ICLP Summer Course -- know anything about it?

[Guest realmayo]

Does anyone know what the summer course on the ICLP programme is like?

 

ICLP is the International Chinese Language Program run by National Taiwan University and I've read about it on the forums but nothing I think specifically on the nine-week summer course.

[OneEye]

Note: I've never attended ICLP, but I know quite a few people who have and I tried to emulate their curriculum as much as possible while I was in Taiwan. I've gleaned what I can from people I know and from explanations in the front matter of some of their textbooks.

 

From what I've been told, it's essentially a slightly less intensive version of their regular program. You take 1 main course, 1 supplementary course, and 1 hour per day of one-on-one.

 

The main course is the X01 course (you can see them on this page) for whichever level you test into, unless you test into 7 or 8, in which case you can choose a specialization. I believe they'll choose your supplementary course for you, or recommend one, based on your weaknesses and goals. One-on-one will be either reviewing a main textbook or focusing on something specific you want to work on, depending on your level. Examples of what your selection of courses might look like at a given level can be found here.

 

You might know this already, but they don't allow you to use your textbook in class. You have to prepare well enough beforehand that you know the new vocabulary and sentence patterns without looking. Class time is generally focused on oral drills, not teaching, though this may vary at higher levels depending on the course (for instance, if you're taking 古文觀止, you won't be doing oral drills).

[Guest realmayo]

Thanks OneEye! Actually, looking more closely at one of those links, it seems that starting from this summer it will be the same 20 hours a week (so presumably four hours a day) as the regular curriculum, although from what I've seen elsewhere I've got a feeling the maximum class size is increased by one.

 

I did not know that about the textbooks. Bit nervous now ... but presumably good motivation to make sure you're thoroughly prepared before class.

If I go on/get on the course this summer I'm hoping it'll help me really step up my Chinese, part of me thinks it's only nine weeks which isn't really long enough, but I'm still tempted to try it and see. Certainly people have written plenty on the regular curriculum but I've not seen much on people who only took the summer programme.

[OneEye]

Yeah, I think the idea is that without the book in front of you, and with only 4 (or maybe 5 this summer, I guess) people in the class, you can't hide and hope the teacher won't call on you, so there's real pressure to be prepared.

 

I remember a while back reading the blog of someone who did only the summer program and seemed happy with the results, but I can't remember where it was for the life of me.

[Guest realmayo]

As you'd expect I've been googling, a fair bit of online stuff about ICLP has your fingerprints on it, either your website or a long thread on another forum. 

[OneEye]

Oh, I almost forgot about that thread!

 

Yeah, I would have gone to ICLP for the academic year program if I could have scraped the money together. I still kind of wonder where my Chinese would be if I had, but then again having spent that year working as a translator, shadowing movies, applying/preparing for grad school, and meeting with a 文言文 reading group every week put me in a pretty good place.