 "Photo: Theo Romeo / UCD Advocate")
What’s in a name
On ZhaoHeng Wu’s first day in UC Denver’s sister university in Beijing, China, his professor told him, along with his entire class, that he needed to pick an English name. Wu was among the students selected to participate in the exchange program.
“I got this name from an American show named Prison Break,” said Wu, known to his American friends as Scofield. The main character in the popular TV show is Michael Scofield.
“Sometimes, people ask what my name is, and I say ZhaoHeng, and some of my friends remember my Chinese name, but I think it’s all good. I think the English one is easier to remember,” he said.
Wu was one of 30 students from the university in Beijing to be sent to UCD. Not only does the program enroll Chinese students at UCD, but it also sends domestic students overseas.
So far, Wu has not had the easiest time.
“I write in English, but I think in Chinese, and that’s why I have so many grammar errors,” he said and laughed. “That’s why the Writing Center is my second home.”
In China, Wu is a good student. He was hand-picked by the school to come over here. This is his first semester in the U.S.
“When I got here, I saw every person as a foreigner. The clothes people wore was different. I think my first class was music appreciation. I was very excited to go,” he said.
“But during the class, I got really nervous. I only understood about 50 percent of what the professor said. Also, we had a quiz on the first day, and I didn’t do very well on it.” The classes proved difficult, but Wu found himself comfortable with the new culture almost immediately.
“There are lots of parties. I knew that parties were very popular here. It’s not like that in China. Some of my friends from China think it’s really strange. People are drinking and there are girls. Sometimes they think the party is too, how do I say this, open,” he said.
Wu moved into Campus Village. He wasn’t forced to, but, according to Wu, there was almost no time for him to find a house ahead of time before arriving, so the dorms made the most sense.
“It’s not a requirement, but the international office suggests that we live at Campus Village,” he said. “I love it here. I have met a lot of friends. My best buddy here is my roommate, and he’s a domestic student.”
Wu was lucky. He was open to explore the new culture. But in the eyes of faculty members, this is rare, and harder than it sounds.
“There’s concern around trouble understanding what’s going on in class. But my concern is with the cultural adjustment,” said Amy Vidali, assistant professor of English and the director of the composition program. “I’d like to see more support for international students in that regard.”
According to Vidali, because of recent increases in enrollment, both at the domestic and international level, the introductory composition courses, English 1020 and 2030, are packed.
“I think the problem is new to composition. But there has been some concern about comp T.A.s giving international students F’s,” she said.
Currently, according to Vidali, composition courses have a waiting list of about 200 students.
“And we’ve had to cancel comp classes because we can’t room them,” she said.
Ostensibly, UCD is running out of room, which is nothing new. But ultimately, the international students, according to Vidali, may sometimes get left behind. More students means less time instructors have to assist international students. So international students, who are struggling because of the language barrier, don’t have many options beyond taking English 1010.
“There are no credits received for this course because Colorado state law requires universities to teach at a certain level,” she said. “Also, due to the negative connotation of it being remedial, and the fact that it doesn’t help students progress in their degree, many students avoid it…I guess I have to take that up with my legislator.”
The umbrella
Jill Krug, student advisor for the International Student Services Office, helps foreign students get acclimated.
“We deal mostly with S1 and J1, which is the student visa category. We deal mostly with status. For other visa categories, we’re mostly just support for them,” she said.
In this case, status means whether a student is legal or not. And there are many ways students can make themselves illegal.
“If you’re in status, you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing and everything is fine. If you’re out of status, you’ve done something to violate the requirements on your visa,” she said.
If a student falls behind, it’s up to the office to see whether they can fit him into another class or find an exception which will allow the student to remain under 12 hours—if the student is continuously negligent, he has to return home.
“We have students who come to us who are struggling academically and want to know how to get help. We refer them to the learning resource center or their professors,” she said. “Those who are having cultural issues, like homesick issues, we help them with that, too.”
According to Krug, the office consists of eight employees. Currently, they service about 676 students between both the downtown and Anschutz campuses. And when the office can’t meet students’ needs, the community sometimes can take up the slack. “Support isn’t always an issue because students usually find their own group,” she said.
The official
When native speakers present to an entire class, there are plenty of reasons to be nervous. And after hours of preparation, writing a script and then memorizing it, Sangbum Cho found himself in front his class, silent. He had forgotten the script.
“I was afraid of mispronouncing, and the content was not familiar to me. The Korean cases, I know, but I’m not confident on the U.S. topics,” he said. “I made a mistake, and repeated the mistake. This made me afraid of presenting.”
Two years ago, Cho was a public official in the Jeju province of South Korea. “I had revised some taxation systems, but the Jeju government is more concerned with attracting foreign investments in order to expand the tourist industry,” he said.
Cho, who is now 36 years-old, was selected by his government to attend UCD’s Public Administration program, which is offered by the public affairs department.
Unlike Wu, whose family pays his tuition (about three times the amount of a Colorado resident’s tuition at UCD), the South Korean government pays not only for Sangbum’s tuition, but for his family—his wife and two children—to live in Denver while he attends school.
“It’s a good opportunity for my family, especially for my kids, who get to meet friends here and go to school,” Cho said.
Cho began the program in the fall of 2008, and like Wu, had some issues. He began to learn English in middle school in South Korea, but they concentrated mostly on grammar, not speaking or listening.
“The teacher speaking was very fast, especially the other students who were asking questions were also speaking very rapid. I was very nervous at the time,” he said. “In Korea, we usually hesitate to ask questions. In U.S., many students participate voluntarily. I thought that was very impressive.”
During class, Cho was frozen—he couldn’t speak most of the time.
“I felt like a wet blanket. I was very nervous every time we discussed. It required several hours to fully understand what the class topic was—to internalize it,” he said.
Before this semester, Cho was utilizing a tutorial service, provided by the International Language Center.
“This year, the service was cancelled. They said that they didn’t hire a tutor—or there was no tutor that applied. I don’t understand it,” he said.
Unlike Wu, Cho knew about a resource through the ESL program, which aided students with their pronunciation—but it wasn’t free, nor did it count for credit. After 10 weeks, and $250, Cho felt more confident speaking in public.
“Our pronunciation is not good, even though we have studied English. But after the class, I think I’m better in correcting my L, M, R sounds, and the TH sound,” he said.
Cho will finish the program in six months. While here, he has been reading up on many different policies that he can bring back to South Korea, so Jeju’s government can possibly model them. His final project this semester is a study on Colorado’s own TABOR. He’s not shy in the least bit about his plans whether to return to South Korea with the policy.
“Ha, no, not that. That can stay here,” he said.
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