A student’s journey from China to Vermont
Despite language barriers and homesickness, one sophomore international student began her first year at UVM this fall. Coming from Beijing, China, April (Yue) Qiao said she is hoping to remain in America for future educational opportunities, but there are still some challenges particularly when it comes to communicating.
Qiao said she gets help from the Writing Center and through a Chinese-English speaking program.
In the program, “American students and international Chinese students communicate with each other to help improve language skills,” she said.
But language is still the biggest barrier. “Sometimes I communicate with one or more American students and they just talk very fast to each other and all I can do is pretend and nod my head and smile like I understand but I don’t,” she said. “I don’t know what to say, it’s embarrassing.”
She also wishes she had access to better notes for classes. “There’s a program called note-taker to help disabled students, but I can’t get into it because I don’t have a disability,” she said.
Qiao said sometimes her professors talk too fast and she isn’t able to keep up. “I can learn a lot in class but there’s still some things I don’t understand, so I think if we could have more help in the notes it would be better,” she said.
Source: Vermont Cynic
