Language Pledge

At PiB's opening ceremony, each student is required to sign the PiB language pledge. The text of the pledge is as follows:

I hereby pledge to use, in all my contacts, no language other than Mandarin Chinese for the duration of the program. I understand that failure to abide by the pledge will result in my dismissal from the program and forfeiture of tuition.

The pledge remains in effect until after the PiB graduation ceremony.

The pledge is designed to help students learn Chinese; it is not a punishment. To that end, PiB makes certain carefully guarded exceptions to the pledge. Students are allowed to make phone calls to family and friends back home, read English-language books, write English emails, and speak English to PiB staff if there is an emergency. We do ask, however, that all English speaking take place, if at all possible, out of earshot of other PiB students.

PiB punishes pledge violations, not only because they impede the ability of the violator to make full use of our program, but also because violations have the potential to ruin the learning atmosphere for other students.