Are you an American student based in Beijing interested in volunteering for the U.S. Embassy? We were informed about a great opportunity that we wanted to share with the Pengyou community. If you are available next Thursday or Friday afternoon for a couple hours, please contact JandaRM@state.gov.  More details below!

 
Student Coffee Hour Enters its Junior Year

Calling all U.S. students based in Beijing!  Are you willing to volunteer to share American culture with ordinary Beijingers, while making some new Chinese friends?

The Beijing American Center is looking for American student volunteers to come to the Beijing American Center to chat with Chinese students over coffee and snacks for their continuing series of “coffee hours” twice a month. Our goal is to increase opportunities that Beijingers have to interact with “real live” Americans, giving them a chance to practice English by chatting with students about their studies, time in China, life back home, U.S. culture and education, etc. This is casual, informal conversation rather than any sort of presentation.

These events have proven to be a great chance for Chinese people to learn more about the United States—and for U.S. students to continue their cultural exchange with the people of China.  If you’re interested in participating in one or more of the sessions, please contact the BAC Deputy Director, Ryan Janda at JandaRM@state.gov. The time commitment per session is only a couple of hours.

The next session is scheduled for Thursday, August 28 from 3:00-5:00 PM in the afternoon.  Subsequently, we will hold additional coffee hours every other Friday from 3:00-5:00 PM.

The Beijing American Center is always eager to have Americans residing in China to get involved with our programs. We always welcome ideas for how we can better share U.S. culture with the people of Beijing.

The Beijing American Center (BAC), part of the U.S. Embassy’s Public Affairs Office, is a public outreach space that seeks to explain America to Chinese audiences. As part of our cultural outreach mission, we hold occasional events to bring Americans and Chinese together. This semester, we will again be hosting a series of student coffee hours. We normally seek 5-6 American Students to meet with 30-50 Chinese students

Our center has free WIFI and a small English language library. Typically, Chinese college students meet with their American counterparts to discuss life in both China and America. It’s a friendly, fun time that has allowed many students to make good connections. We’re hoping that some of you will be able to join a future Coffee Hour –usually held about two to four times per month. We try to avoid exam schedule conflicts.

More information:

Our most up-to-date event information can be found on our Douban page: http://site.douban.com/127124/.
Address: Suite 2801, Jingguang Center Hu Jia Lou, Chaoyang District, Beijing
A map of the Center is available here: http://g.co/maps/6tazp