During the summer, seniors Casper Stockman and Zach Pita traveled to Taiwan for a six-week program.
The National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) is a free language program that allows high school students to travel to foreign countries and learn a given language. Stockman and Pita chose to expand their knowledge of Mandarin through their summer abroad program.
“The environment, as you can imagine, was really conducive to learning Mandarin,” Stockman said. “I was surrounded by the language, and I was not only spending so much time every day learning it, but it was focused in a way that normal school often isn’t.”
Instead of learning four subjects all at one time, students are focused only on learning the language through a university for a few hours a day. However, the work may still feel very difficult for students.
“At least for me, it was pretty academically rigorous, so I had to work pretty hard and had a couple of hours of homework every night,” Pita said. “But I still had a lot of time to go out and explore.”
Aside from language classes, participants of the program gain cultural knowledge of the country through exploration and a residence with a host family.
“It was probably the most rewarding part of the experience,” Pita said about the host families. “We slept at their house every day, and they provided food for us and all that stuff – aside from that, we had a lot of independence to kind of go wherever we wanted to.”
To apply to this program, interested students must complete essay questions, fill out personal information, secure a letter of recommendation, and eventually be interviewed. Whether you apply to learn Mandarin, Arabic, Russian, or any of the other languages they offer, you don’t have to be able to speak the language or have any academic specialty before the trip.
“You just need to be ready for new experiences,” Pita said.
The accessibility of this program through the lack of language prerequisites, free cost, and straightforward application process provides an easy way to get started for students who are interested in learning a new language and traveling.
“If you’re adventurous and you like language learning, you should absolutely apply for the program,” Pita said. “It’s pretty awesome, and it’s free.”
