2008 Woodie Awards
Japanese high school students experience university
Denton Josey, Features Editor
Issue date: 8/31/07 Section: News
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While most ACU students are gone for the summer, international students visit campus for three weeks.
Thirty Japanese students from Ibaraki Christian High School in Ibaraki, Japan, lived in University Park Apartments and attended classes. In the evening and on weekends, they took trips to see the local culture.
Dr. Harland Rall, assistant professor of foreign language, is in his second year as director of the program. Jeff Haseltine, assistant dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and assistant
professor of foreign language, and Randy Voss, ICHS program sponsor and English as a Second Language teacher, both taught in Ibaraki and started the program in 1995.
"They wanted those students to have a study abroad exposure," Rall said.
The program was created for intercultural, cross-cultural communication.
"You learn so much more when you go to the country and live in the country versus mere studying about the language and culture," Rall said.
A highlight of the program for the Japanese students is the opportunity to interact with ACU students on a daily basis while they are learning English.
Rall said the high school students enjoyed the contact of student tutoring, and their English improved while they were in Abilene.
"The small segment of faculty that teaches the courses, plus the conversation tutors, build friendships for life, quite frankly," Rall said.
In an effort to help others go to Japan, an endowed scholarship, the Voss-Haseltine Endowed Scholarship for Asian Studies, begins.
It will generate money to help ACU students go to Japan for language and culture or possibly even China and Korea. The scholarship would be worth $1,000 to $1,200 a year.
"When the international studies major came, we only had majors with concentrations in Europe and Latin America," Rall said. "Beginning this year, we are officially approved to offer majors in East Asia and the Middle East. We want to help more students engage the world."
Thirty Japanese students from Ibaraki Christian High School in Ibaraki, Japan, lived in University Park Apartments and attended classes. In the evening and on weekends, they took trips to see the local culture.
Dr. Harland Rall, assistant professor of foreign language, is in his second year as director of the program. Jeff Haseltine, assistant dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and assistant
professor of foreign language, and Randy Voss, ICHS program sponsor and English as a Second Language teacher, both taught in Ibaraki and started the program in 1995.
"They wanted those students to have a study abroad exposure," Rall said.
The program was created for intercultural, cross-cultural communication.
"You learn so much more when you go to the country and live in the country versus mere studying about the language and culture," Rall said.
A highlight of the program for the Japanese students is the opportunity to interact with ACU students on a daily basis while they are learning English.
Rall said the high school students enjoyed the contact of student tutoring, and their English improved while they were in Abilene.
"The small segment of faculty that teaches the courses, plus the conversation tutors, build friendships for life, quite frankly," Rall said.
In an effort to help others go to Japan, an endowed scholarship, the Voss-Haseltine Endowed Scholarship for Asian Studies, begins.
It will generate money to help ACU students go to Japan for language and culture or possibly even China and Korea. The scholarship would be worth $1,000 to $1,200 a year.
"When the international studies major came, we only had majors with concentrations in Europe and Latin America," Rall said. "Beginning this year, we are officially approved to offer majors in East Asia and the Middle East. We want to help more students engage the world."
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