CET Greater China

I had a very enriching time this summer at the CET Beijing program.
Language wise, I significantly improved my Mandarin ability. They made all students follow a Mandarin-only language pledge, which was very intense. On the same note, we had to do four and a half hours of class every weekday, not to mention daily homework and essay compositions on the weekends. I found it difficult to simultaneously keep up my physical health, social life, and results in class. Many nights, I was only able to sleep for 6 hours and struggled to stay awake in class, which started at 8 AM every weekday. As challenging as the academic load was, I would say it definitely paid off, as the constant repetition led to the expansion of my vocabulary and my Mandarin becoming more and more fluent.
On many weekends, we had sightseeing events organized by CET. I thought these were a great way to both see the beautiful sights near Beijing, learn more about Chinese history, and get closer to the other CET students. My favorite trip was to Da Tong, where we got to stay in a four star hotel and see over four cultural sites over one weekend.
CET was also great for my own development, as I got the opportunity to connect and get to know students from colleges all over the US. This, in combination with exposure to Chinese culture, really opened my eyes to the different perspectives in this world.
I really enjoyed my time at CET and would definitely recommend it to anyone who is willing to challenge themselves on multiple fronts.

Before going to China and attending the CET Beijing program, I had no idea what to expect. I had attended two previous summer Chinese learning programs, but both were only for three weeks and both were in the United States. The CET Beijing program gave me the full immersion into Chinese culture and the experience of using language in the everyday interactions of daily life. In short, it was completely different than any previous experience I had. After going to China, I became so much more willing to try new things, whether that be food, activities or just the experience of living abroad, meeting people and speaking a different language. I came to believe during my time in Beijing that you need to be willing to try new things in order to have a fulfilling experience. If I had not tried even half of the things I did, I am certain that my summer would have been not only completely different, but not even as half as incredible as it was. What made my time in Beijing unique was the people I got to meet. New friends, teachers, program alumni and native Chinese speakers like my roommate, all made a huge positive impact on my experience. Making an effort to connect with these people on a daily basis, as well as trying to make as much an impact on their lives as they made on mine, was very important in building and maintaining those relationships and giving me more opportunities to connect in the future, as well as enriching my experience abroad.

CET learning was not similar to high school learning. I was one of the youngest people in the 2019 summer CET Beijing program, and, as a result, all of my friends were at least a year older than me, already had a year or more of university experience under their belt, and were overall more adjusted in the art of adulthood, while I had just graduated high school. However, this turned out to be a good thing, especially in planning weekend activities, trips and dealing with daily navigation struggles. I was able to learn so much from these older people and gained so much more self confidence, ability and maturity in the process. I would tell future participants that going in with an open mind is the most beneficial way of getting everything out of the CET program that they can.

CET Beijing was the most interesting and impactful Chinese learning experience I’ve had the opportunity to experience so far. Throughout high school, I had an untraditional way of learning Chinese, as most of it was during the summers at shorter, but similar, immersive language programs. Because I learned Chinese out of the classroom most of the time, I had short, intensive bursts of language learning that completely contrasted the duration, immersion and intensity of CET Beijing. As a result, I was more successful at this program due to being surrounded by the city, participating in the language pledge and constantly experiencing the target culture. I was slightly nervous before the program started because I had been enrolled in an online Chinese course for the last two years of high school, and had only attended two other 3-week summer immersion programs. I wasn’t sure how my Chinese skills would translate from online to in-life. However, almost immediately within the first two weeks, I noticed a significant difference in my ability to hold conversations and speak full sentences with my teachers and other students, ones that would actually make sense and allow me to communicate what I wanted to say. Being able to use Chinese everyday really made a difference in my confidence, which I think was the aspect that allowed me to really dive into the experience and not be afraid to make mistakes. My confidence in speaking the language was facilitated by my teachers and peers, as they created and were part of a safe community that made me feel confident enough to mess up and learn from it.

I would say that the one-to-one sessions were probably the most crucial aspect of my progress, as I was by myself during the sessions and had to think quickly in order to use the new grammar and vocabulary I learned as I was speaking, which emulated live interactions. Not quite as impactful to my progress, but just as important, was the repetition of the class material. Given that we would learn one week’s worth of Chinese in a day, it was hugely beneficial that the material would first be repeated in the small classes that followed the big class, and then again in the one-to-one sessions. Although it was a lot of work, it didn’t feel like a lot while doing it. Instead of trying to fit the rest of my life around my Chinese, I was easily able to fit Chinese into my daily life while going to authentic restaurants, exploring the city with friends, or talking with my roommate and teachers.

