Short Term Mandarin Courses over Spring Festival

[Tianjin42]

Beijingers,

I am guessing that a few of you have attended/ have friends that have attended some short-term (2 - 6 week) Mandarin courses. I am looking at some around Spring Festival time. There are a few options (most notably BLCU) but I wanted to quickly check if any of you have experience or knowledge of some good (value) courses.

I live in Beijing so that wont be a problem though a friend has suggested the short courses living with a Chinese room mate are the best.

My Mandarin is basic but I am learning a lot at the moment. I work full time as a teacher but will be getting around 2 months off (Start of January to the end of February) and so this will be a great opportunity to cover a lot of ground. The structure and incentive of a course like this should help but it's always worth checking with others about their experiences first-hand.

Cheers,

M

[Duncan Leung]

Hi Tianjin42,

Heh, I was a bit thrown off by your username because I thought that you were living in TianJin and was coming to beijing during the Spring to study Chinese- anyhow, I digress...

I'm not sure if you've come across this school, 1on1 Mandarin? They do mainly one to one Chinese classes (surprise surprise, lol), though they do offer small-sized group classes, if you get some of your friends together who also want to study Chinese.

I've been taking classes at 1on1 Mandarin since June, and I'm really happy with my language progression during this time- I was in the same boat (sort of). Back in June, I decided to take a couple of months off work to invest in improving my Chinese language level, so I needed to get the best bang-for-my-buck. Honestly, the tuition at 1on1 Mandarin is higher than the other schools that I looked at (listed below), but I took the sample class at 1on1 Mandarin and felt that their teachers were legit (and I can testify now, that their teachers are legit); and, I am looking at this time (and cost, lol) as an investment though, since I am planning to be here in China for the long-term.

One thing that you might want to do if you're wanting to make big improvements, by the way, is to at least check out the two schools listed below too, as opposed to taking classes larger sized classes at BLCU. I recommend taking classes with smaller sizes (or one on one if you can fork out the cash) because I think it'll be a better environment to make big improvements, in a shorter amount of time (since there'll be more focus on you).

1on1 Mandarin - http://www.1on1mandarin.com/

Sinoland - http://www.sinolandchinese.com/

Global Village - http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/2200-global-village-language-institute-diqiucun-%E5%9C%B0%E7%90%83%E6%9D%91/

Hope you find a school that fits your needs =)

[Brian US]

A lot private schools are around 600 kuai a month for small classes. I was surprised to see how expensive 1on1 Mandarin is. Say you buy less than 50 classes it comes out to 166 kuai per hour, which is the most I've seen. Most English teachers get paid around this fee.

Duncan Leung, what books do you use in class at 1on1 Mandarin? Do they offer special classes or instruction that set them apart?

[Tianjin42]

Ok - thank you for these.

[amandagmu]

Hey, I tried out 1-on-1 via Skype and am considering going back to them. They seem to have teachers trained to use the ICLP and IUP books, and the methods are similar (and with 1-on-1 or small group classes like those two programs). I'm trying out That's Mandarin next week and will report back on it, as I'm looking for something a bit more convenient to where I live. They seem to offer similar setup and prices... either way, both are still cheaper than IUP or ICLP, which charge an arm and a leg (I think IUP is $7000 USD per semester?).

EDIT: http://ieas.berkeley.edu/iup/fees.html. And that doesn't include the application fee.

[Tianjin42]

Okay - Thanks for that. Yeah, I will report back on whichever route I eventually choose. Always good to have some points of reference.

[Duncan Leung]

Hi Brian US,

I actually didn't ask specifically what type of training the 1on1 teachers have, it seems like amandagmu seems to know a bit more about the training the teachers have. Right now I'm using a book from BLCU, NPCR 'New Practical Chinese Reader'.

[damonkeyking1]

Hi Duncan Leung,

Just curious, I saw on the 1 on 1 Mandarin facebook page that you are the marketing assistant there, are you an employee or a student or both? :unsure:

[Duncan Leung]

Hi damonkeyking1,

I was a student there, and was also helping out with some part-time marketing such as helping with writing blog posts =)

[roddy]

And forum posts?

[Duncan Leung]

Hi roddy,

nope, this is my personal chinese-forums account. Recommendations and answers have come from my personal experiences.

[roddy]

Given the state of marketing in this particular sector, you can expect a bit of skepticism about that. Full disclosure from the start would have been wiser, and entirely acceptable.

[Duncan Leung]

Hi roddy,

That's true- my mistake; I'll be sure to be more aware of such things in the future.

[roddy]

Your signature would be a good start ;)

[cecilia.ch]

I was wondering whether I can attend a private Chinese course anywhere in China during Chunjie..thx!

[zhouhaochen]

Cecilia, yes you can definitely attend a private Chinese course anywhere in China during Chunjie. In fact there are so many that there is no way of answering that question.

Too differentiate a bit from some strategies above, I work for <a href="http://www.livethelanguage.cn">Live the Language Mandarin School</a> so that would be one place you could do a Chinese Language Course. There are also thousands others.

[imron]

I wouldn't say definitely. Many of them will be closed over the week of Chinese New Year - and if not closed, then definitely working on a reduced staff.

[RockClimb]

I'll agree with Imron. My 1 on 1 teacher and the school I'm at are closed/out of town for about a week and a half at the end of January so I'm in the same boat of looking for a way to continue my Chinese study. Anyone have some validated short (say 2 week) good programs or courses? I'm considering going to visit another part of China but then I'd be arriving in a new city where I might get less Chinese study than if I somehow find a course for the holiday in Beijing.

Thanks