China, North Georgia find common ground
Natalie Garrett
Issue date: 1/8/10 Section: News
China is growing at an exponential rate. It currently is home to 1.3 billion people and by late 2010 is expected to reach 1.4 billion and keep growing until it peaks around the year 2030.
Consumers see "Made in China" on more and more products today.
When people think of Dahlonega, do they also think of China?
Now, they should.
In 2006, NGCSU decided to bring China to the mountains of Georgia. The school signed an agreement with the Tsinghua Exchange Program, which works with the Tsinghua University in Beijing, to send one or two students to North Georgia each fall semester, while North Georgia will send one or two students to study abroad in the spring semester in Beijing.
Felicia Cooper, a junior at NGCSU, is involved in the Chinese program and has placed a great value on knowing the Chinese language and culture.
"It takes about five years to become fluent no matter where you study," Cooper said.
She is a political science major with a minor in Chinese. Students may be able to major in Chinese by the fall of 2010.
Cooper originally wanted to learn Arabic because she planned on going into the military but decided to change to Chinese after being offered the opportunity to participate in a six-week summer program to jump start students who wanted to learn Chinese. The course became more appealing when the HOPE scholarship paid for it and students received nine hours worth of credit toward graduating.
Cooper said the summer course entails long days of 10-hour sessions with few breaks and studying long into the night to prepare for the next day. But she said it was completely worth it and the instructors were so good that "you felt guilty if you didn't do your homework."
Once the program was over the students left being able to hold a decent conversation in Chinese.
Cooper currently is living in the dorms with one of the exchange students from Tsinghua University. Her roommate is an English major and has been learning the language in China throughout her educational career. She is here only as an exchange student, not part of the Chinese program.
Consumers see "Made in China" on more and more products today.
When people think of Dahlonega, do they also think of China?
Now, they should.
In 2006, NGCSU decided to bring China to the mountains of Georgia. The school signed an agreement with the Tsinghua Exchange Program, which works with the Tsinghua University in Beijing, to send one or two students to North Georgia each fall semester, while North Georgia will send one or two students to study abroad in the spring semester in Beijing.
Felicia Cooper, a junior at NGCSU, is involved in the Chinese program and has placed a great value on knowing the Chinese language and culture.
"It takes about five years to become fluent no matter where you study," Cooper said.
She is a political science major with a minor in Chinese. Students may be able to major in Chinese by the fall of 2010.
Cooper originally wanted to learn Arabic because she planned on going into the military but decided to change to Chinese after being offered the opportunity to participate in a six-week summer program to jump start students who wanted to learn Chinese. The course became more appealing when the HOPE scholarship paid for it and students received nine hours worth of credit toward graduating.
Cooper said the summer course entails long days of 10-hour sessions with few breaks and studying long into the night to prepare for the next day. But she said it was completely worth it and the instructors were so good that "you felt guilty if you didn't do your homework."
Once the program was over the students left being able to hold a decent conversation in Chinese.
Cooper currently is living in the dorms with one of the exchange students from Tsinghua University. Her roommate is an English major and has been learning the language in China throughout her educational career. She is here only as an exchange student, not part of the Chinese program.
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Tanya Bennett
posted 1/08/10 @ 2:13 PM EST
Great story!
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