Sinoculture, Global Volunteer Network, Yantai

[ocpaul20]

Hi all,

I am having a second (!!) male mid-life crisis. I have had two chinese girlfriends and want to learn the language, meet chinese people, and know more about their culture first hand.

So... I am thinking of enrolling at a university in the Municipality of Yantai (no details about which one yet), Shandong Province, for a year or so to learn chinese. The course is organised by Sinoculture which was established by the Global Volunteer Network based in Wellington in New Zealand.

Does anyone know anything about these guys, their course or about the Yantai area, weather etc please?

Thanks in advance for any help/advice you can give me.

Paul

[morningthunder]

Hi Paul,

I taught English at Yantai Uni last year - that's where Sinoculture send people. I would question whether it's necessary to go through Sinoculture - you'll pay much, much less if you organise it yourself! I would always go direct to a uni and not through a company.

We were allowed to take the classes for free as we were 'teachers' - they weren't too bad, mostly Korean classmates, so good chance to practise Chinese as they don't speak much English. Yantai's an OK city, it depends what you like. There are not many western bars etc, but the uni campus is right by the sea and weather is better than most parts of China - especially the clean air! Not too hot in summer, not too cold in winter etc.

I think there are probably better, more intersting places to study - I'm looking into studying full-time myself and there are hundreds of institutions that run Chinese courses.

Hope that helps, but I'm not sure that it does!

MT

[ocpaul20]

Thanks MorningThunder,

Yes, this is the sort of reply I was looking for, from someone who had been there already. As it is my first time to china I feel it is useful to have someone hold my hand a bit so I am not too bothered that I am paying more than I need to. Sometime you can take bargain-hunting too far and the pain outweighs the gain - if you know what I mean. I have done some research and there are other courses which charge a lot more (in bigger cities too of course) so I hope this one will suit me. I need to push myself a little to do this and I hope I can make it worth the effort.

I was hoping it would not be too hot so it is nice to hear the weather is more like good old cloudy UK.

cheers,

Paul

[ocpaul20]

OK, so now I have been there for a while. I heard some stories for the english teachers staying there but I guess you get that wherever. I did not hear anything bad about the place though except that it was rather disorganised from a teaching point of view - but that was only one or two opinions and is probably quite normal.

if anyone else is thinking of going to Yantai University for this course as a student, I can probably give you some info. email me at ocpaul20 at yahoo dot co dot uk I dont check this mailbox too often so it might be a day or two before I reply. Maybe I can answer any questions and give you some tips before you go..... Paul

[ocpaul20]

this email address no longer works and it has been too long. Basically I have forgotten most of what I ever learnt and I am no longer in Yantai. post a new thread for others who have been there more recently.