HAWAIIAN COLLECTION

GREGG M. SINCLAIR lIBR AR' UNIVERSITY OF HAWA'!

OCT 8

UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII· VOLUME /11, NO.3' SEPTEMBER, 1963

" ... to promote mutual understanding among the countries of Asia, the Pacific area, a.lld the United States."

MESSAGE from the Vice-Chancellor Institute for Student Interchange

This special issue tells the story of the Institute for Student Interchange, an organization designed for a unique type of scholarship involving a group of remark­able young people.

Our students come from many countries and many cultures, but they share much in common. They ate high in intelligence and show great intellectual prom· ise. Each student is capable of making a real contri. bution to the knowledge and welfare of his native land. Individual differences notwithstanding, they all believe in the hope that lies in understanding one another in this ·crowding world. They are all prepared to work for Ihis understanding.

In the 67 departments of the University of Hawaii, [..enter students receive the academic training and pro­fessional development most needed by their respective countries. Every effort is made continually to reassess Ihe needs of each participating nation, in order to insure maximum usefulness of the Center students when th(~y return home.

The residences and living arrangements in the Cen­ter are designed to encourage contact and cultural inter­change between students. An extensive program of planned actiYities promotes this same end, both within OIl' Center and on the cosmopolitan campus of the Uni­"crsity of Hawaii. All Center students are expected to -and do-take part in these activities. They become immediately and vitally involved with many cultures.

Off campus the Center, aided by civic organiza­lions, involves students in visits to Hawaii's multi­racial, multi·cultural homes, organizations, and civic centers.

The semi-tropical, multi-racial setting of the Center and the University eases initial adjustment for the Pacific and Asian students and provides the first adap. tive challenge to the students from the U.S. mainland.

After an initial experience of intercultural life in Hawaii, usually lasting at least nine months, the Cen. ter arranges a period of field study which sends the Alllericans to Asia and the Asian and Pacific students

.10 the U.S. mainland. During this period, usually ac-

Dr. Hendrickson Zarina Zaman

The Covers of the Book Called "Understanding" Are Never Closed

companying further formal academic work, their exper­ience is broadened and their understanding of another culture increases in depth.

Returning to Hawaii after his period or field study. the "old" grantee normally spends a final period in residence at the Center, consolidating his academic work and contributing greatly to the experience and understanding of the newer arrivals.~

After returning to productive work in his home country the grantee (an enthusiastic alumnus I con· tinues to keep in touch with the Center and with his old friends. A resource of effective, dedicated persons is rapidly building in the participating countries; this resource is expected soon to become an invaluable aid to further development of the Center program and will be a significant force for true understanding be­tween nations.

This is the Institute for Student Interchange. It develops minds and skills tailored to national needs. It changes men, replacing shallowness with depth, and prejudice with sympathy. It brings understanding. It's not Pie in the Sky ... it works!

2

TIP-Teacher .lnt:ercharige.,~ro9ra~ . ,

Center staff members who often communicate in the time·saving code of abbreviations are apt to identify certain grantees with the words, "He is a TIP student."

TIP stands for Teacher Interchange Program and the Teacher Interchange Program means a signifi­cant advance in the exchange of knowledge between Occident and Orient. For TIP is one of the first systematic educational interchange programs designed exclusively for that often.neglected person, the high school teacher.

Vnder TIP, East.West Center 'provides scholar· ships for English teachers from Asia, and social studies or Asian language teachers from America. The two groups of teachers study, live-and some· times argue-together at the University of Hawaii. Asian teachers then complete the year with a summer session in linguistics on the mainland. American teachers attend a summer workshop on International Education in Asia. This past summer, the workshop was conducted by Dr. Shiro Amioka of the Univer· sitv of Hawaii and Mr. Victor Kobayashi of the ll~iversity of Michigan, with Professor Y 0 i chi Maeda, University of Tokyo, and a member of the East-West Center International Advisory Panel, as one of the speakers. For two weeks of the six weeks' session. the teachers were guests of Niigata Prefec­ture where they visited every type of school in the area.

