China’s thousands of years of continuous history make it one of the oldest civilizations in the world. As its global influence grows, especially economically, understanding China’s language, people, and culture has never been more important.
With fully customizable programs, CLI’s team of educators provide students with comprehensive knowledge of China that goes far beyond language study to incorporate a full range of academic lenses in the classroom which cater to each student’s individual needs and interests.
Each year, CLI welcomes students from a variety of ages and backgrounds. To date, our youngest student has been 5 years old and our most experienced, 72. We welcome complete beginners and highly advanced students, as well as everything in between.
One of CLI’s central goals is to create a vibrant and welcoming community for students, team members, and friends and partners in Guilin.
Our weekly activities and travel excursions are designed to build bridges between diverse cultures by introducing students to local sites and community members and integrating CLI into the local community.
CLI was created as a solution to traditional language learning programs. Countless language programs throughout the world place students in large classrooms where they’re trained to learn by rote memorization. In contrast, CLI helps students reach Chinese fluency through a carefully balanced and tested system of interaction, experience, immersion, guidance, and instruction.
The core of the CLI learning experience includes 20 weekly hours of one-on-one intensive language instruction. Rather than constantly vying for your teacher’s attention, students enjoy the priceless benefit of direct one-on-one communication in the Chinese language.
CLI has spent years cultivating learning methods and systems that create a unique immersion environment in which students hear Chinese, speak Chinese, and think in Chinese even outside the classroom, bringing each student’s learning potential to its maximum.
CLI is an affiliate of one of southern China’s most prestigious institutions of higher learning, Guangxi Normal University (GXNU). Founded in 1932, GXNU has a student population of nearly 25,000 and offers a full range of academic disciplines.
CLI builds on the high-caliber international program already in place at GXNU, providing CLI students with a quality university experience that has been supplemented and enhanced by CLI’s team of educators to maximize learning.
At CLI, we provide an excellent opportunity for colleges and universities to expand their international presence to China without having to devote precious resources to developing a new study abroad program.
CLI’s managing partners have a combined China experience of over 20 years, and they have developed extensive China networks through graduate study at Yale, the Wharton School and Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, and hundreds of high-level professional and academic contacts across the country.
CLI provides various on-the-ground connections in China, 24-hour assistance to students for the duration of their stay, both on and off-campus housing options, as well as many additional learning resources.
