Confucius Institute Masters of Teaching Chinese to Speakers of other Languages

[pandalo]

Hi all,

I'm the lone female from Fiji...will be studying at BLCU in Sept for 3 years...first year to learn the language and the two years for Masters. I am totally new to this as the COnfucius Institute was established in the University of the South Pacific only from last year. like most of you applicants, i am also awaiting for Hanbans final decision.

What i would like to ask is if I get accepted and would like to upgrade my rooms from the building they have laid out for me. do i do this when i reach the dorm registration area and if they don't have any spare rooms? can I go out to find another place near BLCU. I am asking this is because I am not so sure if the scholarship will reimburse my rent for staying out of campus? I don't mind paying the difference but just want to know if they will at least reimburse half of it.

Thanks

[steveh]

@pandalo hello! Good luck with your application! As per your question, every school in China might be different. Usually Masters students are given a double room to stay in with the fee paid for.

If you want to upgrade your room (which my school allows but others might) you have to pay the difference of what the room they provide costs and the one you want costs. My guess is to do this at registration, but BLCU might be different.

If you want to live off of campus, you can do that also! However, they will not reimburse you for any of it, the scholarships is only for on campus dorms.

[pandalo]

o thanks for the info!!

I needed that to clear off my confusion

Regards!

[steveh]

Just a final amendment to this post. We did graduate and we did receive our diplomas. So no, the "mandatory" teaching afterwards is not truly compulsory. No one keeps in touch with us on our progress afterward.

[Hyangmi17]

@steveh: First of all, thank you for your elaborate answer, it really helped me a lot.

Well, as it turned out I was awarded the MTCSOL scholarship at the Dalian University of Foreign Languages. I'm pretty thrilled to study in China again, so here are some updates and few of my experiences, in case anyone reading this is thinking about applying.

About the program - it takes two years to complete this degree program, the first three semesters are actual studying and the last semester is internship teaching. The school encouraged us to do the internship at our native language country as they cannot provide opportunities for everyone to teach in China. Some students of the previous years told us though, that you can stay in China to teach your own native language and that also counts as a teaching internship, but I honestly think having casual speaking English or Korean classes and teaching Chinese have absolutely nothing in common, so I'm not entirely sure about this option (not to mention if your native language is so obscure as mine and nobody wants to learn it... ).

In some of our classes, we study together with the Chinese students, the rest is only for the foreign students. The classes cover a wide range of topics, from history, literature and culture to geography and contemporary society studies. We have the actual Chinese language course only once a week, but the rest of the classes are all held in Chinese too, so that makes it up for the tingli practice. I'd be lying if I said I liked all of my classes, it really depends on the teacher. Some of the teachers engage us in discussion about any given topic to hear the opinion of people from so different cultural backgrounds, while some of them would just whip out a ppt presentation and summarise the textbook for us. My funniest class is definitely the "Chinese cultural heritage and art", it's like an afternoon workshop, where we actually learn to do Chinese paper-cutting and that Chinese knot coiling-entangling thing. We won't have many exams, most of the classes require to write an essay by the end of semester. Oh, and the 50-30-20% rule is true, and we're all terrified about it. They're alterning the deal, now everyone is supposed to take the HSK level 6 exam too, if they don't pass, they don't get the scholarship for the second year. We pray they don't alter it any further.

About the university - contrary to popular belief, the Dalian University of Foreign Languages is not situated in Dalian anymore (as I found out upon registration) but moved to Lüshun, a small suburban city, which although is part of the Dalian Municipal Area, is about one and a half hours drive from downtown Dalian, depending on the traffic. There's a regular coach service commuting between the Old Campus in Zhongshan district and the New Campus in Lüshun, about once an hour. The Lüshun campus is pretty neat, all the teaching buildings are brand new and well-equipped, trees and flowers everywhere, and satisfying sports facilities are also available - track and field, tennis, basketball, badminton, etc. And of course, an open beach is about 8 minutes walk from campus, and from any building from the fourth floor and above you can see the sea (okay, I'm coming from a landlocked country, so that's a big thing for me ).

About the accommodation - all the foreign students are provided with accommodations in the new apartment buildings, every apartment has three bedrooms (each for two people), two bathrooms, two balconies, a kitchen, a dining room and a living room and a small storage compartment where we can lock our stuff in during the winter and summer holidays. We're not allowed to stay here during the holidays, as they lend out the apartments for the short-term program participants, but scholarship students have the opportunity to move to the old campus until the next semester starts. I estimate these apartments are at least about 180 square meters, so there's plenty of room for six people (all girls or all boys). We have to take care about most of the furnishing though, for instance bed linen, fridge and cooking equipment.

