Stephany L. Yang

October 17, 2014

A Social Science Major Teaching a Humanities Subject in an International Science Company

In the present day, most companies have accepted that they are part of a global economy. Many companies have also acknowledged that the United States is currently a superpower and, as a result, English is the language to learn in order to successfully be a part of the global corporate world. Interns at WuXi AppTec, an international pharmaceutical company, have two main tasks: the first being completing tasks in their respective departments, and the second being teaching English to employees in the company. Working at WuXi AppTec’s headquarters in Shanghai, China, interns are able to learn about the pharmaceutical field, improve their Chinese, and learn how to teach a language for which one is a native speaker to nonnative speakers. In order to succeed at this internship, however, interns must be able to overcome both communication and cultural barriers and prove that they are capable of doing work that is meaningful during the six weeks that they are interning.