As a gap year student, I was nervous going into the program, as I was the youngest and least-experienced student there. However, I realized I didn’t need to worry because every student was under the same Chinese-learning umbrella, which united everyone despite age, school or Chinese level. Being able to participate in this program, especially since it was in a Chinese city, not only allowed me to improve my Chinese, but also allowed me to learn so much about culture, social norms and a completely different way of life, which I think are aspects that are equally as, if not more, important as being able to speak the language. This program was beyond helpful to my language skills, personal growth and increasing my sense of responsibility, all of which have been and will continue to be essential in my journey to college.

I definitely recommend this program to everyone! My biggest recommendation is to make the most out of your time in Beijing to learn Chinese everywhere you go from anyone you meet, and also make the most out of the new culture, the beautiful city and the lifelong friends you’ll make, because the time flies by and it isn’t an experience you’ll want to waste.

This year, I started learning Chinese. I really wanted to improve my language skill. So, I decided to study Chinese over the summer vacation. I did some research and it seemed like CET is the best program in Beijing to learn Chinese for beginners.
To put it simply, I made a right choice. During this summer, I learned more Chinese than what I would have learned for three semesters in my university. Also, CET offered many interesting trips to Beijing’s historical places such as The Great Wall. The Chinese Instructors are amazing as well. They are not only superb at teaching the materials, but also extremely friendly and nice. Finally, the program assigns one roommate for you, and they are generally really nice and very helpful when it comes to adjusting to the new life in Beijing. If i ever want to study abroad in China to learn Chinese, I would come to CET Beijing again to learn.

This is branded as an intensive language program and it certainly lives up to the billing from that standpoint. The classes are very structured and intended to fit a semester's worth of work into two months. Of course what happens in the classroom is nowhere near the whole if the experience. While having to speak only Chinese during my time here and living with a Chinese roommate (which is really another story) the chances for you to apply what was learned in the classroom in real life situations were really endless. I would be remiss if I did not mention the faculty and staff of this program are truly second to none in their caring about your wellbeing and your studies, they are there to help and certainly make the experience as smooth as it can be.

CET Beijing and CET Beijing Janterm were experiences I did not know I needed until after I experienced them. CET Beijing Intensive Language Program could not be a more appropriate name for this program. From 8:20 a.m. to 3 p.m. I was challenged in the classroom, and the challenges continued beyond class hours as the language pledge really pushed me out of my comfort zone.

As I mention above, CET Beijing has a language pledge which made the first few weeks extremely challenging as we pledged to speak no language other than Chinese throughout our time in Beijing. It was challenging at first, because it was hard to communicate with each other as a lot of us did not have the Chinese speaking skills to have a full conversation. As time went by, it became easier to communicate with teachers, classmates, and even local people as our Chinese improved every single day (I am not being sarcastic here). At first, I thought the language pledge would prohibit me from making new friends, but in reality it brought us all closer together. The struggle that we were all going through, regardless of Chinese speaking level, made the bond even stronger.

I participated in both the semester long program in the Fall and the Janterm program (1 month). In terms of academics, they focused on different things. The Fall semester focused more on improving your reading and writing skills, while the Janterm focused more on your speaking skills. I recommend students interested in studying abroad in Beijing to participate in both the semester program and Janterm.

Overall, CET pushed me to become more independent. It helped me reach a lot of my goals, and I hope in can do the same or even more for others in the future.

My overall experience with CET Shanghai was extremely positive. The program provides a variety of opportunities to engage with Chinese language and culture and the staff is very supportive and helpful to student needs. Jeremy and Nova are always able and willing to lend their help and support. The program is academically rigorous compared to some other study abroad programs, so it's important to be prepared to put in the work. Daily Chinese classes are especially time consuming and require a good deal of preparation outside the classroom, but if you put in the effort you will be able to significantly improve your Chinese language skills. The professors are all extremely knowledgable and personable. Weekend trips and excursions provide ample opportunity for students to experience Chinese culture. There are also two breaks (one 5 days and another 10 days) where students can do independent travel.

CET Beijing was great. I went into the program hoping to improve my Chinese language ability, make new friends, and learn more about Chinese culture. However, I believe I accomplished all of this, and much more.

The program was very challenging at first, but as the weeks passed I got more acclimated to the work load and culture, and they became easier to manage and understand. The workload was heavy, but the hardest part was the language pledge. The students in my program had different backgrounds with Chinese study - some had studied it for years, and others not at all - and after knowing each other for only a few days we were left with very sparse conversational tools. However, this created a perfect environment for not only drastically improving my Chinese language ability, but also for forming incredible friendships with my classmates, who were facing the new challenges with me. Additionally, thanks to the subjects we learned in class, the trips we took with CET, and living in the capital city, I gained incredible knowledge and perspective on Chinese culture.

Finally, the program led to immense personal growth. Being thrown into a completely culturally and linguistically foreign environment allowed me to learn better how to care for myself and live in the real world.

After completing CET, I feel confident I can tackle whatever new challenges come my way, and I can't wait to continue my Chinese language learning, and hopefully gain complete fluency in the future.