All in all, I'm happy and content with my current situation, if there's anything I can help with about the application process, the registration or life in general in Dalian, please let me know.

[steveh]

Very interesting. There are some similarities and differences between schools. We were required to take language classes the first year, in addition to our classes being taught in Chinese that is.

And I do believe they will try to make the HSK 6 a mandatory component. I was part of the third class of the program. The first class when starting had to pass old HSK 11 to graduate. It then changed to 9, and finally 7. Then they changed to new HSK (surprise surprise since its hanban who creates it) and said a minimum of 5 to graduate. Most of the teachers stated they felt 5 was too easy, so I can totally see the wanting of HSK 6.

I heard the campus was moving, in fact they finally tore down the foreign student dorms of the main campus this year (4 years after the new campus opened). And although the moving out during the breaks is not that fun, your apartment situation seems a lot better than many university dorms for sure!

Good luck and study hard to be a part of the 50%!

[Hyangmi17]

Thanks, I'm trying my best.

Also, our school just confirmed that everybody currently engaged in the MTCSOL program is required to take the new HSK level 6 exam, and the HSKK (oral exam) too, at least the intermediate level. They told us we have to register for the exam in December, which is all too sudden for most of our classmates, not to mention the exam period.

The other thing which I can't really say I agree with is that they make us participate in all sorts of "movements" like sporting events, speech contests, etc, saying that participating will increase our chances to get the scholarship next year and if we chose not to participate we might have less chance. Personally, I feel that's borderline blackmailing, but anyways, we don't really have a choice. So be prepared to take part in all sorts of activities!

If anything else comes up, I'll let you know.

I've heard that all the remaining students in the Zhongshan Campus will move out here starting from the 2012/2013 spring semester.

[siledouyaoai]

I finished my MTCSOL degree this summer, and am now doing a PGCE (post graduate certificate of education) in Chinese in London. I signed the form saying I would commit to two years of Chinese teaching after my degree, at the time with some resignation.

However, I have warmed to the idea of teaching Chinese, so I wrote to Hanban asking whether they knew of any posts in Britain. No response. I got in contact with all of the Confucius institutes in Britain. My old teacher who is teaching in a Confucius institute in Britain tried to help out, and still no luck. It seems that Hanban thought it would be nice to have local people teaching Chinese, but the situation in Britain as far as I can understand, is that you'll be hard pushed to get in. I find it ironic that they are giving all this money in scholarships, but haven't bothered to think about what to do with all these graduates once they graduate.

The exact same thing happened to our class regarding scholarships. None of us were told that they could be taken away, so many people's attendance (including mine) in the first year wasn't great. I was just lucky that I took part in China bridge, and because of that, the university kept me on full scholarship for the second year.

I got off lightly with the HSK grades as well, as back in 2010, my university only required an old HSK 6 grade. A lot of the students from the 2011 class were really annoyed when they suddenly had to pass the new HSK 6, something that no one told them about before applying. Many of the students' Chinese isn't really good enough to write a 50000 character thesis, without a lot of 'referencing', so I think they brought in the higher requirements because of that. But doing it half way through the term, then giving everyone just a few months to pass is not a great way of doing things.

[steveh]

Not to point fingers... but our teachers at the time informed us that the reason why such harsh penalties to students and mid year reapplications for revoking of scholarships was in part due to several schools where students did not attend class. Therefore, Hanban saw this as a waste of money and decided to punish everyone for it. Whether its true or not, idk. I think its a lack of money and a disregard to the students who invest a years time into the program just to later find out they wont continue to receive a scholarship.

But regardless! Did Hanban help with finding your internship? I agree that Hanban is pretty useless after you graduate. Unless you have connections somewhere, they dont care where you end up, or if you land a job or not. Out of 14 students in our class, maybe 5 are teaching Chinese now in their home countries, but all found the jobs themselves with no help from Hanban.

I think the importance of this thread should be (IMHO) to stay away from this major under the Confucius Scholarship and look towards the CSC scholarship. If you decide to go ahead and continue to apply for Confucius, you need to be aware they change requirements for you at a moments decision; you have to pass the HSK6 right away; you have to compete with your classmates (especially those from Malaysia and such countries where Mandarin is pretty much their mother language); and the school can almost force you to participate in events as to continue your scholarship or lose it.

