Student Voices - New Mind Education

Language exchange continues and thrives!

newmindadmin — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 06:56:48 +0000

By XIN RAO (student) and ERIN HOLLOWAY

All UPP students face the unique challenge of communicating with Americans effectively. Nevertheless, many of the students have drastically improved their English skills during their time here not only by paying attention in their classes but also by taking advantage of UPP’s Language Exchange program. Language Exchange is an continuous event held by New Mind Education, with activities occurring about every two weeks, starting in the Fall semester of 2015. UPP students are paired with other NC State students who are learning Chinese in FLC (Foreign Language: Chinese) classes, and they take turns practicing both English and Chinese with their native-speaking partner. In this way, UPP students get to be both learners and teachers! Student pairs meet in Talley Student Union on Fridays from 6:00-7:30 pm.

The most recent exchange was on March 4th, the day before spring break. Although many students had already made plans to travel that day, four students (two UPP and two FLC students) attended the event. Although there were fewer participants than usual, the students seemed to have very good conversations.

“It is pretty useful!” Yuquan Cui said. “It (the Language Exchange) is a place where you can meet a lot of American students and keep contact with them. We can actually help each other with language and enlarge our friend circle.”

Language Exchange is a casual event, so students choose where they want to sit in Talley and what topics they want to talk about. It is very common to see UPP students and FLC students become good friends and make plans to meet outside of the Language Exchange events. These mutually beneficial events also help FLC students earn credit for their class, and they really help our students adapt into their new environment at NCSU.

“It is a very interesting event. I can learn a lot of Chinese words, like slang that cannot be found in my textbook, from Chinese students,” FLC student Luis Esteves said.

“I got a lot of information about entertainment, such as TV shows and movies’ names,” UPP student Xiaorui Qu said.

“It helps me understand Chinese better,” Sarah Crawford, one of the most dependable FLC students, said. “I mean, not just from my professor, I can hear a lot of explanations about different aspects of the same word which is really helpful.”

It is good to see that both FLC students and UPP students can take advantage of this event and learn more about their second language and the accompanying culture!

“The event is fun, and I’m looking forward to attending more,” Esteves said.

The next Language Exchanges are scheduled for March 18, April 1, and finally April 22.

The post Language exchange continues and thrives! first appeared on New Mind Education.

UPP Spring 16 Graduation

newmindadmin — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 06:29:07 +0000

By DANIEL WANG, Intern

As the weather gets warmer and the flowers start to bloom, we know graduation season is approaching. We are very pleased to announce that the three recipients of IEP’s Wolf Award were all UPP Students! This year, on May 6, 27 students graduated from the University Performance Program after an academic year of hard work and earning at least six UPP credits. Thirteen of these students also earned the perfect UPP Attendance certificate. Congratulations as well to our UPP Honors students Jessica Xiaorui Qu, Ling Mao, Wenting Zheng and Naomi Nan Sun for their exceptional efforts, resilience and motivation! Lastly, four students demonstrated incredible growth and performance in both academics, extracurricular activities, community service and cultural engagement. These students were awarded the New Mind Education’s Songtao Scholarship of $1000 each! Congratulations Tom Tianming Liu, Jessica Xiaorui Qu, Ling Mao and Wenting Zheng!

To the students, this graduation was meaningful in many different ways. It reflected a year of building lasting friendships, surviving American culture shock, making breakthroughs with the language barrier and gaining valuable experiences that they will benefit from for a long time. Graduation may mark the end of their journey with UPP, but it is also a new beginning for their future education.

The ceremony took place at University Towers with a reception on the pool patio. Students gathered together and enjoyed taking pictures with each other, especially since so many dressed up in formal attire. “It was my first time dressing up like this, and I am so happy to see many others here at the graduation,” Kai Deng said. “It will be a great memory for me.” There was also a photo booth where students could take pictures with peers and advisors with funny props, such as giant classes and fake hair. Additionally, one advisor loaned their Polaroid camera for the event. “We all love the instant camera, it is a lot of fun,” Amy Liu said.