TIP is a one'year, non·degree program. Teachers return immediately to their schools, where students and community receive the benefit of the teachers' enriched knowledge.

A teacher, Asian or American, who is awarded a TIP scholarship fulfills exacting requirements. He must be a "master" teacher of demonstrated ability and experience. His influence invariably extends be· yond the classroom as curriculum advisor, supervisor or consultant on teaching materials.

Statistically he is under 40. Professionally he is firmly established in school and community. The TI P participant is a mature and stable person. The American's interest in the East is not a mere fasci­nation with cultural exotica. The Asian has gained extensive knowledge of the West without diminish· ing appreciation of his own culture.

To quote Dr. Ronald Anderson, Program Coor­dinator: "The TIP participant is able to give as well as receive from his experience here. He is called upon to explain his own culture to his colleagues and learns from them about their own respective cultures."

Dr. Anderson can speak with authority. Director of Asian studies for the University of Hawaii since 1960 and long·time former secretary for the National Association of Asian Studies, he early saw the need for such a program.

Members of the first TI P group arrived at the Center a year ago. They are boarding planes to reo turn home as this is printed. Arriving are members of the new group-35 teachers from Asia and the

. . -'

United States. Among the two groups are such persons as the

president of Wisconsin's social studies teachers, the curriculum coordinator in history for Catholic schoob in the Mid-West, and, from Asia, three colleague who have the responsibility of rewriting textbooks in English for their country's high schools.

In East·West Center residences, Asian and Ameri· can teachers room together. Joint seminars on such subjects as Comparative Education and Asian-Ameri. can Interactions run throughout the semester. In these the talk is free and frank and stimulating.

When a TIP year is over, what has the partici. pating teacher gained? He has earned 30 hours of graduate credit, but, in the opinion of members of the first group, this is a comparatively minor benefit.

Says Frank Andreone of Albany, New York: "1 feel that if the entire population of the world could participate in some kind of TIP, world tensions would disappear forever."

For Thomas Rondeau of Wisconsin who h a:l written a comprehensive report on the program, the best summary is found in a quotation from Jesting Pilate by Aldous Huxley:

"So the journey is over and I am back again where I started, richer by much experience und poorer by many exploded convictions, many per. ished certainties ..."

No Lack of "Friends" In a little more than six months, Center students

joined the life of Hawaii's citizens in the following ways: 72 students were entertained in private homef. 398 were guests of various clubs. 31 visited island courtrooms. 52 s pen t week·end visits on neighbur islands in the Hawaiian chain. 28 agricultural students visited island sugar plantations and farms.

Statistics make a cold approach to warm hospi. tality-but the statistics that concern The Friends of East-West Center are too impressive to be overlook­ed. For directly or indirectly, the "Friends" arrange the hospitality that is an essential part of cultural interchange. "Friends" are all volunteers.

The organization, with 400 members and a 20. person board of directors is headed by Dr. John William Holmes, a Honolulu eye surgeon.

Within the Center, activities of the Friends are coordinated with campus and community projects by Dr. James Meader, director of the Community Re· lations Office.

Student Statistics at a Glance

Total Student Enrollment 527 New students this month 308 New American students 103 New Asian-Pacific students 205

I

1­

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n

Selecl:ion ­Progress in Process

Ideally the student who is awarded an East·West Center scholarship is a most remarkable person. He must have the high academic standing and the moti. \'ation for further learning that are grounded in n h"'lIlthy amount of personal ambition, yet his inter. (~ts and ambitions must be directed to goals that are international, which implies a good measure of the forgelling of self.

Ordinarily, his g r a d u ate studies must fit the progrnms of the University of Hawaii. The Asian stu­clent's studies must also fiII the needs of his country. The American student must h a ve interest in and aptitude for an Asian language. The Asian student must know English and demonstrate a clear potential fnr English improvement.

