Congratulations to four UHM students who received FLAS support for intensive language study in China: Koa Webster, Ruby MacDougall, Duncan Aylor, and Melanie Nash.  Koa spent the summer at Hainan University studying Mandarin.  He writes: “Over the summer I noticed my listening skill became much better and my speaking became more fluid, I could figure out what people were saying if I didn’t know a word they were able to use Chinese to explain the meaning.  I believe I still have a lot more to learn, but the best part of the experience was feeling myself progress over the course of the program.”  Ruby studied Mandarin at Yunnan University in Kunming.  She says, “Before this summer, I was very intimidated by academic writing in Mandarin and this hindered my research progress. Now, I have much greater ability to understand academic sources written in Mandarin and I believe this will open up exciting new possibilities for my research and for future academic discoveries!”  Duncan studied Mandarin in Beijing.  According to Duncan, “The FLAS was extremely helpful.  The best part about it was that it allowed one to design their own program of study while in country, so one could tailor the studying to one’s specific needs.  I was able to focus on the skills I needed most, which was not only practical but also helped me to stay motivated. ”