ALL Hosts Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program Alumni

The Japanese Language Program invited the JET Alumni Association (JETAA) of Minnesota to hold JET information sessions on October 28 and October 31. The JETAA members gave enthusiastic presentations for an audience of thirty-five interested students. The presenters were: Mario Acito (ALL alumnus, 2010-2013 Kyoto ), Amanda Costello (ALL alumna, 2005-2007 Hyogo), Kate Myer (U of M graduate, currently in U of M grad school and taking 3rd year Japanese, 2006-2010 Nagasaki), and Kate Thersleff (Events Coordinator of JETAA of Minnesota; U of M-Morris graduate, 2005-2008 Wakayama).

Mario Acito, ALL alumnus, with his 5th grade students from Goka Elementary School (Kyotango City, Kyoto) 2013

Since 1987, the Japanese government has hired over 55,000 young people from around the world to live and work as an assistant language teacher or a coordinator for international relations in Japan. We are very proud that the Japanese Language Program sends several students to Japan through the JET Program every year. We sent seven students to Japan in 2013.

Professor Richard B. Mather Turns 100 Today!

November 11, 2013 is Richard Mather's one hundredth birthday! Mather was born in Baoding, China and grew up there until he came to United States to go to college, graduating summa cum laude in 1935 from Princeton University. His plans to return to China were interrupted by the war and he instead went on to the University of California, Berkeley to pursue his PhD in Chinese literature, studying with Peter Boodberg and others.
Mather came to the University of Minnesota in 1949 to found the study of Chinese language and literature. In the following decades, he was a major force in Chinese studies at the university and across the nation. He was central to establishing the field of early medieval Chinese studies with his monumental translation, A New Account of Tales of the World (University of Minnesota Press, 1976). Even after his 1984 retirement Mather was very active, publishing The Poet Shen Yüeh: The Reticent Marquis (Princeton UP, 1988) and the two-volume The Age of Eternal Brilliance: Three Lyric Poets of the Yung-ming Era (Brill, 2003). His New Account was reissued in a revised second edition by U of Michigan Press in 2002.
His beloved wife Virginia, to whom the Age of Brilliance was simply dedicated as "For Ginny", passed away in 2012. Richard currently lives with his daughter in Northern Minnesota.
The Department of Asian Languages and Literatures established the Richard B. and Virginia Mather Fellowship in Asian Languages and Literatures to help support graduate students in our new PhD program.

Student Takes the Prize in China

Anthony Dodge is one of the best students of Chinese in the world. We know that because he won a first prize in the international Chinese language competition, Chinese Bridge: Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students, held in China this summer. One of 123 students from seventy-seven countries, Anthony was the only student from United States to be a top-ten finalist. The month-long competition sponsored by the Chinese government was in four stages, each of which was a nationally broadcast television program. These included speeches, talent contests (Anthony played the cello and the Chinese erhu), acting in short plays, live performances, and even a scavenger hunt in an amusement park (in which Anthony also came in first).

Anthony began his Chinese studies in ALL as a freshman, and completed four years of language instruction with us, including two short study-abroads. He graduated in May and is now studying Chinese literature at Nanjing University with a scholarship from the Confucius Institute. After that he hopes to pursue an MBA at Tsinghua University in Beijing--as a Chinese Bridge first prize winner, he already has a scholarship to do so!
Ling Wang, Director of Instruction for Chinese program, told Anthony "Your great achievements will inspire all Chinese-language learners at UMN to become enthusiastic and motivated students."

Korean Program: Biggest and Best of its Kind

Hangtae Cho, PhD, Director of Language Instruction, is internationally renowned for his development of our Korean language program, which features training for non-heritage learners. It is the nation's largest program of this type, and the second largest of any Korean program in the United States. Thus, Hangtae was recently invited to the 23rd International Conference hosted by the International Association for Korean Language Education on August 10-11, 2013 in Seoul, Korea to present on "Case Study of Dealing with Mixed Language Classes for Heritage and Non-Heritage Students".

The conference gathered world renowned Korean language scholars to discuss the theme, "Developing Strategies in Korean Language Classrooms". After attending the conference, Hangtae also gave a special lecture, "Past, Present and Future of Korean Education in US," to graduate students of Korean language education at Korea University (his alma mater) during his visit to Korea.
Hangtae said that it was a great opportunity to share his ideas in an international academic arena.
Conference website: http://www.iakle.com/

ALL Students Walk Away with the Prizes

Upon invitation of the Chinese Consulate General of Chicago, the University of Minnesota hosted the annual U. S. Midwest Chinese Bridge Speech Contest. Organized by the Department of Asian Languages and Literatures, with support from College of Liberal Arts, Confucius Institute and Institute of Global Studies, the event brought nearly sixty students from seventeen universities and colleges across the region, including University of Iowa, University of Kansas, University of Wisconsin, University of Chicago, and Northwestern University. The all-day event included speech and talent contest at six language levels. Judging was organized by Professor Gu Licheng of Northwestern, implementing a double-blind process.
Ling Wang, Director of Chinese Language and her colleagues, especially Chi-ping Li, worked long hours to organize the whole event and to train our students. We were kind and considerate hosts, but also fierce competitors. Our students in ALL secured a majority of the prizes, including eight of twelve first place awards! The day ended with an awards banquet that also featured professional local performers.

Back row (left to right): Peter Williams, Emily Atchison, Joshua Quinn, Alex Renner
Front row (left to right): Anthony Dodge, Grace Polverari, Molly Himsel, Allison Malmsten