Granted that this student is found, what do we have? A paragon on a pedestal?

The answer is No. The paragon is lacking. The pedestal remains vacant. The East-West Center stu­dents are, happily, human beings and therefore fall ~hort of this theoretical ideal. Bringing scholarship students and scholarship standards a bit closer to per­fection is, however, a constant goal of the Institute for Student Interchange.

"With more good prospective students to choose from, we have an increasing obligation to perfect our criteria and selection methods," says William Weldon, Director of Student Selection.

That this 0 b I i g a tion is being met is shown in recent changes in selection methods. Given added importance in the case of American students is the ~tudent's potential as a scholar abroad and a repre­~~lItative of America in a foreign culture. The Insti· tute of International Education, the screening agency 011 the U.s. mainland, has been asked to find out lIIore about the personal qualities of student prospects. The institute is now also requiring students to take the Graduate Record exam or the Miller Analogies Test.

In Asia, screening and preliminary English Ian. guage testing are done by such agencies as USIS, rSEF, the Mencius Foundation and bi-national com· rnillees. The usrs Cultural Affairs Officer normally heads a selection committee. Close contact between the Center and these screening committees is part of Ihe pallern·of-improvement in Asian selection. Plans for closer cooperation include inviting chairmen of Asian screening committees to the Center for brief· ing and observation and the adding of part-time corresponding secretaries in the field.

To sum it up, the prospective East·West Center student, Asian or American, is being interviewed and tested with even more thoughtful attention to his personal quulities, and future contributions to inter­national understanding.

No paragon on a pedestal need apply-but the Center student approaches more closely the ideal­a remarkable person given a coveted scholarship.

3

Who/s Who In lSI Staff

The Institute, shortened to lSI, was formerly called the Office of Student Programs. The Center has three divisions--the Institute for Student Interchange, the Institute of Advanced Projects and the Institute for Technical Interchange.

Heading East·West Center is Chancellor Alexan­der Spoehr, anthropologist and fonner director of the Bishop Museum in Honolulu.

Who's Who in the Institute- for Student Inter· change reads as follows:

Dr. John R. Hendrickson, Vice-Chancellor. Holder of the Ph.D. from the University of California. Dr. Hendrickson has spent II year~ in Asia, speaks Malay and took a prominent part in the establish· ment of the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur.

William S. Weldon, director of student selection. Weldon was admissions counselor-working wit h foreign students-at the University of Michigan where he obtained his M.A. in history.

Mrs. Marion Saunders, program coordinator. For­mer director of advanced training for TrU!\t Terri­tory students in Hawaii, Mrs. Saunders has an M,A. in anthropology and in psychology.

Mrs. Saunders' assistants are Rose Nakamura, former personnel director for the University of Ha· waii, Hilo branch, and Baden S. Pere, forlller di­rector of housing, Church College of Hawaii.

Robert Wooster, special assistant to the Vice­Chancellor. Wooster is a University of Hawaii grad. uate with a maj or in sociology.

Masaj i Saito, assistant to the executive director (yet to be announced). Saito is a former teacher and a graduate of the University of Hawaii,

Helen Hawkes, field study coordinator. Formerly with the Institute of International Education where she administercd the fellowships in Asia program, Miss Hawkes has a M.A. from Middlebury College in Vermont. Her assistants are Mrs. Mary Harrel­son who has had 21 years overseas experience with the State Department, and Miss Esme Chu. Miss Chu earned her Ph.D. in economics at Harvard and has worked with the United Nations.

Robert Aitken, coordinator of student activities. Mr. Aitken holds the M.A. in Japanese literature from the University of Hawaii. He has taught and worked in school administration in California.

Donald I. Dickinson, acting director, English Language Institute. Dickinson has taught at Iowa State University, the University of Nevada and at the Michigan English Language Institute. He is work· ing on his Ph.D. at the University of Michigan.

