Grace Meng

[speaking Japanese] It's nice to meet you.

My name is Grace Meng.

I'm a 2013 Critical Language Scholarship Student .

[speaking English]The Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) program

is a cultural exchange program that not only

teaches you how to speak a critical language

in intensive classes but also

really encourages you to go out into the

country and experience the culture and speak

with native people and really bring

the American culture to that country and

also absorb the native culture as well.

So after the program

where I got to experience using it every

single day in daily life

and in the classroom I feel like I'm much more proficient

in both oral, reading, writing, and just using it

in like a normal daily life context. I am

a registered nurse right now

I actually have been able to use my

Japanese language to make

the Japanese people who might not speak

English that great feel more comfortable

and

feel the communicate with them was

really important

cultural competency is extremely

important in nursing and in health care

world and this program has really taught

me a lot about

respecting other people's cultures and

really enjoying

speaking to people with different

backgrounds.