Classes You Didn't Know You Could Take: PSFA 280 for International Students

Designed to help international students adapt to living in the U.S. culture, as well as fit into the academic setting.

by PSFA Stories Team

June 16, 2021

In this series, we’ve asked instructors to talk about their new, unusual, or little-known PSFA classes that you can take in Fall 2021.

Q&A with Mei Zhong

PSFA 280 / GEN S150

Units: 3.0

Are there any Prerequisites?: No.

Online or Face to Face: Both

How I would describe this class to someone I met in line at the coffee cart:

PSFA 280 is designed to help international students at SDSU to adapt to living in the U.S. culture, as well as fit into the academic setting while studying at SDSU.

For the past two years, we have been offering PSFA280 as GEN S150. This will allow international students to use it for GE credits. This will be the case in fall 2021.

Who should definitely take this class?

Any undergraduate international students, including students from International Student Center, American Language Institute, and exchange students.

Who should not take this class?

Domestic students.

Why I’m enthusiastic about teaching this class:

The class has been successful in contributing to the retention of international students, as well as promoting interactions with domestic students. I would love for more international students to benefit from it.

Why I love this subject:

I like the subject as it provides practical help to international students who choose to study with us at SDSU. As a result of the many activities and topics we cover, the international students get to participate in our domestic students’ research projects, while they learn about the American culture.

How I’m preparing for this class:

Each semester, I coordinate the interaction piece of the course with both my students in the ISMinor (PSFA350) and sometimes with students in COMM371. They’re matched up to help with the research efforts of domestic students and partake in discussions and activities to learn about the US academic culture.

Three things you’ll learn/do in this class:

I will coordinate among classes to provide opportunities for students to meet and interact with American partners.

I will encourage them to serve as participants in research projects by American students.

Working with the International Student Center, we will provide advising to students as they try to fit into our academic settings at SDSU.

Top reasons you should study with me:

In general, this class helps incoming international students to learn about the American culture while understanding our academic system. This will help ensure their success as they study at SDSU.

The content within this article has been edited by Lizbeth Persons.

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