..

• • •

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students they

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teach. universit)'

con· or

farmer, scienr:e card...

thr post.

definite the

stipula.

one-fifth more

1lte 'r.al1tees In the past year, these seemingly unrelated events

have taken place in Honolulu.

A youthful pianist from Saigon played a Beetho­ven Sonata in his first recital in the Western world. A gently reared woman from Nepal donned boots and slacks to interview a farmer in rural Waianae. A former proofreader from Pennsylvania completed his research on Korean history as his Cambodian roommate tackled assignments in civil engineering. From Thailand, a graceful young woman studied food processing as it might apply to canned curry_ An Indorll~sian agriculturist pondered ways to con· vert gas or electrically heated baby chick brooders to use the wood or rice-hull fuel of his country. A teacher from the Philippines, a teacher from I nelia and a clinic worker from the Midwest compared notes on their common specialty-speech therapy for the deaf, retarded or otherwise speech-blocked child.

The events are, in reality, closely linked. They are a few pin.pointed examples of the activities of more than 500 young people with origins that repre­sent one-fifth of the earth's surface, backgrounds that take in 60 languages, and academic interests that range from political science to plant pathology, from the dance and drama of Asia to the care, feeding and breeding of cattle in the subtropics.

The young people are the students at East·West Center. They have come from 19 countries of Asia, the Pacific and the United States. Their combined cultural heritage is a rich tapestry, interwoven here with the bold hues of contrast and threaded there with the subtle tints of similarities.

The students are in Hawaii because, back in 1960, a few men of vision believed that good will and a good education could be achieved at the same time . . . that men and women, studying together, could quite naturally learn to know, understand and respect each other's varying customs and cultures.

It is now autumn of 1963. Has this goal­cultural interchange a Ion g with solid academic achievement-been achieved?

Gauging the extent of mutual understanding is difficult. No one has yet invented a yardstick to measure intangibles. Academic achievement can more nearly be reduced to facts and figures. In nearly every part of the world, the sheepskin presented at commencement time tells its own story of achieve· ment.

Commencement finds East-West Center students receiving double evidence of successful study. The Center awards Certificates of Completion. Academic degrees are given by the University of Hawaii. The certificates are evidence of satisfactory completion of a scholarship grant, both academically and in contri· bution to cultural interchange.

This June, sheepskin statistics showed that 130 Center grantees had received completion certificates. 97 had received the master's degree and six had earned the bachelor's. Certificates only went to non. degree students enrolled in the Teacher Interchllnge Program or doing special work in art or music.

The second, though widely challenged, indication of accomplishment is in grades. The University fJr

Hawaii uses a point system in which A indicates the highest four.point average and B, within the :i.O limits, is decidedly superior. At the end of JUlie. 1963, 66 percent of the Center grantees had seml'S. ter grade averages ranging from the B up to the A. Of these, nearly 10510 had the straight A honors aver. age and one-third had a high 3.5 standing of As and Bs.

A third way of judging accomplishment is to take a look at what a student does after he receives a graduate degree. To what use do Center grant~

put nearly two years of scholarship work? Though no formal survey has been made, there is evidence that new knowledge has been put to use promptly and well. III the Trust Territory is a new assistant political officer. At a rubber research institute in Ceylon, a scientist works on a soil survey. A. 1. D. in Vietnam has a new staff member from Connecti. cut. At Georgetown University a young lady (rom Hong Kong begins work under a fellowship for her Ph.D. in linguistics. Thailand, Japan and Korea have welcomed back teachers with added knowledge and fresh insights. These young men and women were all recent East·West Center grantees.

Mailing address cards show that grantees definite occupational plans even before they leave tht Center. The carr!s, filler! out just before leave, include a question on occupations after return home.

