Temporary Tutors in Xi Dan Area

[kmogg]

Hi,

I will only be in Beijing for a week. I will be chaperoning a group of kids from my daughter's bliingual school which is visiting Beijing Experimantal School.

I will have some free times in the mornings and evenings and staying in the Xi Dan area.I know rudimentary Mandarin from self study and a previous month in China and would like to hook up for some informal tutoring while I am there.

Any clues on how to come up with reasonably priced tutors? I am fairly self directed, and just want to brush up on conversational skills and get a little kick start.

Is it worth contacting the language schools? (and are there good ones near Xi Dan?) I assume they charge a commission. Or can I go to bulletin boards at universities or cafes etc?

Thanks for any tips.

Kevin

[crow610]

This might be a bit informal but you could just go up to some random person (ideally a student) and see if they have time to tutor you while you're in China. The hourly rate should be around 20-30RMB an hour. Wang Fu Jin (near Xi Dan) actually has a lot of people who will approach you on the street (if you're white) and say they are from some university studying English and want someone to practice their English with. If you end up running into one of these people maybe you could either do a language exchange or see if you can just pay them to speak only Chinese with you.

[roddy]

Ahem. While not everyone who wants to practice English with you is dubious, do be wary on places like Wangfujing.

I don't think there are any language schools at Xidan. However, you're a not-too-far subway ride from Jiangguomen / Guomao, where there are a number. Names that come to mind are the Bridge School, Frontiers Jianguomen branch and there's at least one I can't remember the name of at Jianwai Soho (Over the road from Guomao). All private schools catering to the ex-pat / diplomat market rather than full time students. Any one of them will be happy to set you up with a private class - even if you don't want one - and will probably send someone out to you at extra cost.

[crow610]

Oh man....I'm sorry...didn't mean to lead you in this trap. I had heard about the tea house things but the "insist on speaking English crowd", I did not know that was also a scam. Course now that I think about it, they did seem a bit persistent about going to a "bar" the very same day to chat.

[kmogg]

Thank you all. THis gives me some leads. Will check on the schools if I don"t meet someone informally.

Kevin