It was also a special day for Shuai Zhao because his brother was getting married in China on the day of graduation. Shuai had mixed feelings of grief and joy. “I am so sad that I cannot be at my brother’s wedding, but I am also very happy about what I have accomplished this past year,” Zhao said. Shuai also invited Alyx, his UPP advisor, to join him in a short video and sent their blessings to his brother who is thousands of miles away. It was probably the sweetest moment that happened during the graduation reception.

After the reception, the graduation ceremony began at 8:30 in UT’s dining hall. Michael Chen, the founder of New Mind Education, was the keynote speaker for the graduation. He congratulated students for their efforts and told the students to be proud of themselves, regardless of whether they had passed IEP or not. All the UPP advisors also gave a speech about their groups and took pictures with their students. “The speeches are so touching and I am almost crying,” Xinhua Du said. “Le is a great advisor and she truly helped me a lot.” Jessica Qu also commented on the advisors’ speeches, “They have not only summarized everything in the past year but also encouraged us to look to the future.”

There were many rewards and certificates given out during the ceremony, such as graduation certificates, perfect attendance certificates, honors medals and scholarship awards. “It is a great feeling to be recognized with so many rewards,” Lingchao Mao said.

“I cannot believe that I won this scholarship, I am so excited and I need to tell my parents,” Tianming Liu said after he won one of the Songtao Scholarships.

Many students had very positive comments on the food provided during the graduation. “The cake was so great! It was not so sweet like other American cakes I had before, this cake tastes like the ones we have back in China,” Qu said. “It is simply amazing.”

Every student, regardless of whether they earned enough credits to graduate, received a photo album from all the student life events as well as a personalized card from their advisor.

“The photos were my favorite gift I got from graduation. The photo album is filled with memories and I am glad to see myself in it,” Rick Zhou said.

Theresa Liao had a great suggestion for this event. “The slide show during the graduation could become a more significant part. It would be great if we, as students, could also add pictures to the slides before we graduate.”

Constantine Zong may have had the best comment about the graduation ceremony. “Today is perfect, not because of my outfits, but simply because I am graduating and I cannot wait to get into college!”

The post UPP Spring 16 Graduation first appeared on New Mind Education.

UPP’s First Language Exchange!

newmindadmin — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 06:21:32 +0000

By QIANG YANG, Intern

EDITED BY CAROLINE CORNISH

On the 9th of September, New Mind Education held the first language exchange of this semester at North Carolina State University. 20 UPP students in NCSU and several Americans students gathered together in the new New Mind Education office to discuss the Olympic traditions in their respective countries. This monthly event is an opportunity for FLC students and Chinese international students to practice their second language, receive extra help on their language assignments, and consult each other about cultural differences. Students are paired off by language (one Chinese student per one American student), and they must use each language for half of the allotted time. This way, everyone can get the practice they need in their respective learning language.

One American student wrote in Chinese on the ‘message board,’ “Chinese is hard but I love this event. Great culture and amazing people, I learned a lot!”

For this particular event, the main topic was the Olympic games and Olympic traditions. Students watched videos about the beneficial and detracting effects the Olympics have on the hosting countries, fueling plenty of insightful conversations about the global tradition.

“I learned a lot about how the Olympics originated during the lecture, which I never heard about before” student Ma said, “I enjoyed talking to America people and I had a great time.”

The discussion after the videos was quite interactive, providing statistics and posing questions to inspire conversation amongst the students. Each language exchange will stick to a theme to facilitate initial conversation, though it is expected that student pairs will deviate to their own individual topics as time goes on, sparking friendships as they learn more about each other.

“I made a good American friend at this event and I am looking forward to hanging out with him after class,” said student Ming.

Aside from the conversation, New Mind provided tea and BaoZi for this conversation exchange so the Americans could taste Chinese culture. The socialization in the beginning relaxes students and allows them to discuss a favorite topic: food! Language exchange participants are highly encouraged to exchange contact information and hang out outside of these events. Often many of them do.

