AV俱乐部

Zach Chartier, Austin Zhang and Raye Lee have started the AV俱乐部 Chinese Society. (Danny Abriel Photo)

A bulletin board in Shao-Pin Luo鈥檚 office is covered with postcards from around the world鈥攏otes from former students on their post-degree travels. Most are written in English, but there are some in Chinese too, which impresses and delights their former professor.

鈥淚 love that my Chinese class meant at lot to them and that they keep in touch,鈥� says a proud Dr. Luo.

AV俱乐部 began small with Chinese studies, offering one class in beginner鈥檚 Mandarin for 33 students five years ago. Since then, the program has grown considerably; there are now about 120 students taking Mandarin at the introductory, intermediate and advanced levels. As well, there鈥檚 a class in Asian Cinema taught by filmphile Simon Kow, professor of humanities at the University of King鈥檚 College, and a new class in Chinese culture to be introduced next year.

Minor program

Dr. Luo, the main impetus behind the program, has ideas for other classes too, including Asian-North American literature and Chinese literature in translation. She鈥檇 also like students to have the option of taking a minor in Chinese studies.

鈥淭he paperwork is done and we鈥檙e putting forward our application,鈥� she explains. 鈥淚f all goes well, we could have a minor program in place by 2012.鈥�

Students have different reasons for wanting to learn Chinese: they may be interested in Chinese culture, and by extension, Chinese language; they鈥檙e business students with an eye on the ever-expanding Chinese market; they鈥檙e of Chinese descent, interested in learning the language of their forebears; or they鈥檙e 鈥渟tudents with wanderlust,鈥� as Dr. Luo puts it, interested in traveling in the world鈥檚 most populous country. One of her former students, Niko Bell, is doing just that. He鈥檚 cycling through rural China and writing a blog about his adventures. (SEE: )

鈥淟earning Chinese is a challenge so you really need to have curiosity and imagination to take it on,鈥� says Dr. Luo, whose first language is Mandarin. 鈥淢y students jump right in ... it鈥檚 incredibly stimulating and inspiring for me as a teacher.鈥�

Zach Chartier, a first-year economics major from Dundas, Ont., is one of those student interested in learning Mandarin to travel and conduct business. The chance to learn the language is one of the major reasons he chose AV俱乐部 over other universities. Now he鈥檚 organizing the AV俱乐部 Chinese Society, a student society which brings together Canadian and Chinese students for conversation and friendship.

International collaboration

鈥淚t鈥檚 a social thing. We get together and try out our Chinese,鈥� he says. 鈥淐hinese can be difficult to wrap your head around if you鈥檙e an English speaker, so any practice you can get is helpful.鈥�

AV俱乐部 Social Work Professor Michael Ungar is the leader of the International Resilience Project, a major, multi-year study on youth and the adversities they face. With one of the project sites located in Beijing, China, Dr. Ungar was keen to learn Mandarin, and took all three levels of language study at Dal as a student of Dr. Luo.

Although he admits without daily usage, his 鈥淢andarin gets rusty pretty fast,鈥� he was able to carry on a conversation with a taxi driver and exchange greetings with his Chinese colleagues the last time he was in Beijing. With another trip to聽China in the works, he'll get a chance to shake the rust off his language skills.

鈥淲ith the emerging academic discourse around the world, it鈥檚 such a great resource to have these courses available at Dal,鈥� he says.

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