Middlebury Language Schools: Chinese Language School

It all begins with the Language Pledge®: a promise to speak only the language you are studying for the duration of your time in the program. This complete linguistic immersion, combined with rigorous classroom learning and scores of in-language cocurricular activities, helps you achieve dramatic breakthroughs, no matter what your proficiency level.

In the Chinese School, we choose our faculty from among the most dedicated, hardworking professionals in academia and select our students from a pool of highly qualified, highly motivated learners.

As a student in the Chinese School, you’ll meet with your teachers for four hours of daily classroom learning, as well as individual review sessions and drop-in evening office hours. Between times, you'll join them in organized cocurricular activities—including tai chi, hiking, theater, calligraphy, cooking, and Majiang—each designed to help you build new vocabulary while developing cultural fluency.

Whether in class, at poetry club, in the dining hall, or just chatting with friends, you'll be living the language for eight intensive weeks. When you leave campus at summer’s end, you’ll say goodbye to friends you're likely to meet again later—as professional colleagues in the Chinese-speaking world.