We are pleased to announce that the reception of the event was high; many people enjoyed it! It was a great opportunity to provide genuine cultural exchange, where parties on both sides could benefit from the language assistance and indulge in the friendliness of those interested in their language and culture. The theme for the next event will be slang, where students can teach each other common expressions used by the youth in their respective language and culture.

The post UPP’s First Language Exchange! first appeared on New Mind Education.

More than Six-Legs to Volunteer at Raleigh’s Annual BugFest

newmindadmin — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 06:17:45 +0000

By JENNA KANE and CAROLINE CORNISH

September 17th was a bright and sunny day for downtown Raleigh’s annual Bugfest, hosted by the Natural Science Museum. Several UPP students volunteered to staff at this annual event which drew in large crowds of all different ages from across the state. This free event asks attendees’ only for their curiosity and engagement as they seek to educate people about these six-legged creatures through games, displays, and professional guest speakers. Bugfest was absolutely packed, overflowing from the museum’s airconditioned sanctuary into the outside community, with even more active games in the blocked off streets of downtown Raleigh.

The booths and events at the festival were diverse, including bringing your own bugs to share at the “Experts Table,” tasting bug-centered dishes at the Cafe Insecta, and an entire booth featuring the moths, fireflies and katydids of the nocturnal kingdom of insects.

The majority of this year’s events revolved around the special theme of ants. In an effort to educate children about the social and biological complexities surrounding the ant, volunteers ran several different stations engaging children to experience life as an ant! Whether it was teaching kids how to create bug “hats,” testing their scent skills in a scavenger hunt game, or showing how to care and hold ants, all UPP volunteers got a chance to interact and teach the community’s children in both English and Chinese. Yinzhou “Tiger” Wang especially enjoyed this aspect, “There were so many kids! It was fun!”

Many students were inspired by the educational and fun atmosphere of the event, “My favorite part was that I could get involved in some academic area. Especially the habitat of insects and their behavior. During the time I introduced the ants to customer and I could let myself enjoy the atmosphere of studying and educating,” said Haofeng “Keanu” Lin of UPP.

As lifelong students, UPP students simply loved playing the role of the teacher. “I introduced the rules of the game for kids. There were six bottles with six different smells. Every child chose one to smell and remember it. Then there was an area with four rows. Every row had six bottles. Children had to match the smells. When they finish the game with the correct answer, they can get a prize. They loved it,” said Feiran “Francis” Zhang. When asked how she would do if she played the game herself she replied, “I tried that! For me it was very easy I think.”

When our students were taking a break from their roles as teacher and coordinator, they were able to enjoy the fest for themselves! “Colorful bug are such cute bugs,” gushed Naining “Naomi” Xu of UPP, one of the several volunteers who taught children how to hold grasshoppers.

Some of the students even ate bugs! When asked about the taste of the wriggly snack Keanu said, “Yeah, there was a lot of juice!”

This fun-filled festival centered around education, community, music, delicious vendors (there were plenty of bug-free options as well) was a great experience for our students, who are still learning about Raleigh. Showing them the delightful and free options around the city will hopefully give students more confidence and appreciation for their small but unique and active host city. Volunteering for these events will certainly give them that strong local connection that UPP strives for!

The post More than Six-Legs to Volunteer at Raleigh’s Annual BugFest first appeared on New Mind Education.

Dare to be scared!

newmindadmin — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 05:58:53 +0000

By Lingchao Mao, Fall intern at UPP@NCSU

It was the dark evening of October 27. Wind blew violently, the wolf howled at the full moon in the sky, and ghosts were ready to depart for Halloween haunting. A bus filled with 39 UPP students (both from this current year and UPP groups from the past) and 2 interns drove into the darkness of Panic Point Scare Park in Youngsville, NC. Everybody was ready to spend four hours in the haunted forests to challenge their bravery and withhold their screams. UPP at NCSU organized this special event for students to take a break from the intense mid-term exam period and to experience the best haunted attraction in North Carolina for an authentic taste of Halloween.