From the file, 76 cards were picked at 72 were filled out by Asian students. Only were not sure of future plans. 37 planned to Most were returning to teaching on the level. Eleven were to be in government work, includ· ing agriculture and development. Seven were to tinue graduate study and six were going into returning to private industry. Plans to be a social worker, journalist, veterinarian and researcher were presented in the remaining

Forms filled out when students arrived at Center indicate that Asian students h a v e graduation plans clearly outlined. The very plans stem from one of the selection criteria, needs of a student's country, and from the tion that the student return promptly to his country. and usually to his previous employment.

From 200 Asian students, more than are taking some type of agricultural major and

ccomplis~mel4ts than a fourth have majors in teacher interchange, the teaching of English as a second language or educa­tion and educational administration. Political science, economics, engin6ering and business administration are among the proportionally high study choices.

From the Philippines with her burgeoning school 5)·stem comes an overwhelming emphasis on teach­ing. From a group of 19 students who arrived at the same time, 14 were teachers who would study their particular subject and return to teaching. A public administrator, chemical analyst and tax econ· vmist planned to add part-time teaching to their sched­ules when they returned home. The one grantee who had just finished colJege outlined his post-Center plans in the phrase "to be a teacher". A journalist confessed to being torn between a love for printer's ink-and the wish to change to teaching!

Grantees from Burma concentrate on agriculture, forestry and land use and teaching. Indian students enroll for the most part in engineering and agricul­ture with physical sciences, business administration and social work well represented. Japan's students, like those from Korea, show a decided preference for teaching and take courses in their teaching field or in education.

Few-if any-Asian students will become "perpe­tual students". Certainly no student from Asia will become an expatriate with the benefits of his added training lost to his home country. Country require­ments, visa conditions and previous agreements spec­ify prompt return. For most grantees, these are un­necessary specifications. These are patriotic young llIen and women with a strong sense of dedication to their country's good.

What about the "Western" part of East·Meets­\Vest in Hawaii? How do United States students com­pare in age, background and aims?

The majority of the United States students are re­cent university graduates. For every three who have had full time employment, there are five who are just Out of school. The older group with long-term em­ployment are nearly all teachers in the special Teacher Interchange Program.

A few of the men have won their bachelor's de­gree in the pioneer American tradition of hard work and advancement won by stern pulls on one's own bootstraps! These young men have driven taxis, done door-to-door selling or odd jobs. One grantee earned his B.A. over a nine year period of full time factory work.

Future plans of United States grantees are defi­nite only in broad outlines-'-teach", "research", "government work". Plans do not reflect the detailed precision shown in plans of Asian students. For where all Asians will return to their home country and most of them to previous employment, many

For Indonesia - Better Chickens

For the Philippines - Testing Techniques

United Sta.tes students will begin new careers, often far away from home. One out of three United States grantees plans to go to Asia to teach or work in a government agency. A few plan to teach in the Peace Corps.

Most grantees who plan to return to the United States are teachers, plan to teach immediately, or plan to earn their Ph.D., and then teach. The teach· ing field in nearly every case centers on Asia­languages, political structure, philosophy or history.

Alternate choice of careers with a year or so to "get settled" is a luxury the American students can afford. They are younger than their Asian classmates. More than half of the United States grantees are in the 22 to 24 age group with a fourth in the 25 to 30 range. Not quite a sixth of the Asian students

(please turn the page)

«

6

For Burma. - Soil Science

are between 22 and 24. More than a third are 25 to 29 years and almost one half are in the 30 to 40 year group with the heaviest concentration in the 32-33 year range.

American students, in the semester previously used as an example, ranked seventh in grade aver' ages by country. They are among the high AB group.

Now that we have made what is only a surface survey of the grantees' aims and accomplishments, we come to the last pertinent measure of Center success. Is the goal of cultural interchange being reached? Is a mutual understanding between grantee from East and grantee from West being established?

