June 30, 2012-Cultural Immersion Day

As part of their academic curriculum, students presented their own cultural research topics today.  Every year, the cultural presentation is one of the academic highlights of the program, with subjects ranging from poetry and traditional art to kite-making and Chinese knotting.  Students had the opportunity to visit other stations as well as explain their own research and knowledge regarding their own topics.

This year's topics included:
Traditional painting

Four Major Inventions

Poetry

Kite-Making

Chinese Knotting

Music

Cooking

Paper-Cutting

Calligraphy

Lanterns

June 27, 2012

It's only been a few days, but our new students have been settling in nicely!  Due to the classroom arrangements this year, we were unable to guarantee consistent rooms every day for classroom use.  However, the students happily decorated our rooms and brought a little bit of Chinese flavor to the traditional classroom environment.  

Our day also involved learning popular Chinese songs, as well as a presentation on the Journey to the West, one of China's most renowned fictional works.

June 26, 2012

It is only the second day, and already the students have shown a capacity to learn and a talent for the language!  Although many are still getting use to the daily schedule, already many have begun to open up to each other.  For many, the highlight of the day was Chinese paper cutting.  In the matter of minutes, students created ornate lanterns, animals, and designs with nothing but paper and scissors!

Also, happy birthday to one of our students, Daniel Herold!  祝你生日快乐！

June 24-25: Check-in, Day 1

Welcome to a new summer of VCU Startalk!  Today, we had the joy of welcoming the excited new students that will make up the Chinese Academy of 2012.  It is always a joy to see the young and eager faces of so many talented individuals, as well as meet the parents that were responsible for the success of their children.   For many parents, the opening ceremony was the first time they parted with their children.  However, we are certain that with the history of the success of the program, we will provide a great environment for the students to learn as well as have fun with their talented peers.

On the first day of the program, we had the pleasure of the presence of a Wing Chun master to personally introduce the students to Chinese Gong Fu.  Also, for the first time, the students had the opportunity to practice Chinese morning exercises!  Although they were rather uncoordinated to begin with, they caught on very quickly.

Looking at the potential of all these students, we can only say that we are excited to have the opportunity to work with so many talented individuals.  We look forward to what is to come in the next few weeks!

Student Blogs Links

These are the links for the Blogs for our  students:


Quinn Sheehy: http://xiqingna.blogspot.com/
Sean Kelly: http://seankelly-kaixuan.blogspot.com
Anna Lanman: http://lanailinvcu.blogspot.com/
Jason Zhang: http://zhangyiche.blogspot.com
Monika Bapna: http://talkchinesevcu.blogspot.com/
Emily Boda: http://emily2012vcustartalk.blogspot.com/
Sarah Woodward: http://ayeesarah.blogspot.com/
Linda Zheng: http://EXO-M88pop.blogspot.com
Anna Hansard: http://ricepattyanna.blogspot.com/ 
Glow Fox: http://2012vcustartalk.blogspot.com/
Henry Lewis: http://hl501.blogspot.com
Katherine Benton: http://katherineeb.blogspot.com/
Jacqueline Deffer:
http://jackie2012vcustartalk.blogspot.com/

北京欢迎你！

Welcome new 2012 VCU Startalk Chinese students! 北京欢迎你！