To warm up the hearts, some students started with the Haunted Hayride. There is a myth that says “You’re always safe when you’re moving”. Students moved slowly with the hayride into the quiet, dark forest. Whispering was heard from shadowed corners, and students were on edge as the truck bumped slowly along… when suddenly the movement halted. Murderous maniacs, giant spiders, bandits, and monsters jumped onto the truck from all ends, providing no escape! Screams sliced through the quietness of the dark.

One brave student, Xinyang Li, said: “I now understand why those people were so silent when they finished the ride.” But ex-UPP student Zoe laughed, “I am not scared yet. I feel bad for the actors.”

The Haunted Forest was the featured attraction of the park. Students grabbed their hands and braved into the half mile venture. Evil dolls, Voodoo witches, lobotomized lunatics, human meat, enslaved patients, sinister priests, evil crowns, were just the beginning.

“I really enjoyed this event!” Ruth said, “My favorite theme was the film studio, where under a continuously flashing light an actor dressed in black and white moved to us. The visual effects made him seem to be jumping out of the wall, and you couldn’t see his movements. It was really cool. Another theme was an abandoned school bus and there was a dead woman shouting at my face “Get out! Get out!” During the trip there were also all kinds of monsters quietly following us. When you turn back and see a bloody head staring at you, you can no longer scream out. “

The bravest students dared to walk into the Dark Trail to experience the most intense scares. Walking in pure darkness with the help of a rope and finding a way through Mutant Doomsday Preppers, ghastly barns, zombie cemetery, infected bus, hideous house, and more unearthly features.

Kaia was an impressively brave girl. More than excited after surviving the trail, she said: “I loved the Dark Trail, it is very different from all the haunted houses that I went before. I was the first one leading the path in the group and couldn’t see absolutely anything. I had to touch my hand and find the way in the darkness. I really enjoyed tonight. It is much more scary than Scarowinds. I think they are very professional and well designed. “

During the visit an unexpected rain suddenly poured onto us. Wet and coldness did not discourage the young spirits. Students claimed that it added more realness in the atmosphere.

As students explore and venture, they forget about their endless homework and experience new things and challenge themselves. “I feel really inspired,” said our cosplay lover student Ruth. “I really want to draw something to picture my emotions now.”

For some students, it was their first time celebrating Halloween, or even going to a haunted house. “I think I celebrated Halloween my whole life,” the returning UPP student Lareina said. “This event is great. I want to give a piece of advice for those timid students –put your hat on, grab your Friends firmly and look at the ground the whole time, then you will be mostly safe. But never show them that you are trembling because if so they will scare you even more.”

The post Dare to be scared! first appeared on New Mind Education.

Thankful for Food, Thankful for Life.

newmindadmin — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 05:38:26 +0000

By JENNA KANE, LINGCHAO MAO and CAROLINE CORNISH

On Tuesday, November 22nd, in New Mind at NCSU’s festively decorated office, UPP students feasted on classic dishes seen at most American Thanksgiving tables. This was food that most Chinese students had never tasted before: turkey, stuffing, sweet potato pie/casserole and cranberry relish dishes, iconic staples to the fabled meal. Other dishes including honey spiraled ham, corn souffle, garlic mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, yeast rolls, and gravy lined the makeshift serving tables. The whole office was warmly scented by the traditional Thanksgiving aromas of pumpkin spice and cinnamon apples. Bright autumn colors splashed festive cheer on the walls, and decorative paper-turkeys and autumn flowers littered the tables; students really drank in the authentic taste of Thanksgiving celebrations in the U.S.

Upon entering this warm atmosphere, interns handed students letters to themselves from the Shelton Challenge Leadership summer camp that they participated in three months ago. Along with the letters, they saw team pictures, and funny and exhausted young faces… Our students laughed and recalled with each other their first memorable experience in the United States.

