Coming from a very crowded country, Jonathan Chou and Jim Chiu are two of the 20 Taiwanese students studying at Cal State Long Beach to receive a master's degree in pedagogy, the art and science of teaching.

"The campus is very beautiful," Chou said. "In our country, the universities are very small. When I came to Long Beach, I was like 'wow, it is so big.'"

Joseph Taso, the representative for the Taiwanese students says that CSULB was chosen because of the great sports reputation it has in Taiwan and the famous weather in Southern California.

After the students receive a master's degree they will return to Taiwan to be professors and coaches.

The Carpry agency, which handles students wanting to study abroad in the United States, gave Taso a list of perspective students.

He said he chose Taiwan's most famous athletes to come to CSULB.

Afa Huang has played in the French Open. Taso also has five volleyball players who played in the MenŐs World College Volleyball Games, a golfer with a 68 average and two judo athletes.

Taso chose these students because when the Taiwanese return home they will take on the role of professor and coach.

"In order to coach, they have to speak very excellent English," Taso said. "Otherwise, they will have problems communicating with other countries' teams."

Dr. Michael Lacourse, the graduate coordinator for the kinesiology and physical education department has been responsible for exposing the Taiwanese students with campus life.

The students meet every Monday and Wednesday to participate in different activities such as viewing a basketball practice or learning how to teach elementary classes.

"They are very disciplined and hard-working, and they know they have one year to learn English and get through the program," Lacourse said.

After the Taiwanese get through the three months of American Language Institute classes, they will start kinesiology graduate classes.