Students beginning their third or fourth year of Chinese may enroll in the summer, fall, or spring terms. In addition to intesnive individual and small group language instruction, courses are offered in modern Chinese society, literature, history, philosophy, and cinema. Students are housed in dormitories and assigned to a host family with whom they may visit during weekends. Extensive field trips and extracurricular activities are an integral part of the program. Students combine intensive language study in small groups and with individual tutors with academic work in Chinese area studies.
Seminars provide opportunities for original research and field work.
Students maximize their cultural integration through living in a dormitory with Chinese students or, for students with sufficient language skills, through a homestay with a Chinese family. Volunteer work in the Beijing area may also be arranged through the IAS Center. Extensive travel to distant areas of China is a featured part of the program. Beginning students of Chinese are expected to learn 400 written characters per semester, together with a much wider spoken vocabulary. Enrollment in one of two interdisciplinary courses on Chinese history or contemporary China is part of each student's schedule.