Critical Language Scholarship Program

The Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program is a nationally competitive summer program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and is designed for students who are looking to improve or gain critical language skills. Critical languages are languages that are usually harder for Westerners to learn, and as a result, there aren't as many people that are able to speak them as there are job opportunities that are in demand for the skills. Languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Hindi are but a few of the options you have to study through CLS, though some languages require prior knowledge. I would strongly recommend anyone that has an interest in learning foreign languages to apply to this scholarship. It does take a lot of commitment to go through the program, but it is insanely effective and makes for an unforgettable experience!

After I went through the CLS program in Suzhou, China, my language capabilities skyrocketed. Initially, I could only use elementary words and phrases such as basic greetings, colors, numbers, what my favorite things were, etc. My knowledge of the language was survival at best, but after two months in the program, I was pretty much conversational. I could speak for hours at a time in Chinese with little stress. Though I might not have been completely fluent from those two months alone, it prepared me for the year to come in China and helped make my language skills reach a more professional level.

The classes were very intense and the program was really only meant for those who were willing to put in all of their time and effort into immersing themselves into the culture. We lived with host families in Suzhou, but in other CLS sites there was the chance you could be living with a native roommate instead.  We were also assigned language partners who we would meet with weekly and language tutors to meet with every day after class. We were only allowed to use our target language during the program, and if someone was caught and written up too many times for speaking another language, they would be sent home. Even when we needed assistance, unless it was a serious emergency, we could only use our target language. Once while I was still learning how to use the bus system in Suzhou, I got lost in the city when my bus broke off of its regular route to make a pit stop at the main station, and even at that time, I could only rely on my basic Chinese skills to find my way home. Once a week we were allowed a break from this rule. We had an hour meeting in English to discuss upcoming plans and to share some of our experiences. Calls to families back in America were not discouraged but it was generally better to keep them limited so as to stick with the program's design of only using the target language.

We had four hours of classes every weekday with short breaks in between and hours of homework to follow up with at home. Homework usually consisted of written assignments and using our speaking skills to accomplish mundane tasks outside of class, such as ordering food at restaurants or interviewing locals. Classes were to only be conducted in Chinese, even in the beginning level classes, and included Spoken Application, Speaking, Reading, and Writing. For Spoken Application, we gave oral presentations everyday to describe our experiences gained from the interviews and tasks in our homework assignments and we discussed them with follow-up questions. Speaking class was similar to a general class and had us focusing on grammar rules. We had to memorize passages from our textbook everyday after class and be able to recite them the next day without looking at the text. Preparing for these two classes arguably consumed the largest amount of time after school. In Reading class we had to read a couple of passages each day, focusing on key words and content. At the start of each class, we'd have a writing quiz to test the previous day's key words. Writing class involved using our newly learned grammar and vocabulary to write short essays based on certain topics or themes everyday. We also had two elective courses in Taichi and Calligraphy and had to choose one as the minimum requirement, though most of us would choose to do both throughout the summer.

If you want to know more about what the CLS experience was like, please check out my first blog entry under August 2015.

If this program sounds interesting to you and you think you're up for the challenge, I would recommend going to their website and learning more about how to apply at:

http://clscholarship.org

Try looking at their current essay prompts and get an idea as to how you'd want to write them. Syracuse University's Center for Fellowship and Scholarship Advising (CFSA) often holds writing workshops to help students with their essays. I highly recommend taking advantage of this. I don't think I would have won both the CLS Scholarship (twice- once as an alternate for the 2016 summer program in Hikone, Japan) and the Gilman Scholarship without their help, as advisors were very knowledgeable on the kind of content that was being sought after in these essays. Their website can be found at:

http://nationalscholarships.syr.edu/award/critical-language-scholarship/

The best advice to keep in mind is that this scholarship program is looking for people who can take the heat under pressure and handle any situation that may arise from the experience abroad. They won't select you if they think you'd freak out and panic getting lost in a foreign city or if they thought you'd be someone that can't tolerate a lot of change and pressure, so avoid mentioning in your essays anything that stresses you out too much. Skillfully readdress the issue of being under constant pressure by describing how you can overcome the adversity. Another important thing they will be looking for is how you will continue to use the language once the program is completed. It is an all-expense covered program, so they don't want to waste all that money on someone who isn't going to use the language in their future career. Remember that they are looking for people who are resolved, open-minded, and resourceful. They need people who are willing to embrace a foreign culture and who will complete the program to its fullest design. Good luck to those who try applying and happy travels to those who get in!