Chinese students eat hot dogs & cheese for a taste of the ‘American Life’

More Chinese students are attending expensive summer camps in the US, in a bid to prepare themselves before enrolling in American higher education institutes, reports CGTN.

For the “full immersion” experience, families are forking up to US$6,000 to spend time in areas from rural Wisconsin to big cities, like New York and Chicago. During their time there, students work on their English and sample the American life, as a pre-American university rite of passage.

“An evening over the lake watching water sports and hot dogs and a little Michael Jackson, it doesn’t get much more American than this,” a newscaster reads in the CGTN video.

One student said: “Some food I don’t like here. (Which food?) Such as cheese, I don’t like cheese.”

Growing numbers of #Chinese students pay high price to spend summer vacations in the #US https://t.co/Zx79b4GoOo pic.twitter.com/y3jPFSKfMt

— CGTN (@CGTNOfficial) August 20, 2017

Another student spoke about how the programme, such as the one in Wisconsin – which is said to have helped put four Chinese students into US universities – is difficult but he will try his best. According to CGTN, the programme puts pressure on these students as it requires them to pass exams, such as English to follow their seniors’ footsteps.

For their parents, price is an issue, considering a 2016 Ipsos report of the summer camp market in China is only 40.8 percent as CGTN noted.

“I cannot afford my daughter’s summer holiday expense even if my monthly pay is CNY30,000,” complained a Chinese mother in south China’s Guangdong Province.

Summer camps for #students visiting foreign countries boom in #China, as prices put pressure on parents https://t.co/Z5sPmlzXdV

— CGTN (@CGTNOfficial) August 15, 2017

Chinese students account for 31.5 percent of all international students in the US in 2015/2016 – the highest number among all countries, according to data from the Institute of International Education. While many enrol with dreams to graduate, many do not have enough English to understand or even pass, according to one University of Arizona’s professor.

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