[Tiana]

The Confucius Institute movement is still a new thing and Hanban is still trying to find their feet in the water (摸着石头过河 ). So, take it with a high degree of tolerance and be prepared for unexpected changes.

(No, I'm not defending for or criticising Hanban. I'm just an observer stating the obvious .)

[siledouyaoai]

I think the importance of this thread should be (IMHO) to stay away from this major under the Confucius Scholarship and look towards the CSC scholarship

That's what was really unfair; the CSC scholarship students could do what they liked, some of them never came to class but still had their full scholarships in the second year.

I think the problem is that universities are pushing for more and more scholarships regardless of whether there are students who have good enough Chinese. Many problems have been arising from Hanban not really having much to do with the selection process and trusting that universities will select good enough students, a problem that isn't going to be solved by suddenly withdrawing scholarships without warning. If they got the selection process right in the first place they could save money and avoid these problems. But I guess everyone is chasing figures without thinking about what the point of the whole thing is.

My internship was arranged off my own back and spent a lot of money and time in order to complete it. A lot of people in our class just paid a school to stamp their form and took a nice 6 month holiday.

I shouldn't complain this much though. Free tuition fees and a generous living allowance. It really made a massive difference to my written Chinese and the culture classes were really interesting, so I think it was worth it.

[steveh]

Just another update. I have friends who have this scholarship and they tell me that it is even more rigorous now. The 50/30/20 rule is still in effect, as well as needing a passing grade of the HSK 6. However, during your second semester, ALL (atleast in certain Universities if not all) students have to take the test (even if you took it and passed it before). This grade is then used to determine how you rank compared to your classmates to see which bracket you will fall into for the second year of your scholarship.

Not saying that taking and needing to pass HSK 6 is a bad thing, its actually a good thing that they make sure all those who are attempting (atleast in theory) to be Chinese teachers can you know, speak and read Chinese. It's again just a heads up to those who are thinking of applying this time around.

[PeterPeterPumpkinEater]

Hello.

I've got some questions regarding Confucius Institute Scholarship and Master of teaching Chinese to speakers of other languages, which lasts 2 years.

 

1. I heard that all students recieve the scholarship for the first two semesters. Later, during the third and fourth semesters not all of them have the scholarship. Do you have any experience?

 

2) Internship. As far as I know, we have to teach Chinese during our studies. Can we choose different countries to go and teach?

 

3) Is it difficult to find a job after graduation?

 

4) Can you teach immediately after graduation, or do we also need teaching diploma or certificate?

 

5) Does Hanban help in finding a job?

 

6) Do we have to take HSK6 and when?

 

Please, share all your experience regarding MTCSOL Thank you.

[roddy]

Merged Peter's topic. 

[jobm]

Guys, how is the program in general? Which school offers the best MTCSOL? How is it different from 语言学及应用语言学?

[Matthewkell]

I'm going to bump this thread. I also want to know about the internship. I can't see it being easy to get an internship teaching Chinese within China, so if I'd have to go back to my own country, I can't see how I'd afford it - I highly doubt Hanban would be willing to cover the cost of rent in the UK, or for flights.

 

Also, if there are any graduates of this program reading, how easy was it to find a job afterwards?

[xuefang]

I'm on my first year of the degree, some answers based on my experience.

1. During the second semester we took HSK6 and HSKK intermediate, we had to write a few words of our studying and improvement in the program, I believe those together our grades and attendance decides who gets full/partial scholarship next year. If you can't pass HSK6, you are out. They don't tell us any exact info, so don't know how many can continue with full scholarship.

2. We have 40 hours internship, can find s job yourself in China/abroad, tutor a student at our department or do 1on1 with other students.

3. Hanban doesn't help you to find a job. I asked the Confusius institute in Finland and they have nothing for me.

4. So first time HSK6 is second semester, then second time before graduating and with a higher grade limit.

5. In general I've been happy with my program at Sun Yat-Sen University.

6. I started doing 1on1 on the side and it has started very well.

[Matthewkell]

Thanks for that info Xuefang, it put my mind at ease a bit regarding the internship.

 

But 40 hours internship? Do you mean 40 hours a week? How would they measure that if you're just doing one on one tutoring and not working for a proper school? It can't be actual teaching hours, surely... Unless you mean only 40 teaching hours in total, not in one week? If so that sounds well easy! 

[xuefang]

Mathewkell, Yes that's 40 hours in total. If you do 1on1 tutoring you needs to hand out certain forms that proof what you've been doing. 

[cookiefan]

Xuefang, what subjects did you have during the first year? Were they difficult?

Do you have classes together with chinese students?