Please rate/answer BCLU, Beida, BFSU, etc. on points within

[Jizzosh]

Hello everyone and thank you for everything I have learned since first visiting this site. I am a second year Chinese student from Las Vegas, NV and I will be travelling to Beijing in Jan. to begin a full year of intensive study. I will have completed 3 semesters before I go, and I want to ensure that I pick the best school for me, and in order to do that I need your help. Many of you have taken classes, visited, or even spent great lengths of time at the schools I am considering. I can look up the prices and practical information, but personal experience is always best.

For the following schools in Beijing, please give your two cents on the topics listed below... even if its brief or biased, it all helps. Beida, BCLU, BFSU, Qinghua, Beijing Normal.

Class size

Quality of materials

Teacher accessibility (in class/out of class)

Teaching method (lecture, dialogue, interaction, etc)

Study expected outside of class (beyond just talking to people)

Emphasis (speaking, listening, reading, writing)

Standard makeup of students (Foreign/Native,M/F)

Any other pros/cons you can think of a current/former student?

Thanks again!

Josh

赖书亚

[Lu]

Studied at BL©U two years ago, can give you some info on that.

Class size: 10-20 people.

Quality of materials: Ok.

Teacher accessibility (in class/out of class): In class accessable enough, out class depended on the teacher, some were very accessable, gave all their phone numbers, or went for dinner with the class, others only taught and that was it.

Teaching method (lecture, dialogue, interaction, etc): Depended on the class and teacher. Some classes had a lot of interacting and making students talk, others just went by the book.

Study expected outside of class (beyond just talking to people): I had class 4 hours a day, and a couple of hours a day studying out of class.

Emphasis (speaking, listening, reading, writing): I hardly studied any writing when I was there, never really needed to. Speaking: depends on the class, see above. I had a xiaoshuo class which of course emphasized reading, and a xinwen tingli class for listening.

Standard makeup of students (Foreign/Native,M/F): When studying Chinese in China, all your classmates will be foreign, as the Chinese already know their language. In BLCU most students were from Korea and Japan. There are also Chinese on BLCU, but they study at their own department, you see them on campus but won't meet any in your class or dorm. More female than male students there, as in most language studies.

Any other pros/cons you can think of a current/former student? BLCU is said to have the best Chinese-for-foreigners program in all of Beijing, or maybe even in all of China, even better than Beida. Plus it's a nice place to study, lot of other foreign students. This can also be seen as a con, of course. It's very easy to hang out with only foreigners and don't speak any Chinese out of class. But this depends on yourself.

I hope this helped. Whatever uni you pick in the end, have a good time in Beijing and jiayou xuexi!

[Jizzosh]

Thank you very much for your reply! That's exactly what I'm looking for. One of my classmates here at UNLV studied at B(LC)U and raves about it. Her Chinese is pretty good for just a brief study period, so that school looks to be a top choice. Anyone else have an opinion? All replys are tremendously appreciated.

Thanks again!

[tsinita]

how about the other universities? anyone? im also planning to go to BLCU this february but still not sure if BLCU is the school for me..

[jaydub]

I am interested in hearing any opinions about BeiWai (Beijing Foreign Studies Uni) and Zhongguo Renmin.

[Qiuyue]

Yeah, I also would like to know more of other unis in Beijing apart from BLCU.

[zerolife]

i'll add Tsinghua (Qinghua)

Class size: 7-23, according to their policy, class size shouldn't go over 15. however, i've seen some lower level classes with up to 23. My class had only 10 people registered but 2 never showed up.

Quality of materials: if I remember correctly they use books from BCLU and other publisher. I don't think Tsinghua produces their own Chinese text books but this could have changed.

Teacher accessibility (in class/out of class): they will usually give you their cell phone number and you can call anytime out of class. some even go out with you for dinner or lunch (individual or in group). A fairly large number of them are recent graduates so they are more like students than teachers.

Teaching method (lecture, dialogue, interaction, etc):

depending on teacher and what class is taught - speaking / listening / comprehensive etc.

You have 4 hours a day Mon - Fri which is standard in Beijing

Study expected outside of class (beyond just talking to people):

some will leave homeworks for after class but in general, you are not required to do them since you do not receive a grade. The same goes for the exams but I believe you do need to pass the exam to receive the certificate.

Emphasis (speaking, listening, reading, writing)

depending on your class level. My class (102) has 4 sessions of speaking, 3 sessions listening and 3 sessions comprehensive (reading and writing) a week. Each session is 2 hours. 201/202 have seperate reading sessions. With your Chinese level, you could be placed in either 102 or 201/202 (more likely). The difference between 201 and 202 (and also 101/102, 301/302 etc.) is very slim and can be considered as one level. most people in 101 i know went directly to 201 or even 202. and those in 102 went to either 202 or 301. you might be surprised why i think you will be placed that low because the chinese classes in China are different than in the state. Most of your classmates will be Korean or Japanese and they seem to have an easier time learning Chinese. I would say beginner 102 would equal at least an intermediate level in the US. I completed 102 and received credits for 3 Chinese courses plus got the 2 years Chinese requirement waived at my US college.

Standard makeup of students (Foreign/Native,M/F)

you won't find natives in a Chinese class. The majority of the international student body are Korean and I would say Japanese ranks second. Most Westerners are Australian or Europeans. the female-male ratio is strongly skewed to the female side. in general, this is true for all Chinese language schools in Beijing

Any other pros/cons you can think of a current/former student?

[billiardsmike]

An recent thread on BFSU:

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/8280-anyone-going-to-bfsu&highlight=BFSU

The more I see, the more I would rate BFSU well above BLCU for learning, and I know one other student who agrees with me (I can't find any others who have studied at another Chinese university.) The facilities are a little bit older, but they're not bad. A large number of Koreans and Japanese is actually beneficial. They are tough to keep up with in our studies and it means we speak English much less. My only problem is that I can't seem to develop an ear for Chinese spoken with foreign accents.