6 weeks in Beijing - school and accommodation recommendations for this June?

[londoner]

I shall be travelling to Beijing in mid June for six weeks to study Mandarin. Whilst I would like to stay longer, that is not an option.

To give you an idea of my level, I have studied a little over 2000 hanzi and have completed the following textbooks:

1. Chinese for Everyone I

2. Chinese for Everyone II

3. Chinese for Everyone III

4. Chinese for Today I

5. Chinese for Today II

6. A Trip to China

7. Character Text for Colloquial Chinese (汉语口语汉字本)

8. 汉语中级教程

9. 新编汉语报刊阅读教程

Obviously I do not wish to pay "Western prices" for teaching or accommodation unnecessarily. However, my overriding priority is to make as much progress as possible, particularly as I shall be sitting Mandarin language exams as soon as I return to England.

In these circumstances, which schools/programmes would you recommend? Is there any reliable way to avoid inexperienced/poor teachers?

Also, I have heard and read some terrible things about the standard and prices of the accommodation provided by the universities and language schools. Is a homestay a better option? If so, what is the best way to arrange one? If not, what would you recommend instead?

[Xiao Kui]

maybe check this one out www.lotusstudy.com - it has a homestay program. I've read some good testimonials, though I don't know how it compares with other programs in terms of price. If you do a search there is a thread on it somewhere in the forums

[Long Pan]

I suggest you Diqiucun, which offers very flexible solutions which should suit your needs. As for accomodation you could share a room or rent a flat (check this post) + check out short term accomodation advise here & here.

[londoner]

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

I had noticed that Diqiucun seems to be a favourite, at least with several people here. My concern with that school is that it seems to be excellent for advanced classes (HSK, Business Mandarin, etc.), but I have not seen any recommendations for its intermediate / upper intermediate teaching, which is what I suspect I would need. Does anyone have experience of Diqiucun's teaching at that level?

Also, classes of up to 35 seem very large. How does that impact upon the teaching quality / speed of language acquisition?

[Long Pan]

I have an intermediate level and they offer quite a good option of classes (中级口语1, 2, 3, 阅读 (called 桥梁) 上&下 + a transition to 高级 with 习惯用语). In my current class we are currently 3 ! But it is true that some courses (like 桥梁) usually have more than 15 students especially from 10 to 12am. 35 students is rare, except maybe for HSK special classes.