ACLS and BCLU - plans for learning putonghua

[NickyR]

Hi everyone,

I’m afraid this is yet another series of questions about studying in Beijing.

I appreciate that us newbies regurgitate the same old questions over and over again, but I really respect the opinions of everyone who posts on this forum, so I’d really appreciate it if you could cast your wise eyes over my plans to learn/improve my chinese.

This is the background of me!

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I’m 28 years old

I am coming to Beijing between July and December of this year

The sole focus of my trip is to learn Mandarin (I want to have fun obviously, but language learning is really going to be the focus). This means that I am prepared to have less of a social life in favour of memorising lists of characters (though I reserve the right to change my mind about this later on!)

I do speak a little mandarin. I reckon I know about 400 characters. So I basically know what a radical is but can’t really function in the language to any significant degree. Also, because of the way I was taught Mandarin, I literally only know words I can write (i.e. I only know about 400 words!)

I am probably more academic than practical in the way I approach language learning. That is to say that I learn best in a classroom environment. I have utter respect for people who can just rock up in a foreign country and start absorbing the language but I am not one of them. I have therefore decided to take language classes for the entire period that I am in Beijing. I am also not put off by a formal and non-practical teaching environment. I see this will not work for all people but it should work for me.

I am being sponsored by my employer (I am a lawyer). This may make my financing a little unusual. I need to show them that I am not living in the lap of luxury in Beijing (i.e. I have sensibly costed out the trip). However, it is not absolutely essential for me to keep costs as low as possible. In fact, I would go so far that I (or rather they) would be prepared to pay for convenience. Thus, though I do not feel any need to go through a company to sort everything out for me, I would like to have a place on my course booked before I arrive

I do not need to show my employer on my return any kind of certificate in language learning (eg I got an A in the X university’s diploma course). However I will (rather horrifyingly) have an exam when I get back to work which will assess my language ability so they know whether they can trust me with Chinese clients etc). Therefore real progress is more important to me than a certificate. However, I would like to have some written testament to my ability for my CV (I am in the early stage of my career and law firms are falling over themselves to sign up Chinese speakers)

I also plan to live with a family. I hope that this will assist in me developing fluency. However, I am not keen on the idea of total immersion. I have lived abroad before and I DO get lonely if I can’t talk to people in my own language for an entire 6 months. I have a big gob and like talking – I feel very down when I can’t chatter away (which, let’s face it, I won’t be doing in mandarin for a good while). As a result, I am not put off by the idea of being in a language school with at least some English speakers.

These are my plans!

Stage 1: Academy of Chinese language Study

 I am thinking of spending the first 10 odd weeks (i.e. the bit that is the summer holiday) at a private language school.

 I have come across ACLS and was impressed by the small class sizes, although I am aware I know next to nothing about it.

 I feel that the advantage of this at the start is that:

o It should be flexible enough to deal with my level: in all the university based courses I seem to sit in a large gap between total beginner and 800 characters

o It deals with the problem of me arriving in university holidays: it seems to me that if I learn at BCLU or UIR during the summer then I will have to do 2 four-week courses. I think I’d prefer a bit of continuity in my tuition than that

o The dates are quite good for me: I know this sounds like a small thing, but the 10 week course starts on a better date for me as it starts in the second week of July. All of the university courses seem to start in the last week of June or the first week of July. I have exams until the last week of June so I can see this horrible situation developing where I am trying to revise and move out of my London flat at the same time, then running from my exam hall to Heathrow. Not a happy start to the trip!

Questions about this leg:help

 Can anyone offer any explanation as to why it is slightly cheaper to apply through worldlink education for this course than it is to apply to the ACLS itself? Although I have no particular need to go through an agency, I am starting to wonder whether it might be necessary as I have not booked anything/applied for a visa and my passport is currently lost in the ether of the British Passport office.....

 Do you think the tuition is inferior to a university course?

 Does anyone know whether the accreditation thing actually adds any value/legitimacy to the program?

