Mandarin Classes 20-30 minutes west of xizhimen

[Pengyou]

I work with a group that will be bringing 3 to 5 sets of newbies into China each year to work in orphanages. They have their office about 30 minutes west of Xizhimen. Can someone recommend a school in that vacinity to study Mandarin? For the most part they will be beginners, although they may occasionally get a person with some prior training.

[roddy]

That's what, pretty much the third ring road? I don't think there are any private schools out there, but you have Capital Normal University (首师大) at or round about Huayuanqiao, and 北外 at Weigongcunqiao - you could see about getting them to set up classes. An alternative would be shuttling up to Wudaokou, where there are any number of schools. Depending on exactly where you are in terms of location and timing it might not be too time-consuming.

Oh, and there's also the Minorities University just north of Baishiqiao.

[self-taught-mba]

Give our study in China school a look. We specialize in beginners & we are located close to Xizhimen.

Our goal is to get people the equivalent of a years worth of Chinese classes in the states in a month at our school (At many schools in the US the amount learned in a year is only 600 or so words because they spend so much time on characters. Our customers normally come away with far more than that and a decent understanding - results vary based on aptitude, attitude, and diligence of course.).

The course is maybe the most intensive in Beijing - eight hours per day. So it's great for getting people up and running rather quickly before they go off to other parts of China.

The people that have gained the most from our program are those that have studied diligently for the month and then gone off to other parts of China. They have been able to survive. A big focus of our program also is equipping people with the tools necessary to get by during their stay in China including study aids and resources.

If you are a bona fide nonprofit organization dedicated to charity we could talk about a substantial discount.