Where to go in China for a year?

[aidant]

Hello everyone, I would really appreciate your advice here. From September, I have to spend an academic year in China and I'm stuck on where to go. I've already studied at BLCU for 5 weeks last summer and that's proven that I never want to live in Beijing again. I don't think I want to live in Shanghai either. My main two choices are: Qingdao and Hangzhou (Zhejiang Daxue). My one misgiving about Hangzhou is the term size and workload at Zhejiang - x2 18 week semesters and 1-3 electives, where I'd rather have a bit less time studying and more time for travel at weekends and in holidays. Has anyone been to Zhejiang and what do you think?

Many thanks,

Aidan

[jlowrance]

I studied at Qingdao University in the fall of 2004 and summer of 2005. I loved Qingdao. the weather was really nice, warm in the summer and cold during the winter. The accent is a little different than in Beijing but it's not that big of a deal. The air is clean for China. The quality of life is high. It's a pretty nice place to live. I've never been to Ocean U but I know people who studied there but never heard anything about it, good or bad. Plenty of apartments for cheap.

Let me know if you have anymore questions.

jlowrance

[Lillee]

I studied at Zhejiang University (Zheda) for 2 semesters last year. I don't know much about Qingdao, but I visited there for a few days in the summer break and it seemed like a nice place to live.

Zheda has pros and cons. Overall I thought it was fairly good I guess, I learnt quite a lot - well, in terms of reading. I was disappointed with how little my speaking improved though. I think that the learning experience varies greatly depending on what level you're at. The beginner's level courses tend to be larger and probably more diverse (i.e. more Westerners). A good thing about Zheda is that there are quite a lot of classes, so you can find a level which is suitable for you. One thing to note: they make you take an assessment test to determine which level you should be in, but don't be afraid to ask to switch classes if you feel you've been put in the wrong level. A few classmates I know did this, and it's worth it.

I wouldn't be too put off by the workload - the 1-3 elective courses are only optional. And even if you enrol in them, no one's going to force you to turn up to them. Anyway, most of them are for things like tai chi, martial arts, painting, calligraphy, etc - not things that will need study time outside of class. If you did the 5-week summer course at Beijing, I'm guessing that that it was all just 精读课 right? I also did a 5-week course at BLCU before I came to Zheda, and I found the BLCU course much more intensive.

[Lillee]

Hi, a couple of you have contacted me with more questions about Zheda, so i thought i'd post up my answers here.

It's hard to say how good i thought the course was overall, and how it compares with other courses, as I think it really is very dependent on the level that you're at. Different levels use different textbooks (i mean, not just the level of textbook, but the textbook series may be completely different - some textbook series are definitely better than others). The structure of the course also varies. At Zheda, i think that the beginners and lower intermediate classes are composed of intensive reading (精读）reading (阅读）listening (听力）and speaking (口语） but at the upper intermediate/advanced level they replace listening class with writing （写作). Apart from that, the size of the classes and the composition of the students in the class vary. And on top of that, the teachers vary. So I don't really feel like I'm in a position to judge Zheda's language courses - even though I can give my opinion, it's only a reflection of the what I personally experienced.

Having come from the short-term course at BLCU, I thought that the Zheda program was wonderfully well-organised and the administrators are generally very friendly and efficient (and speak great English!). I was very impressed by the living and eating facilities at Zheda, and the university is set in lovely surroundings. However...

A couple of things which I really disliked about the program was the teaching quality in some of my classes (I had a couple of wonderful teachers, but some of them were very ordinary, or even dreadful - a couple of them were old and lazy and I suspect didn't even have proper teaching qualifications, and I think a fair number of the young teachers are doing the job part-time, while studying for their masters degrees), and the lack of emphasis on developing good speaking skills (as i've mentioned before).

But these are problems that I guess you'd probably encounter in most language courses in China. If you don't want to study at university, you can go to a private school, I did try one in Beijing for a couple of weeks, but personally i feel that you learn much faster at university because the teachers do have higher expectations there and expect you to keep up with the work (although it's still your choice, in the end) - whereas i felt like it was much more flexible in the private school, so i didn't bother to push myself at all, which means i didn't learn as much. anyway, there's much that been written about pros and cons of universities vs private schooling in other threads.