 These are the questions I am hoping to level at ACLS:

o Which textbooks do you use?

o How are the classes structured?

o How much homework is required of me?

 Can anyone think of any intelligent questions I should ask?!

Stage 2: BLCU

 I am thinking of spending the last 12 weeks of my time in Beijing (i.e. the bit that is in term time) at a university.

 I selected BCLU for slightly rubbish reasons: it seems to be reasonably cheap, it has better dates than UIR, and because my computer is steadfastly refusing to open web pages for Beijing Normal University

 I feel the advantage of ending up with a university programme are as follows:

o Teaching quality: I do kind of feel that teaching quality is often very dependent on your individual teacher, which is often more luck than judgement, but I am aware that a university is likely to have a more transparent system of quality control

o Certificate: I think in terms of wanting some kind of testament of my ability in Chinese, a certificate from a university might carry more weight.

o Structure: I think that at this stage in the trip I personally would benefit from a structured environment with tests

Questions about this leg:help

 The class sizes seem very big to me – how does this operate on a practical level? Do people think there are advantages or disadvantages to these sizes?

 These are the questions I am hoping to level at BLCU

o Textbook/class structure/homework etc

 Can anyone think of any intelligent questions I should ask?!

None of these plans are set in stone so I would be very keen to hear your honest opinions about what I’ve planned.

Also, this again sounds like quite a small thing, but does anyone know whether there is air conditioning in the classrooms of ACLS and/or BLCU? I learnt Mandarin at the wonderful Chinese University of Hong Kong – BUT my abilities decreased as the temperatures soared. I’m a Brit – I function best in cold, wet environments. I am seriously worried that I will not be able to cope in the Beijing summer heat??!!

Accommodation

 I am not sure that really my situation is any different here to anyone else’s – but I thought I’d just add what I have planned in respect of accommodation just so you have a full picture of my time planned in Beijing

 I definitely plan to do one of the following things:

a. Get an apartment for the first leg, then live in a homestay for the second half of my trip; or

b. Stay in a homestay for the whole period.

 I think the advantage of option one is that I reckon if I join a homestay now then I won’t know enough Chinese to hold up my end of a conversation. I think that I would then end up speaking English, which would establish a pattern for the stay. However, I am optimistically hoping that after the summer I will be able to say more than “jintian wanshang wo chu tushuguan zuo zuo ye!” (honestly, they’ll think I’m so dull cos that’s all I can say!). Thus, I reckon there is less chance of me establishing a pattern of English conversation (assuming, of course, that they speak English)

 However, I also reckon that if I got an apartment/dorm over the summer I might be too lazy to move out by the end and therefore never experience a homestay

As I said above, I realise that many of these issues are similar to thinks that have come up in all the previous posts about study in China, and I do not want to waste your time by making you all regurgitate them here. However, I would really appreciate any comments on the rationale behind my personal plans… do you think that it sounds logical? Do you think I’ve made any serious errors in judgement at any point?

Thanks a lot guys! Maybe after my trip I'll be able to return the favour with my own words of wisdom?!

Nicky

[gato]

 I selected BCLU for slightly rubbish reasons: it seems to be reasonably cheap, it has better dates than UIR, and because my computer is steadfastly refusing to open web pages for Beijing Normal University

Yes, that's not a very good reason. I would pick BNU over BCLU, as BCLU is full of English speakers. In the summer months there should be even more, probably lots of teenagers. Give BNU a call and ask them how you can get an application. They don't respond to emails. There should be at least one quasi-English speaker in the office.

I would also consider Taipei Language Institute, which is one of the best private language schools for learning Chinese.

Here's their website and an earlier thread about the school:

http://www.tli.com.tw/tli/eng/en/4-2-1.asp?class=4

Taipei Language Institute

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/8099-taipei-language-institute-beijing-dongcheng-query&highlight=tli

Taipei Language Institute - Beijing (Dongcheng) - Query

[NickyR]

Thanks a lot - good tip - I hadn't found the post about the 1 on 1 classes. They sound great for making progress so I will contact them ASAP for more info.

Thanks

Nicky