Chinese Language Schools / Textbooks in Fushun

[Chinabound]

Hello All,

I have recently joined this forum and have a question that maybe some members can help me with. I am an American currently teaching English in Fushun, Liaoning province China and was wondering if anyone knows of any Chinese language schools in or around the city. Or if anyone knows where I can get some books for learning how to read and write Chinese?

Thank you,

Steve

[JenniferW]

I worked for a year in Shenyang - which I think is day-trip distance for you. I think several of the universities in Shenyang are running full-time courses in Chinese (for foreigners). I worked at Shenyang Normal University, and they do. Because of this - plus several private language schools - in the city, you can get a good selection of the coursebooks used for Chinese.

The biggest and best bookshop in Shenyang, with a large section of this sort of thing, is on the main road running south from the city centre (the square where the museum and concert hall are) to the airport. The bookshop is called Běijīng Túshūchéng 北京图书城, and the street is Qīngnián Dàjiē 青年大街 - look for a big building covered with pink tiles (or it was). You can also get a good selection of English-language boks there too, so you could stock up at the same time if you need to. There are several other good, large bookshops in Shenyang, but I'd really recommend this one - and there's a nice big park literally just across the road, and the Kempinski Hotel just up the road one way and the Shangrila a bit further on down the road, if you're in need of coffee and a western meal!

For books, I'm using the 汉语教程 / Hàn yǔ jiàochéng series of books (published by the Beijing Language & Culture University Press 北京语言文化大学出版社) which are pretty widely available and used in a variety of places, not just the university which publishes them. It's a series of books designed for for a full-time BA course, but they work for me, studying part-time, too. The core coursebook gives you a text presenting new material (and there are CDs to go with this), loads of exercises - and basically I'd recommend it as a sound coursebook. If you have any sort of bookshop there in Fushun, if you take in those details they might actually have them - or be happy to get them for you. There are better coursebooks, but not necessarily available where you are. For example a while back I saw a Yale series an American friend was using, which I thought was really good.

If you can get yourself a coursebook to work from, I'm sure the place you're working at would sort out a teacher for you, at a reasonable price. One of my best ever private teachers was actually a retired teacher. Loads of teaching experience, including helping her own children and grandchildren! I was her first foreign student, but all that experience, and the fact that she actually decided to take me on, meant she learnt fast, picked up on my needs, and was superbly conscientious as a teacher.

[Chinabound]

Thank you for the advice. I have been to Shenyang twice, once almost 3 years ago when my wife and I got married there and back in September of this year. It seems that during that time it has changed a lot. I noticed a lot of Starbucks and Pizza Huts have popped up all over the place. The next time I go there I will definetly look for that book store that you mentioned. Thanks again.