As for accommodation at Zheda, as i see it, i think there's basically 4 options:

1) foreign students dorms at the international college building. that's where most students stay, you get your own room with adjoining (own) bathroom (western toilet, chinese-style shower - i.e. not actually a separate shower, just a shower curtain to corden off the shower area). it's pretty decent. i stayed here for most of the time, and was happy with it. some people might feel they want more space though. oh and there's only a communal "kitchen" on each level, but it has no facilities at all, except for a sink and a fridge which always stinks. you'll be around a LOT of Korean students if you stay here.

2) shared dorms at building 31, opposite the international college building but still inside the campus. i'm not too sure what the deal is with these dorms. i think that anyone can ask to be put here, but i'm not sure. they only have twin rooms. but i think that they're more spacey than option 1). ppl i knew who had stayed there were happy with it. still get your own bathroom.

3) foreign student dorms for scholarship students outside the front gate. this is only an option if you're on a government scholarship or something, as i understand it. in which case, you'll have your accommodation already organised for you anyway. it's an older building and has communal bathrooms.

4) live outside (i.e. find your own accommodation or share a flat with someone or find a homestay). I did this for a period of time, but i wouldn't really recommend it. too much hassle and too much that can go wrong. and if you want something of the same quality as the dorm rooms, then you'll probably be paying just as much, or more, to live outside.

hope i haven't given out wrong information! it's just my opinions

[roddy]

Hi, a couple of you have contacted me with more questions about Zheda, so i thought i'd post up my answers here.

Thank you! Information put on the board will stay here permanently and help millions* of people, as opposed to helping one or two via private message or email.

*maybe.

[Lillee]

Ah, well in that case i'll paste this up here. Originally this was a reply to an email but maybe others will get some use out of it too. once again it's all just my view on it, i could be wrong about some things

Teaching English in China

hmm, teaching opportunities... it's all a bit hit and miss really, i think. when i first got there i sent my cv/called up heaps of language schools but didn't hear back from most of them, even though apparently the language schools are desperate for teachers. Staff can just be so slack in china. i'd say there's more opportunities for teaching kids - lots of English schools for kids in China. but beware, you may be asked to sign a one-year contract - that's ridiculous, don't bother with any school that asks you to do that.

a lot of ppl seem to get teaching jobs by word of mouth. there is a big range in the pay: 100RMB/hour is fairly low for a native English speaker, 150RMB/hour is pretty good, but some people can get lucky and get close to 200RMB/hour (very very rare, i think). note that these figures are just estimates, and just for Hangzhou, where the pay for teachers is lower than places like Beijing. How much you end up being paid, i think it's more luck than anything else. they seem willing to hire anyone, even people for whom English is not their first language and even if they speak with a heavy accent and with grammatical errors, etc.

It may be better to try to be a private tutor. that way you may get a higher pay and don't have to prepare classes or deal with chinese schools (i was so frustrated with how unprofessionally the school was run that in the end i stopped teaching just cos i didn't want to deal with them anymore). if you look foreign, and you hang around the lobby of the foreign students dorm, or perhaps just when you're outside in the city, you might get approached by chinese or koreans asking you to be a tutor for their child.

Advice on preparing before you go

i think you will get the most out of your time in china if you have AT LEAST a basic knowledge of chinese before you go over there, otherwise they will put you in the absolute beginner's class and that will limit how much you can achieve in the 2 semesters you have. if you haven't been learning Chinese, try to do an intensive course before you go, or if you are able to, do a short-term course at one of the uni's in China before you start at zheda. i think that's probably the most effective way to learn a lot in a short space of time. when you sit the assessment test to determine what level class you should go in, there will most likely be a character/pinyin recognition component and a short writing component. If you know some characters, that would be useful. And they will see how well you converse with them on simple everyday topics. at least that's what my test was like. if at first they put you into a class which you think is too high and you get freaked out by all the characters that all your korean classmates already know, think twice before switching to a lower class, because if you put in extra effort, you will catch up to them and it will be worth it in the long run.

[Asix00]

I loved Qingdao. the weather was really nice, warm in the summer and cold during the winter.

I agree. Qingdao is a nice place