This summer Peninsula High student, Sean Pellicciarini, traveled to Taiwan on a full ride scholarship to the National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) Summer Intensive program to study Chinese (Mandarin). Mandarin is one of nine language programs NSLI-Y offers. Sean was one of 540 students selected from thousands of high school applicants across the United States to receive a NSLI‑Y scholarship. PV Magazine spoke with Sean upon his return to find out more about his experience.
When asked what interested him in the NSLI-Y program, Sean explained that he has always liked learning languages and has been studying Chinese (Mandarin) since he was six. His mother was born in Taiwan, and he has family in China and Taiwan. Being able to better communicate with his grandparents motivates him. He also participates in competitive robotics and often encounters Chinese teams at competitions, he wants to eliminate the language barrier so he can better communicate and exchange ideas. Finally, Sean is planning to pursue an engineering career and feels being able to speak Mandarin would be critical when working on projects requiring travel to China and Taiwan, which he points out is where many vendors and suppliers are based.
We wanted to know what his first impressions were of Taiwan when he arrived. He first noticed the tropical climate with the heat and humidity. He also recalls that everything seemed compact compared to home. Because there are a lot of people living in a small area, he explained that they do not really have single family homes with most people living in multistory buildings. Inside, the hallways were a little narrower and ceilings lower than at home. He points out that this was his first time traveling on his own, so he had to learn to navigate unpacking, keeping organized and doing his own laundry.
When asked what surprised him the most about daily life, he said the lack of ice-cold water to drink. Water dispensers provided a choice between three temperatures, 40/70/90°C. Water at 40°C (104°F) is lukewarm, which was an adjustment for Sean. The locals prefer hot beverages, even Milk Tea is often enjoyed hot in Taiwan.
The program ran for six weeks, with Sean staying four weeks in a hotel with other students, and two weeks with a host family. All NSLI-Y students spend at least two weeks with a host family. Sean’s host family did not have kids, but he was paired with a local high school student or an undergraduate student from a local university for activities. Mornings consisted of language classes from 9am to noon, followed by a lunch break, and then the afternoon would include individual tutoring and a cultural lesson or activity. He would walk and/or use local mass transit from wherever he was staying to the National Taiwan University where classes were held.
We asked what opportunities he had to sightsee and experience the food and culture of Taiwan. Sean shared some of the highlights including Longshan Temple, Taipei 101 Building, and the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall national monument. In addition to major sightseeing destinations, he was also able to have unique experiences to learn about local agriculture such as visiting a tea farm, participating in picking leaves, brewing tea, and making tea jelly, followed by a nice meal. He also visited a scallion farm where they grow the onions used for the popular green onion pancakes.
Part of the mission of the program is to build mutual understanding. Sean reflected that for him personally his encounters with the diverse American students in his group required building understanding more than with the Taiwanese he encountered. The participating students came from diverse backgrounds from across the United States and he felt he built skills in working with people with different viewpoints as part of the experience.
We wondered if this experience influenced Sean on what he will study in college or future career goals and he said that he was already intending to study engineering, but he felt the program taught him to be more independent and to work with people from different backgrounds which he feels will serve him well. He is looking forward to continuing his Chinese studies by taking AP Chinese as a senior this year.
Launched in 2006 as part of a multi-agency U.S. Government initiative, NSLI‑Y increases the number of young Americans with the critical language skills necessary to advance international dialogue, promote economic prosperity and innovation worldwide, and contribute to national security by building understanding across cultures. Applications to NSLI-Y programs are available in the fall, for more information visit www.nsliforyouth.org.
PV Magazine congratulates Sean on his NSLI-Y program scholarship and thanks him for sharing his experiences with PV Magazine.
