Four students from Bemidji State University have travelled to China last week to teach English language development programs.
The university students, Michaela Willer, Tia Ellies, Kevin Kimlinger and Alexander Gray, have been hired by a Vancouver-based company, CIBT.
This group of students will teach at Beihai International College, which is a joint venture between CIBT and Weifang University.
BSU collaborated with CIBT last year to increase its international enrolments and to obtain opportunities for its students and faculty to study and teach abroad.
This program is the first initiative taken up under the collaboration.
Among these students, only Kimlinger's tenure in China ends in January 20, 2014, others complete this project by August after teaching for one Chinese semester
"They normally teach 10 hours a week in conversational English for college students and kids," David An, vice president of China operations for CIBT, said. "The rest of their time will be spent doing administrative and marketing work at the CIBT offices."
During their stay in China, BSU students will also get an opportunity to attend a study expo and represent both BSU and CIBT at a booth in March.
The students will be residing in faculty apartments for free and will have access to Chinese language and culture classes.
An said that students might experience some culture shock or challenges as they are travelling to an Asian country for the first time in their lives.
Gray said that this trip would be interesting as he would be in close contact with their lifestyle and watching how they address various tasks as simple as going to the grocery store during the day.
Visiting China is important for Ellies as her birth father is from there and her grandparents live in that country.
"I'm really excited to be among the first people from BSU to go," Ellies said. "I hope our team will do a good job paving the way for future relationships between BSU and China."