Trying to measure understanding between per­sons is a little like trying to catch moonbeams to weigh them. You can measure or weigh neither; yet each is known and present.

During their getting-to-know.each·other days at the East-West Center, grantees have a natural advan· tage. The Center is in Hawaii. Exposure to many cultures is a matter-of-fact thing throughout the community. In Honolulu it is possible to see Noh and Kabuki theatre, join in the dances of Bon Odori, take lessons in the tea ceremony, see Wesak Day ceremonies and Buddhist temple dancing and watch the dances of Korea, Japan, Okinawa, the Philip' pines, Samoa, Fiji, Tahiti and Hawaii.

The University of Hawaii has taught A s ian studies for more than a quarter-century. Honolulu's Academy of Arts has long exhibited the arts of tne Orient. The conductor of the Seoul Symphony has wielded the guest baton for the Honolulu Symphony. One of Hawaii's islands has cowboys who can out-

lasso Montana's best. And another island growA the special rice used to make ceremonial machi.

In Hawaii people of many backgrounds live in harmony, not because they seek to become all alike, but because their differences are recognized, accepted and actively cherished.

To this already cosmopolitan meeting place, East. West Center students bring other cherished cultural influences-from Thailand. Vietnam, Indonesia, Bur. ma, Pakistan, Nepal and Laos and from widely sep. arated regions of the United States.

Consciously-often self·consciously-students in a new class seek to know and understand each other and each other's background. Youth speaks to youth in the planned discussion meetings and the informal bull sessions of university life. And somewhere along the line the polite, initial overtures towards under. standing cease to be gestures and take on sponta. neity and depth and permanency.

Students themselves have defined "cultural inter. change" as existing on three levels: On the surface level is knowledge, and perhaps recognition of sim. ilarities, in social customs, music and art, food taste!'. and a superficial knowledge of family relation!'hips. standards of living and economics.

On a separate level, students mentioned I h e rather specific interchange of skills and knowledge such as methods of agriculture, science informatiQIJ. or specific cases in which the American learns an Asian language and the Asian studies English.

True cultural interchange, students said, blend, components of these two levels into the deeper kllo"l. edge of each other's ideas and opinions. The frame· work of facts is filled in with the "how" and tJle "why". A country's philosophy of government and social behavior emerges rather than a jigsaw of hits of information.

Among the grantees studying art, music and literature, the recognition of cultural links is soon in evidence.

The literature student from Vietnam finds to her joy lhat Rip Van Winkle and Luu Nguyen are (olk characters with a common love for a long, long sleep. The California youth who cut his musical ep: teeth on Bach listens to some music of Korea and suddenly he hears not strange sounds, but unrni,· takable counterpoint.

Just when person·to-person friendship takes 011

the deeper knowledge of the ideas and philosophi(~t

of varying cultures is not known. We know depth of friendship and dimensions of cultural understandinl! increase together. Cultural interchange is a protcs' of addition; subtraction comes only in the loss of erroneous preconceptions. And certainly true inter· change can never be evaluated as a "complete" or "finished" entity. The very terms convey stagnation. We can reach a cautious conclusion that cultllrJI interchange reaches maturity when the student takes his field studies.

7

e

n @and Field Study Time ... Center students, no matter how comfortably set­

lIed they may be at the University of Hawaii, prob­ably never experience the anti-climactic feeling of "This is it. Here we are. The great adventure is half over."

For Center students in the first year of their ~rant, the most stimulating of intellectual adven­ures--the field study period-is yet to come. For field studies, usually begun in the third semester, take the Asian student to the United States main­land and the American student to Asia.

Field studies are far more than a tour accom­p:lJJied by textbooks. The student on field study quite literally has the doors of learning opened wide for him. For the Asian student on the U.S. main­land, these open doors are entrances to any of about 75 universities and research centers. They also mark inlroduction for personal conferences with leading !!Cholars in the student's field. Doors open as well to national conventions and seminars of academic und professional societies, to government offices and the ,;cssions of the U.S. Congress. The doors of America's homes in cities, villages and farms also open hos­pitably.

