Seeking advice on how to focus my efforts in Beijing

[icebear]

Hey All

A quick synopsis of my situation:

I've been living and working in Shenzhen since last August. For the first 6 or 7 months I basically languished and enjoyed that whole "white man in Asia" syndrome that seems so typical of many teachers here - partying, traveling, and relaxing to no end. So my Chinese was basically nil up until 3 months ago when my job started offering a once a week Chinese lesson out of a book some of you may know - 40 Lessons for Basic Chinese from 华东师范大学 (Huadong Shifan Daxue). Having even this minimal amount of structure (1 chapter a week with a test and homework) has shown me how much I can accomplish with some definite goals to reach for, so I'm hoping to really go all out with my studies this fall. In those three months we've done 10 chapters, or about 500 characters/words. I can readily recognize all of these characters and write a decent majority of them from memory, but my speaking is generally limited to knowing the exact structures given - i.e. I'm not flexible, at all, with my usage or listening comprehension.

Which brings me here. I'm planning to move to Beijing in August and begin a new teaching job - it will likely be 3 days a week - Fri-Sun - leaving me ample time to study and explore the city during the week while (in)conveniently limiting the amount of party time I have to detract from my studies. I'm half heartedly contemplating full time enrollment at a university, but as I could barely afford it and most of the deadlines are looming this week I think I'd feel more comfortable going the private route where I can pay as I go... and perhaps enrolling next spring with more money saved.

So, I'm here to solicit advise from those in Beijing - what are some good alternatives to going with a university program? Can a motivated student learn as quickly outside of a university environment as in one? Despite my 7 months of sloth in Shenzhen, I'm typically a very academic and motivated person.

Finally - a sweet part of my deal is I'll have a free apartment to stay in during my time in Beijing. The downside is it is located near the soon to open Puhuangyu Station on line 5 of the metro (see here http://www.johomaps.com/as/china/beijing/beijingcheng.html ), which is notably a bit out of the center and a good distance from the university district. Is it possible to find language schools in any corner of Beijing, including this one? What are everyone's experiences with private language schools vs. tutors? Any highly recommended?

I realize much of this material is covered elsewhere in the forum, but I've yet to find anything specific on centers outside of Wudaokou or Chaoyang, or relatively recent assessments of the commonly used centers (the 'guide' to Beijing is great, but 2 years old!).

Thanks for any advice you can offer!

[tallynole]

If by university district, you mean Haidian, then no worries!

There are universities scattered all over Beijing including Tongzhou, Wangjing, and the part you will be in which i believe is around the shuangjin area.. I know that there is a university somewhere around there with decent number of foreign students.

will you be mainly studying or working/studying?

[roddy]

Puhangyu looks like it isn't too far from Jianguomen / Guomao, where there are plenty of schools. You've also got Tiantan nearby, where you'll be able to wander about talking to Taiqi practitioners, erhu players, kung-fu teachers and that bloke with the mad hula-hoop game (come on, I can't be the only one to have met him) all day long.

[icebear]

The apartment is located just east of the temple of heaven, off of Yongdinghe Dong Binhe Lu. Are you aware of any decent universities or langauge centers ('buxibans') in that area?

The job I'm looking into securing is 16 hours a week (teaching) on Saturday and Sunday, with mornings on either Monday or Friday (this will be finalized soon, it won't be both). So I'll have ample time during the week to study, which I'd like to take advantage of too the fullest.

I'm not very familiar with the different areas of Beijing - where abouts is Shuangjin? Any recommended websites on Beijing to familiarize myself with the lay of the land?

[roddy]

I think there are a couple of universities round there, but can't put a name to them. One of the foreign language universities? And a university of some industry or other? Anyone?

There are also quite a lot of private language schools at Jianwai Soho (apartment / office complex by Guomao), Jianguomen, Dongzhimen, etc. Wouldn't want to recommend any in particular.

Thatsbj.com may be helpful if you haven't seen it already.

[icebear]

There are also quite a lot of private language schools at Jianwai Soho (apartment / office complex by Guomao), Jianguomen, Dongzhimen, etc. Wouldn't want to recommend any in particular.

Is that because of a lack of opinion... or a negative opinion of them? Just trying to be clear

I've seen that some of the language centers (Buxibans if I'm not mistaken) can cost an outrageously low amount, like under 50 a hour. Are the privates your mentioning in this price range? If not, what is a reasonable price to pay per hour at a private place? I'd like to be getting in 2-3 hours a day a few days a week if I can afford it.

[roddy]

I just haven't used them so can't really offer an opinion. Frontiers, which has schools at Dongzhimen and Jianguomen, has had fairly good reports on here.

[terryswift]

hi- i am terrible at reading maps, but i think u are not far from beijing university of technology. beigongda is only a 10-15 minute bike ride from long tan park, and about 30 minutes from tian tan hospital (but cant remember what side of tian tan the hospital was on). as roddy mentioned, thatsbj.com has a lot of private schools listed, and u can also try the private teacher route.

[heifeng]

Also, you can always hang out with the senior citizens in the temple of heaven, i.e. watch them play chess, chat with them. Chinese senior citizens are very sweet.