Short term programs starting soon?

[valikor]

I've been living in Beijing for about half a year (teaching English), and have decided that I am not thrilled with my job and would prefer to just study Chinese full time, as I've been doing intensive self-study, and I enjoy it very much.

My level of Chinese is low. I just finished the 2nd volume of the New Practical Chinese Reader... I pretty much know everything in there, and I've picked up a lot of things from other books and day to day life. I've learned a lot of good stuff, though I still wouldn't describe myself as conversational.

So my question is ... are there any programs that start in late February or March that would accept someone like me? Or is my best option to just enroll at a private school?

I am thinking i'd like to start with a 12-week program, but shorter or longer could both interest me...

[roddy]

I've been doing intensive self-study, and I enjoy it very much.

It ain't broke, don't fix it. The chance of any school living up to a successful self-study routine is slim, bar great expense or luck. Change your job, or sign up somewhere for the visa and do your own thing.

[valikor]

To be more specific, I enjoy CHINESE very much

Of course, I do enjoy self-study. But, I do recall the #1 advice that you posted on another thread, roddy "Get yourself a good book and a good teacher. Use them often." (Paraphrased)

Surely having a teacher, and having structure, would be beneficial? I probably study for 3 hours a day, but sometimes I think my studying is not efficient, and would benefit from focus.

Of course, if I had a class, the amount of time I would spend studying would increase if (for example) I had class every day for 2 hours... I would like this, but I can't imagine maintaining 5 hours of self-study per day.

[chrix]

you could also try finding a qualified tutor first and see how that goes...

[tingdiver]

"So my question is ... are there any programs that start in late February or March that would accept someone like me? Or is my best option to just enroll at a private school?

I am thinking i'd like to start with a 12-week program, but shorter or longer could both interest me..."

2 questions you have to answer first:

1. How much time are you willing to devote to studying?

2. How much money are you willing to spend?

I just finished my first semester of full-time studying at Tsinghua. We did 4 hours of classes every day. And I still did at least 4-6 hours of self-study, doing homework and previewing the next day's lessons. My friends say my progress has been phenomenal (I started from zero Mandarin). Plus, the tuition at the universities (even BLCU) are very cheap (when viewed in bulk) compared to private schools with one-on-one or smaller-sized classes. This is because you are in a bigger class (at least 12-15 students) so the teacher can't really focus on your progress alone. The upside of that though is, the added pressure of studying with others will "push" you to study hard just to keep up in class. At least this has been my experience. :)

Alternatively, you can sign up at a private school where you can attend smaller classes or have one-on-one tutorials wherein they tailor-fit the course curriculum (and the schedule) for you. Most of these would only require you 2 hours of class per day and advise you to allot 2 hours of self-study.

Bottomline is, regardless of budget, what it ultimately boils down to is how hardworking do you want to be?

If you're someone who is really passionate about learning and have a budget constraint, go with the big schools.

But if you can afford to spend a bit more money and are really motivated, I think you can also benefit (if not more) from studying with a private tutor who can devote their full attention to your progress (especially with tones and pronunciation).

All the big uni's (BLCU, BeiDa, Tsinghua, Renmin, etc...) have language programs starting in the spring (late Feb, March onwards). Most run for at least 16-weeks. But BLCU, being the language specialist, has more programs available. Best to check their website. Hopefully, registration for the spring semester is still open.

Private schools/ tutors will accommodate your schedule according to your needs.

Any more questions, esp. regarding private schools? Just ask tingdiveratyahoodotcom.

Cheers and goodluck!

[Canon]

Valikor,

Im starting at Tsinghua end of Feb for a short course until June. Theres a placement test at the beginning so that you will be placed in a class for your level. Im pretty sure BLCU and Peking U are starting around that time too.

Hope that helps.

[valikor]

Chrix: Yeah, I guess I too often fall into thinking that "Of course, any Chinese is a very qualified tutor!" Which makes sense in theory, but then falls apart very quickly.

Tingdiver: I have already been dedicating a lot of time to studying. On top of a job which occupies 5 hours a day, I probably study for 4 hours a day. Sometimes more, but my studying isn't very efficient. That is, since I'm self-study and am kind of a disorganized person, I often spend a lot of time doing a little bit of studying. If I didn't have my dull job to take up my time, I would be happy to spend more time than that. I'm quite hard-working when it comes to Chinese, and wouldn't object to having 4 hours of class a day and doing 4-5 hours of homework. If it was 7 hours of homework, that might be pushing it (you said at least4-6). I think I could handle 5

EDIT: For a 12 week program, I'd be able to spend $1000USD for tuition... more, if I was absolutely positive it was what I wanted to do. I recall that tuition was pretty cheap at schools like BLCU.

Canon: When did you apply? I recall looking at some websites, and saw that sometime in early january was the deadline for some program... but on other sites, I could find no such information.

Anyone have information on application deadlines? The websites for different univeristies weren't much help. Also, are there any comments on whether these intensive programs emphasize reading/writing over speaking? I wouldn't mind copying characters for a couple hours a day, but would be very disappointed if I had so much written work that there was insufficient time for listening and speaking, which I consider slightly more important than being able to write characters from memory with a pen (my experience is that Chinese people forget how to write many fairly common characters, anyways)

Thanks a lot!

EDIT #2: I did finally find the information about BLCU.. I don't think their website is very user friendly. It's too late to start next semester, but they have a 12 week program starting March29... anyone have experience with these? I guess I'll search around for reviews.I have a feeling I'm single-handedly causing this thread to become a mess...

Edited February 3, 2010 at 03:21 PM by valikor
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