For the American student on field study, these al'ademic-cultural doorways lead more directly to a language community with study at a language center and daily living, when possible, with a family speaking the language being studied.

Peripatetic grantees may take field studies to

In the opllllOn of the majority of students inter­viewed, cultural interchange is reaching a high level or maturity. And, students stress, this interchange is not limited between East and West. It exists between Asian and Asian.

That grantees have grasped the philosophies of each other's countries is indicated in a conversation that began when an Asian outlined his plan for for­mal, discussion-evenings planned each time around a specific country.

"How could we get these started?" he asked.

His American classmate, by nature a man who Likes to get things done fast, made this suggestion.

"We could make the first meetings compulsory," he said.

The Asian, with centuries of social regimenta­tion in his background, was shocked.

"We can't force people," he protested. "That's 1I0t democratic!"

-By Catherine Cunningham

find answers to the most specific problems or to do research on a broad scale. Saleem Ahmed of Pakis­tan is at the U.S. Salinity Laboratory in Riverside, California, to look for solutions to Pakistan's great agricultural problem, soil that is too salty. Christine D'Arc of California is in Tokyo working on her Japanese. Constante Luna of the Philippines studied at Kingsville, Texas. His reason? The Philippines have introduced Santa Gertrudis cattle to their beef herds. It was at Kingsville that European and Indian cattle were bred to produce the blood lines well adapted to warm climates. When George Bergstrom went to six countries of Asia, he talked with govern­ment officials, refugees from Communism, and ordi­nary citizens as research for his political science thesis. Bounnong Thipphawong of Laos continued his agricultural work at Iowa State University; his Middlewestern Center classmate continued his work in Mandarin Chinese at Taiwan !'iormaI University.

Field studies, carefully planned by student, Uni· versity academic advisor and Center officials, are primarily academic. Cultural exchange is a natural accompaniment of the study period. The student may also know, briefly, cultural shock. Such shock may well be a necessary prelude to true mutual understanding. For the Asian does not know America until he sees both crowded city and hospitable village and encounters Americans rude and gracious, big­oted and tolerant. He must glimpse slums as well as Cadillac-filled driveways. The American cannot know Asia-or one country of Asia-until he, too, en­counters both philanthropist and beggar, squalor and splendor.

Academically and culturally, the field study pe­riod is one of immeasurable ben e fit. The Asian government student, well grounded in his University of Hawaii courses, visits the law-making sessions he formerly read about. The American student of philos­ophy may actually live for a time in a Buddhist monastery. The Asian who continues agricultural work in Texas or Iowa learns to know the Texas or Iowa farmer as he learns more about crops, soil and stock. As one student put it, "my cultural stereotypes were broken down as my knowledge was built up."

Certainly, the East-West Center student, his field studies over, has learned with sensitivity as well as intellect to ". . . clasp the hands and know the thoughts of men in other lands..." -John Masejield

EAST-WEST CENTER NEWS

Published bi·m,onthly by the Office of Public Informa­tion. Ea!>t·West Center, Univer!>;ty of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii.

The Accent Is On English · At The Ell

Prelude to Progress-The Sound of One's Own Voice training now s pen d a ground for the Indonesian

Among East-West Center students is a gr 0 u p whose lives, for 30 days at least, are controlled by signed pledge and prick of conscience. Their pledge: I will speak only English for an entire month.

They are newly arrived students taking concen­trated work in the Center's pioneering English Lan­uuage Institute. The i r signed pledge is more than ~rod and reminder. It also forces a shy arrival to join new, English-speaking groups, rather than to cling to his own countrymen where the native tongue, like a pair of old shoes, is so comfortable to slip into!

