teaching Chinese as a Second Language. During these sessions, they only communicate […]