Services

The UNG STARTALK Chinese pilot program consists of a two-week residential immersion summer camp and 60 hours of hybrid outreach activities during academic year.

Features of the UNG STARTALK Chinese pilot program

1. Standard based teaching: astronomy topics selected from Georgia Performance Standards for High School Astronomy.
2. Proficiency and Performance based teaching: using ACTFL and STARTALK guidelines to design learning and assessment activities.
3. Diverse and inclusive student population: collaborate with Chinese programs at high schools in Georgia and focus recruitment efforts on high school youth with limited learning options.
4. Cross-disciplinary curriculum: Faculty at K-16 levels, with expertise in language teaching, literature and film appreciation, science education, physics, and computer science work together to develop content-based curriculum and extracurricular plans that enriches this stem-based language and culture learning program.

Learning Goals

By the end of the program, students are expected to:

• Improve their language proficiency to at least a sublevel at ACTFL OPI test scale.
• Deepen their understanding of Chinese culture connected to the topics of astronomy and the related myths.
• Develop their knowledge of astronomy.
• Develop interest in federal careers, such as working in NASA and other aeronautics related educational and research institutes.