Pledge signing is only one small example of the many avenues of approach English Language Institute staff members use to arrive at their academic destina· tion-the teaching of practical, natural English as quickly as possible. On some of these avenues, the pedagogic pavement is scarcely dry. Language teach. ing as done by ELI began during World War II and developed largely in the last decade.

The ELI became a part of East- West Center in February, 1061, after it became evident that some of the most gifted Asian and Pacific area students were handicapped in Eng­lish speaking classrooms. W hen ELI first began, students took Eng lis h training i n addition t 0

other work. Stu den t s studied late and long ­and had little time to take part in the cultural inter­change for w h i c h the Center exists. ,{

Students who s e tests •f

show the y need English

summer session, the en­tire first semestcr or as long as required on English only. This summer 50 young people from Asia came to the Center in June though thei r regular enrollment at the University of Hawaii began in September.

Nearly 800 persons have taken English training in the institute. Their number takes in not only Cen­ter grantees, but Fulbright scholars on their way to the United States mainland, English lanll;uage teach­ers from Keio university, A.J.D. technical participants from Cambodia, and Peace Corps members scheduled to go to Asian countries.

The increasing number and variety of persons given English training emphasize the growing im­portance of the English Language Institute both with­in and without the Center. The language training given Keio university teachers and A.LD. men is a cooperative project with the Institute for Technical Interchange. To train Peace Corps members in hasic English teaching techniques, ELI sent staff member ~rs. Miho Steinberg to the Corps training center on the island of Hawaii. Mrs. Steinberg's off-campus teaching may well point to new directions for ELI. In fact, Dr. John R. Hendrickson, Vice-Chancellor, Institute for Student Interchange, views ELI poten.

grantee majoring in Teach· ing English as a Second Language.

Another highiy practical use for ELI is seen in the English language screeni:lg given the prospccth'l.' Ccnter student in Asian countries.

Thou"h the 22 full and part·time members of Ihe ELI stafI look forward to greater scope for the i r work, they have not packed their mental luggage fur premature trips to far places. The immediate focu~ of ELI work is on "here and now" teaching - til<' practical mastery of spoken English, the filling of English instruction into the to.tal envi~onmel1! .(if American culture, and the speedIer reauIng ab"ll~ needed by Asian students faced wjth heavy assign· ments.

ELI can point to a dramatic example of "h"r.: and now" student progress. One young man fWIII Cambodia had decided difficulty with spoken Eng· lish when he first arrived at the Center. He took an hour's work a day wit h Ell in addition to regular class sched ules his first semester and had three hOllr~ weekly tutoring the following summer.

When the young man returns to Cambodia, he will take two impressive trophies with him. They are trophies he won in speech contests.

tialities as reaching far beyond the Uuiversitr or Hawaii campus.

"I visualize the English Language Institute II!! •

system of satellites wit h the Honolulu ELI the cell. ter of the system. Smaller institutes in Asian cities lire needed as English becomes increasingly a world Ian. guage," Dr. Hendrickson said.

Donald 1. Dickinson, Acting Director of the Insti. tute, points out that closer connections with Asian countries will benefit both students and teachers.

Says Dickinson, "We as teachers ueed new text. books and we need to del' e lop new techniques. A 'satellite' ELI in Japan-and this is only one x. ample--is the best possible place to find out the bwll possible ways to teach English to Japanese. At the same time we can help the Japanese teachers of Eng. lish in their own country."

This help would include the preparation of tape recordings tor use of teachers in Japan - or anr Asian country. Teachers whose first language is not

English have a remarkahle know ledge of the formal rules of English gralllmar and teaching technique'l, but their own Eng lis h speech is not always a good example to imitate, Dickin. son said.

At the same time, a 51111111

ELI staff in an Asian coun· try could givc inten~ivc

English drill to Center !llu· dents, A. I. D. participants and special groups hcforc they come to Hawaii..i\ ~Ht· ellite institute in Indonesil\. to give another example. would also provide the per· fect teaching t r a i n in:;