Those whose eyes were blinded with hunger did not spend time contemplating their Shelton letters and ran straight to the food tables. Advisors became professional waitresses and served students’ plates overflowing with food, encouraging them to taste all that was available in this harvest bounty. Many of the students were delightfully surprised by the different foods. Interns discussed with them the differences between “dark meat” and “white meat”, but cranberry relish remained a great mystery on the table. While many students remained divided on which meat was superior (ham or turkey?), a popular favorite was the mashed potatoes. Surprisingly to the Americans, the pecan pie was almost untouched, reinforcing for our staff again that sweet-teeth are less common in China than the U.S.

“It’s the first time that I ate turkey and it’s very different than I expected. I always thought that they were smoked like Chinese barbecue”, said Hunter Huang; Aurora Ding thought, “the food was very traditional and American. My favourite food was the turkey although it is not very salty.”

“The food was great. I feel I can eat lots more. The environment was great, too, and it reminded me of Chinese New Year,” said Sam Jia.

While Thanksgiving is a food-centered holiday, there were a few other activities to help students get into the Thanksgiving spirit. Students were able to partake in a Thanksgiving photo booth where they could pose with pilgrim hats and assorted food cut-outs. There was also a Thankfulness tree where students filled out what they were thankful for on little autumn leaves.

A popular message was “Let me pass IEP please”, and “Kirsh, [a famously difficult teacher] please let me pass”. Some of other messages were more appreciative, “Thanks for this Life,” “Thanks for my parents,” and “Thanks to my advisor.”

“I like the cards students wrote,” said Starry Gao, “I think that is memorable.”

Thanksgiving is one of the most important holidays of American culture and a rich traditional background remains behind it. The goals of this event was to provide students positive exposure to an iconic holiday tradition through taste, smell, sight and sound, while also engaging their hearts and minds by asking them to consider privilege and gratitude. Overall, it was a lovely, relaxing time where students, interns, and staff gathered together at the end of the year to celebrate family and unity, providing a profound sense of inclusion during the holidays.

Todd Weng shared, “I’ve never celebrated Thanksgiving before, since it’s my first time. It’s quite unique for me and I had a variety of food I’ve never tasted before so I think it’s wonderful.”

Kaia also really enjoyed her Thanksgiving and said, “I love this event, and I love the foods. And the decorations on the tables surprised me so much, they looked so formal and beautiful, and that made me feel happy and warm. Thank you to all the staff.”

The post Thankful for Food, Thankful for Life. first appeared on New Mind Education.

Sharing Lunar New Year with NCSU

newmindadmin — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 05:17:19 +0000

By HARRY HAISHUO DUN and CAROLINE CORNISH

Winter has certainly arrived by the end of January. But there were some beautiful scenes here at NC State, which already indicate the coming of spring. Among these is the atmosphere of Chinese Spring Festival or the Lunar Chinese New Year. After winter break, students often feel homesick, especially those who spent their time off at home with friends, familiar foods, and family.

The Chinese New Year is such an important cultural event for our students, and unquestionably is an emotional time for most of our cohort. In an effort to combat this homesickness, and to share a bit of Chinese culture with others as well, UPP planned this annual event, celebrating the holiday and inviting other NCSU students to join in on the celebrations. “The Chinese New Year is coming! I am so missing home!” UPP new intern, Rex Lei Xie, exclaimed in anticipation of the event.

Alexander Hall, the international student dorm, was once again decked out in Chinese decorations, reminiscent of the Mooncake Festival. There were many more people, the smell of fresh dumplings wafting through the rooms, and elaborate decorations. Red lanterns, blinking white lights, paper dragons and posters celebrating the Year of the Rooster colored the walls of the international student dorm recreation room.

Several stations segregated the party into manageable activities. In a separate room, tables were decorated with calligraphy paper and high quality ink and brushes. UPP students taught Americans how to draw calligraphy, though most everyone in the room was inexperienced and simply had fun using the brushes. “It has been long time since I have tried this, but I am still feeling it!” said UPP student Aurora as she showed off her calligraphy skills and taught many Foreign Language-Chinese students.

The main room had round tables managed by interns and students, where they taught each other how to play various American and Chinese games, using dice and cards. Uno was a popular favorite because it’s so simple, while Mahjong was a challenge for even the Chinese students.

