Are there any university courses good at teaching spoken / conversational Mandarin?

[Chinese Learner]

Hi,

I am currently studying at Beijing Film Academy in a beginners Mandarin class. It's been really good though I wish we had more oral lessons. The term is finishing at the end of this month.

I was going to enroll in a really good private school I found in Wudaokou, which I feel is much better than any university course.

http://www.sinolandchinese.com/

They specialise in teaching spoken Chinese...but unfortunately as they are a private school they can not help me renew my 'resident permit' which expires at the end of July. So I have decided that only way I will be able to stay in Beijing during the Olympics is to enroll on another term of 'university' studies though I really don't want to. I will most likely enroll at BFA again as I like the teachers and classes are small.

Question: Are there any universities (or institutions that can 'help' renew my 'resident permit') that specialise in teaching spoken mandarin for a term at a time?

I'm thinking along the lines of Beishida, Beida, Beihang or Tsinghua (not the American courses e.g. UIP etc. as they are too time intensive and far too expensive).

I refuse to go to BLCU - they seem such a rip off and don't seem to care about their students at all. All they seem to care about is money and their classes seem massive. They sent me an email and couldn't even be bothered to answer any of my questions. All I got was; 'You can choose summer course in July or in August. You can bring all application documents to our office and pay application fee here.' I refuse to give them any money....

Thanks for any help you can give me!

[eddie9684]

blcu isnt bad itself, its just that applying sucks a lot, and more in olympics...

i wouldnt be here if it wasnt because a friend helped me, and they still sent the admission notice very late by that time, like 1 week before the registration period for that course..

anyways ive thought the same, everytime that i would send them mail they would answer with mediocre replies, just as the same as you posted, i am not sure if its lack of english or what..

[SkyFitsHeaven]

Hi. I've researched this before and no, there are no university programs that focus on speaking. In a typical four hours of instruction you will have the opportunity to speak for about six minutes. The emphasis on writing and reading Hanzi completely slows down the learning process. It's a shame.