Summer of Service

The program starts in 3 weeks, and now that we have some people starting to follow the Blog, it's probably about time to explain a little more about what we will be doing this summer.

Summer of Service is a student-initiated program sponsored by Princeton in Asia. The program was created with several purposes in mind. First, the program will offer Princeton students an opportunity to understand another culture by living and working in China. Most of the program participants have never been to China before, and this summer offers a great opportunity to escape the Princeton bubble and see the world. Second, SOS will provide underprivileged Chinese university students the opportunity to study English with foreign teachers, an opportunity usually extended only to students in China's more developed eastern cities. Third, the program will promote internationalism and cross-cultural understanding, strengthening ties between China and the U.S. at a grass roots level.

We will be teaching an English immersion program at the University of Jishou, Teachers College. In China, most English education focuses on grammar and written work, with little emphasis on accuracy of speech and listening comprehension. Our program will focus primarily on improving the students' spoken English, and small class sizes will allow us to give our students the personal attention needed to attain language fluency. Many of our 150 students come from underprivileged, minority backgrounds. Many of them are students at the University of Jishou, but around 50 of them are actually English teachers in the Hunan province. We will improve the English of these teachers, having a ripple-effect throughout the region.

I will post some more detailed information in the next few days.