The kitchen was a favorite spot for everyone. Fresh dumpling meat was made, and everyone took turns folding it into the dumpling dough. Brave intern Jessica kept everything in order by watching boiling pots and making sure everyone had a turn to partake in the tradition. “I actually didn’t know how to make dumplings before, but I will after today’s event!” Alice Luo, the new UPP intern, was serious in her quest to learn how to make perfect dumplings. Onlookers strayed to the outer edges of the kitchen, peering into the madness while munching on sweet peanuts.

“The dumplings are good!” said Caruthers Joel, an admirer of Asian culture who loved the cooking the most. “The dumplings were my favorite,” he mentioned, after eating more than a few!

Before leaving at 7pm, students got to try their luck in our Red Packet Raffle from the front desk, where a $10 bill might have been waiting for them. “I hope I got lucky from the red packet this year,” Xinyang Li said eagerly as she clutched her red packet. Unfortunately, she didn’t, but many others did! Xinyang was still lucky though, receiving a fortune in her packet reading, “Remember fondly of this last year, and fiercely plan to take on the new one in your own style!” Happy Chinese New Year!

The post Sharing Lunar New Year with NCSU first appeared on New Mind Education.

NC State Student Welcome Party

newmindadmin — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 04:57:41 +0000

BY Harry Haishuo Dun, Intern at UPP@NCSU

After a long and sweet winter break, UPP students reunited to share their holiday adventures and prepare for the new semester at the UPP Welcome Party in the Pullen Park Community Center. This event also introduced five new UPP students, four new interns and one new staff member to the returning cohort.

In an effort to beat the cold, grey weather, UPP arranged for an NC State bus to transport students to the Pullen Park Community Center. Dongjian Shang, one of our new interns, helped gather students and escort them to the location. Other interns and staff arrived early to set up the center with an American Comfort Food buffet, which included chili, pot roast and vegetable soup and a hot drink bar with cocoa and tea. Students arrived at 2 pm to discuss their winter break activities and try new foods. Seventeen UPP students attended.

“The hot chocolate is so good, I want to get more!” Harry Haishuo Dun, a new intern, said.

Once everyone had finished chatting amongst themselves over lunch, Student Life Coordinator Erin Holloway invited new students Alivia Ren, Alice Luo, Gabby Xiong, Sean Jin and Lucas Jia to introduce themselves! New interns Harry, Alice, Shang, and Rex also had a chance to introduce themselves and offer their advice for the new semester. Program Coordinator Alex Brooks also announced this semester’s UPP Mentors: returning students who will work with the new students to help them adapt to life here. We are thankful for Eishon Pan, Kaia Hou, Peter Bi, and Mercer Chang’s commitment to helping our new students!

“The UPP Mentor program is a great idea to help the new students feel more connected,” Erin Holloway said.

“I think it is great to help the new students in their studies and life,” Eishon Pan said.

The rest of the event was dedicated to team building games. The students were split into six teams with the 5 new students all being group leaders. Interns and staff also joined in the fun, creating a great sense of equality and family.

The first game was called Turning Over a New Leaf: everyone stood on a king sized sheet and needed to flip the blanket over without stepping off the blanket at any time. Students shuffled and squished to make enough room to twist the blanket. “Step on that part!” Alex Brooks said, who was definitely the leader in the first game. Surprisingly, they only took about 5 minutes to complete the task!

Students and interns then played three more games together, including Pencil Drop, Lily Pads and Transfer. Pencil Drop requires the teams to work in pairs to lower a suspended pencil into an empty bottle of water: the pair faced away from each other and were blindfolded, while their teammates guide them with their voices.

“It is so hard! I can’t feel my legs!” Jin said, struggling to keep squatting while playing Pencil Drop. Some pairs took much longer to beat the challenge than others; some took more than 10 minutes and others did it in barely 5!

“That was so fast!” Jia said. “We only took one minute to finish.”

Lily Pads and Transfer both involved critical thinking and the teams using limited resources or space to reach their objectives.

