DUFL/Dalian possible Beijing Move

[jdintl]

Hi All,

I am writing to search out opinions. I have been in Dalian since January at DUFL. I am completely dissatisfied with my experience at this school. I think the curriculum is substandard and overally I don't think I am getting what I want out of my situation. I have made great progress, i study(tutors/self study/chinese people) about 8 hrs a day and have self taught the fundamentals of writing. I think Dalian is also very boring. With the exception of expsenive shopping malls, there really isn't anything here and nightlife is basically non-existent. What are people's thoughts about moving to Beijing? Have I missed something in Dalian? Do you think a change in schools in Dalian would bring my attitude around? I start tomorrow class at a private school, so it will be DUFL in the mornings private in the afternoon. I am also not sure I fit into the university environment. I find that private school are less concerned with "maintaing academic standards" whatever that means in China and more interested in teaching. Someone please shed the voice of experience on my situation. My rent comes up in July and I want to decided if I should go to another city or not.

Cheers

[Robert14]

How has the private school worked out compared to DUFL? If you've had a chance to browse through this site, you'll see that the general opinion of university teaching of Chinese in China is that it's rather old fashioned and formalistic. I've spent a total of 4 months at BLCU over the past three years. Textbooks are quite poor and are geared towards eventually passing the HSK rather than rapidly achieving fluency in Chinese. Teachers are invariably nice and well-intentioned but often are not well trained in how a language is best taught to foreigners. It's easy to hire a local student as a tutor to supplement the classes, but you will have to carefully guide these sessions yourself to learn what you need to. In some respects, you function as teacher as well as student, but it seems necessary in order to progress.

As you move on to higher class levels, one nice thing is that your classmates become more interesting and more serious. One can sometimes learn a lot from one's classmates.

Beijing offers some night life, but much of it is away from the university district, and Beijing is spread out, so getting there can be tedious. Most Chinese students are not able to afford night life, so their evening relaxation consists of watching DVDs, playing cards, etc. in the dorm. This may account for the small number of night spots near universities.

Let us know how things go for you in Dalian!

[grayservice]

I think you chose the wrong school, there are many other schools offering chinese courses in Dalian. And there are many clubs you can choose in Dalian; there are many on Renmin Road. Hope you can enjoy here.

Rene

[dbanderson01]

I studied at DUFL from March 2005 to July 2005. I will say that overall the teaching experience was pretty good in my grammer class, but my listening class was pretty bad. It was basically just listening to tapes and repeating in class. I will say that I was in the beginning class so maybe its different as you move up.

I found Dalian very clean and the weather pretty nice. But I agree with you completely about the city being rather slow, however you can always go to ZhongShan GuangChang and watch the old ladies dancing!! It is my own opinion that Dalian is not as international as say a BeiJing, and maybe you need to continue searching until you find somewhere you feel like its your home. I would try traveling if you have a chance to find what your looking for. Also check this forum and see what others are saying about their locations.

If you have a chance read some of Adrianlondon's posts about BNU and BeiJing. Because of Adrianlondon, I decided to enrolled at BNU starting in July to continue my chinese studies.

But no matter where you are, just remember that you have an incredible opportunity to experience an amazing culture, history, and people that everyone back home would envy..

Best of luck.

[gato]

Take a look at these previous threads on studying in Dalian.

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/12-horse-horse-tiger-tiger-slang-and-idioms490&highlight=dalian

Liaoning Shifan Daxue - Dalian, China - Summer 2006

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/12608-anyone-studying-in-dalian-this-summer&highlight=dalian

Anyone studying in Dalian this summer?

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/11116-dalian-maritime-university-vs-dutdufl-plus-chinese-in-china&highlight=dalian

Dalian Maritime university vs DUT/DUFL plus chinese-in-china

[cdn_in_bj]

I can't speak about the schools but I visited Dalian a few weeks ago and I found that it was a very nice break from the hustle and crowdedness of the 'jing. I especially enjoyed the beach and walking along the streets with the foreign-style (Japanese/Russian/German) houses, the underground market, and of course the great seafood. The air quality also seemed better, but there was surprisingly bad smog my last day there. Anyways, this is the type of city I could picture myself settling down in.

I can understand that as a young student you may find it boring. There is definitely more of a western metropolitan flavour to Beijing and of course more foreigners, but I did notice quite a few foreigners while I was in Dalian too?