How appropriate it is to celebrate the ICLP Bulletin’s first anniversary in conjunction with Chinese New Year! Amidst the delicious food and exciting prizes, ICLP Director Yanwing Leung and ICLP Bulletin Editor-in-Chief, Huei-Feng Phoebe Huang Marzec thanked all the students, teachers, administrative and newsletter staff members for the hard work and dedication that made our pioneer a success. Chinese culture too has a tradition of spring cleaning before the Chinese New Year holidays. In this spirit the editorial board has been reflecting upon the past year’s challenges and successes in preparation for an even more exciting second year for ICLP Bulletin.
The ICLP Bulletin was established as a forum for us students to express ourselves, to make a record of our achievements in and out of the classroom, and above all, to spur us to use Chinese to engage with local society and culture. Students are afforded the opportunity to immediately apply course concepts in practical situations, in turn enriching both their own experiences as well as those around them. Two fellow classmates and frequent contributors to the newsletter, Ben Vogler and Takako Kanda, have both enjoyed the opportunity to learn from their classmates, while improving their own Chinese. Billy Hwan, a former editor reminisced, “I had the privilege of reading the writings of my fellow classmates, touring local businesses with editor-in-chief Huang laoshi, and even sharing a late night pizza with Chen and Fann laoshi.”
In the early months, editors and ICLP staff put no small amount of time and effort into technical and logistical aspects of producing an electronic biweekly newsletter. While this was a learning experience in its own right, now with most of the kinks ironed out, the current editorial board looks forward to increasing student involvement.
Editor Bryan K. Beaudoin expressed his appreciation for every contributor’s time and effort because the Bulletin represents how “we are encouraging ourselves and each other to strive for a higher level of proficiency in this language, and significantly, one that includes proficiency in writing.” As such, Paul Mozur, another current editor adds, “I would like to encourage all teachers and students, especially of higher level classes, to make it a goal to write at least one in-class essay to be published and shared with fellow classmates.” In this way, the ICLP Bulletin hopes to become an even stronger part of our Chinese learning community.
