My initiatives in Chinese club and Mandarin program
One year after I came to America, going through all the difficulties, I established the first Chinese club at West Liberty University. I offered free Chinese classes and organized various cultural events to promote understanding of the Chinese language and culture. The services were made available to campus and community. Organizing the Speaker Event with Ursula Daniels, the founder and director of PaxWorks, my picture was exhibited on the portal website of WLU. During the Chinese New Year Celebration in 2013, I was interviewed and covered by WLTV-14, an on-campus TV station. For my effort and contribution, I earned the Culture Ambassador award at WLU. It took a great effort of me to set up the club and manage it. My abilities in leadership, management, coordination, and communication were greatly improved. Teaching Chinese language and culture to American students also enabled me to utilize the educational theories and educational technology skills I learned. My initiative was a testing stone of what I learned in public administration and it scaffolded my endeavor in educational technology.
When I was studying at West Liberty University for my master’s degree in Education, I did not have opportunities to teach and I felt just coursework and projects in the class were not enough. I need to equip myself with more skills and experiences so that I would be competitive in this challenging foreign country after I left the campus. One day, an idea came into my mind: to establish a Chinese club. There was no Chinese club at WLU and we were the first group of Chinese students there. I saw the need of a bridge to increase the understanding of Chinese culture and to enhance communication between Chinese and American students and faculty. Although I majored in public administration and I should be confident in my abilities, it was risky to take the initiative because once it was launched I have to stand through all the existing and unknown challenges.
Here is my interview video:
My initiative did not just end there. A growing number of students would like to take Mandarin courses, but no official Mandarin courses were offered at WLU. Due to the lack of Chinese language and culture, few students participated in the go abroad program. I was about to graduate and was looking for jobs. I thought it would be a great idea to establish a Mandarin program at WLU. I did a little survey among students to know if a pilot Mandarin program was really necessary and it was. Afterwards I communicated this idea to my international advisor and she very much favored it. I got more inspired and I communicated my idea to the department chair, dean, and the provost. I also presented in the international committee meeting at WLU and I gained many support. Even my students who were learning Mandarin with me wrote to the provost to support establishing this program. After discussion in the department meeting, the chair told me that I can start to plan for the courses and I need to schedule the time for classes soon. If the chair said so, that meant my proposal was approved! I was very excited and immediately told the students this good news and scheduled for the classes. It was very promising, however, the Mandarin program eventually was not approved because of financial reasons or other reasons I did not know. Although this initiative aborted, I did not regret taking all the efforts. It would be my fault if I had an idea but dared not to try it. Since I tried my best, I am still a pioneer although my idea failed.
Here is a video that I created for the proposal: