STARTALK: Chinese Culture and Language Immersion

Chinese Culture and Language Immersion Through Gaming and Storytelling

Prerequisites: Eligible for students that are accepted and have committed to the STARTALK program

This course is being offered in partnership with the STARTALK program and is offered to students who have a basic knowledge of the Chinese language skill. Students will create a game design template, develop their own story-worlds, avatars, and game rules even as they explore the styles and roles of gaming and storytelling in Chinese culture. The course aims to understand traditional Chinese cultures and to communicate in Chinese their heritage background as well as their own identity as a young adult. Students will be able to recognize different genre of literatures and to use that knowledge for creating their own story telling and building a new game in Chinese.

Student in Chinese class

The Literatures, Cultures, and Languages Department at the University of Connecticut has received a STARTALK grant - Chinese and Korean Culture and Language Immersion through Gaming and Storytelling. STARTALK is a federally funded program whose mission is to increase the number of U.S. citizens learning, speaking, and teaching critical need foreign languages. This UConn Pre-College Summer course is the second module of the larger STARTALK program. Interested students are required to submit an application through UConn's Literatures, Cultures, and Languages Department by December, 2023. Only after accepting and committing to the STARTALK program, may those eligible students enroll in this course. For questions regarding the the STARTALK program please see contact information here.

Sessions Offered

STARTALK Session: June 23 – July 6

Format

Residential, Non-Credit

Related Courses

STARTALK: Korean

This class is meant to be immersive and students will experience:

  • Students will learn how to discuss the identity issue in today's world;
  • Students will learn about the impact of social media and gaming on everyone;
  • Students will create a game design template, develop their own story-worlds, avatars, and game rules even as they explore the styles and roles of gaming and storytelling in Chinese culture.

Meet the Professor


 

Nan Meng
Associate Professor in Residence

Department of Literatures, Cultures & Languages
University of Connecticut

Education:
Ph.D. Ohio State University
M.A. Ohio State University
M.A. Bowling Green State University
 Areas of Expertise:
Chinese pedagogy, language socialization, teacher education, second language acquisition and computer-assisted language learning.

STARTALK: Chinese Culture and Language Immersion