In view of this, the Meyerholz Elementary School in Cupertino worked together with the Chinese Language Center at National Cheng Kung University to hold a 2-week Chinese summer camp in Tainan from June 15th to 27th, 2014. A group of 11 young students from Meyerholz’s Chinese immersion program flew to Taiwan and enjoyed a fun and fruitful learning trip. They were accompanied by their teacher and parents.

The 2-week curriculum was designed specially for the young participants. From Monday to Friday the young students took part in daily intensive language classes, and tutoring, and various interesting cultural activities such as calligraphy, glove puppetry, Chinese gongfu and aboriginal dance. On the weekend, the group went to visit museums and experience the local cultural heritage. Though it was only a short-term program, all the participants greatly improved their language ability and they and their parents were all deeply impressed by the beauty of Taiwan’s culture.

This Chinese summer camp was partially subsidized by the Ministry of Education, with a grant of US$90 per week for each participant (including one leading teacher). A growing number of American students are beginning to learn Mandarin at primary and secondary schools, so the Meyerholz Elementary School’s successful experience will serve as a wonderful example when the Education Division in San Francisco is promoting Taiwan to local K-12 schools as an ideal destination for their students to enjoy some short-term overseas Chinese learning activities in their summer or winter break.