The event ended smoothly with the beautiful voice of Sean Yangcan Jin, who sang the song Long Time No See. Interns and staff then lead students outside to take group pictures with their advisors or UPP Mentors before heading back to the bus.

“I met some interesting people there!” Xiong said. “It will be a long semester, but I feel good and confident.”

The post NC State Student Welcome Party first appeared on New Mind Education.

Student Voices: Learning self-defense

newmindadmin — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 04:41:54 +0000

By JESSICA QU – Student alumni

On April 22, UPP students and staff signed up to attend a self-defense workshop, hosted by Krav Maga Raleigh. This was the last optional event of the semester, and it was such a beautiful and hot afternoon! Ten students, most of them girls, participated in the event.

Krav Maga is a self-defense martial art developed by the Israeli military. The goals of this event were to expose UPP students to a new style of physical fitness as well as learn self-defense techniques, which are particularly useful for female students.

“It hurts, but I am enjoying it,” Gabby Xiong said during the event. Another student, Xinyang Li, said she released her stress from upcoming exams through this new type of fitness and training.

The group began with warm up exercises, such as jumping jacks, push ups, etc. UPP students were then split into pairs to practice different strikes and techniques. The Krav Maga instructors taught students the proper forms of kicking and punching. Then students practiced kicking and punching together, trying to land as many solid strikes as they could in 10 seconds.

“I am sweating, but I think it is useful to learn these skills.” Zidan Liu said.

Students also learned how to escape from various grabs or holds. Students practiced breaking free from someone larger than them who tried grabbing their wrist. For many, this was an important lesson: it is technique, not brute strength, that is the most important in a fight.

“This skill of getting away is useful in real life,” Aurora Yinan Ding said.

In order to reach new levels of physical fitness and hone their new skills in striking and escaping, students trained for over an hour. We at UPP are very thankful to the kind and patient Krav Maga instructors, who ensured our students left sweaty and sore but also proud and more confident!

The post Student Voices: Learning self-defense first appeared on New Mind Education.

The Annual East Asian Autumn Festival

newmindadmin — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 11:53:24 +0000

By XIN ZHAO – New Mind UNCG Intern

On September 23rd, UPP students joined the East Asian Autumn Festival which is a celebration hosted by UNCG campus every year. Autumn Festival is called “Zhong Qiu Jie” in Chinese. The festival is held on 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar with a full moon at night, corresponding the late September to early October of the Gregorian calendar with a full moon at night. Chinese usually spend the whole night with all their family members to celebrate this holiday. UNCG hosts this event and to let the students who are far away from their country experience their hometown’s festival and have the feeling of being at home. UNCG did a great job of broadcasting the event to increase attendance. Besides China, Vietnam also has a holiday similar to the Autumn Festival. In addition, students from other International organizations representing Korean and Japanese culture also came out to showcase Asian culture.

This year we decided to have our students teach Chinese paper cutting and show traditional Chinese costumes. Our students were teaching all the students from other countries how to cut paper. There were about 24 students who volunteer during this event. Our Chinese students thought it would be hard to teach American students Chinese paper cutting before they came to this event. However, our students did an amazing job to teach Americans how to do Chinese paper cutting and showing them Chinese costumes. One American student said, “The Chinese paper cutting is so pretty and the New Mind students did so well to teach us by hand to make this Chinese paper cutting art.” American participants really enjoyed the activity and talking with students about Chinese culture.

This experience was good for New Mind students as well. Many New Mind students do not feel confident in their English abilities when they come to America and it leads to hesitation in creating friendships with Americans. However, this kind of activity creates a comfortable environment for students to practice their English while also sharing their culture. Doing a hands-on activity helps to break the ice in communication and creates a good interaction between the New Mind students and the American participants. New Mind students reported that they really enjoyed this kind of activity to share Chinese culture with Americans. In addition, the parents of New Mind students were very pleased to see their children respecting and recognizing the importance of cultural preservation.

Everyone who came to this event was very happy and satisfied. Our students felt at home from this event and American students learned a lot about our culture from this event.

The post The Annual East Asian Autumn Festival first appeared on New Mind Education.