BLCU General Discussion

[roddy]

More general discussion of study and living at BLCU - classroom reports, on-campus activities, canteens, administration, etc. If you're not sure whether you should study at BLCU or not, and want to ask some questions, post here with specific queries. 'What is BLCU like?', or 'Should I go to BLCU, I'm not sure' are not specific.

For links to more specific discussions, please see the BLCU Index - please note, there are existing topics for BLCU accommodation and applications, and also for introducing yourself to others coming to Beijing - please use those where appropriate.

[hello.anna]

Hey!

Does anyone have any links to pages or blogs (or anything!) were i can find out about blcu alumni?

Ive tried the blcu website but the alumni page is all in chinese. I'm wanting to do the two year college certificate in Chinese for trade and business, and am having difficulty finding out the WORTH of this course.

If anyone has ANY information, it would be much appreciated!

Anna.

[greenarcher]

Try Facebook

[Cookiebear]

I am getting a full scholarship for BLCU and am wondering if it is possible to bring my 1 year old?

[MeiLi]

Hi everyone

I have been studying chinese for a year in the US, and I visit Beijing few times every year. Now I would like to live there for a while, and thinking about applying for BLCU fall 2012.

My question is what's the difference between taking a 1 year program and a 2 year 'college certificate program'. I mean if I get a certificate, would that be an advantage to future jobs for example...? Is it much more worth having a certificate...?

And do I have to decide which program I will take BEFORE applying? Sorry I'm a bit lost...

Thanks

[Vinny / 文森]

To those of you who are studying at BLCU, or have studied there in the past, how old are the students in your class?

Are the semester or one year enrolled students usually university undergraduates?

Are there many mature age students doing these courses?

[prateeksha]

Vinny, I am currently doing my second semester in BLCU and I can tell you that almost every class has one or more "mature" students. The 30+ age group can be rather prominently noticed. I have a Swedish lady in one of my classes and she's in 50s. Earlier had a German partner who was in mid-40s. There's no age barrier here as long as one is open to interaction. Since I have no idea about the clubbing and the nightlife culture, I cannot comment on how far do the mature students involve themselves in such activities [with classmates].

The typical age group would be in mid-20s. Most of us are graduates with international relations/politics/economics and language studies as the major.

[haotailecongmeiguo]

Can anyone tell me the general schedule for the year long, intensive BLCU Language program? I am wondering how much free time there will be. I want to get a feel for what other activities I might have time for.

Thanks!

[driftman]

@vinny usually between 18-25, but there are some students as old as 60

[prateeksha]

Intensive classes are daily 6 hours - 8.30 am to 12.30 pm and then 2 pm to 4 pm. There were a few friends who chose the intensive option because it is made to look like it's going to do much more benefit to your Chinese than the regular course but it's the opposite in real. A practically 8-hour long schedule everyday left them drained enough to do any revision or do some extracurricular activities. Instead, they spent the rest of their time catching up with the immense amount of Chinese taught everyday and the homework. One of them wanted to change but it is not possible to switch from intensive to regular.

I think the regular 8.30-12.30 schedule is just fine, totaling 20 hours a week [sometimes lesser, depending on optional subjects you choose]. Leaves one with sufficient time to make Chinese friends and language partners, exploring the city, giving English tuitions, enjoying the nightlife - take your pick!

[yellowpower]

Hi there

appreciate if anyone can share their experiences of taking Advanced Chinese at BLCU.

does BLCU have a separate track for Heritage Speakers (Chinese as a second language background)which differs from the regular classes?

How are classes conducted, exam methods, and the teaching (is it mainly drills, speeches, vocab memorisation, drills, etc) Is it easy to change classes if you don't like the teacher? Are there free-style discussions in class? How often does the teacher correct students' mistakes during class?

Are there any courses that focus on developing writing skills (business communications, letter writing, different styles of essay writing, academic research papers, etc). And do they offer any chinese history or chinese literature for advanced learners?

Thanks for sharing.

[deezy]

Hey!

Does anyone have any links to pages or blogs (or anything!) were i can find out about blcu alumni?

Ive tried the blcu website but the alumni page is all in chinese. I'm wanting to do the two year college certificate in Chinese for trade and business, and am having difficulty finding out the WORTH of this course.

If anyone has ANY information, it would be much appreciated!

Anna

Try Facebook

BLCU - Beijing Language & Culture University

[hello.anna]

Thank you!!!

[rebor]

I started the 1-year regular program(20h a week) at BLCU last September, and will be leaving in about a month. I'm usually quite meticulous about these things, researching alternatives and making lists with pros and cons, but when I decided to leave for China a classmate told me had studied here before and that he was satisfied with the school and Beijing. I had already decided on Beijing because of the relatively standard accent, the sights, the size of the city and it's relative "westernness". BLCU seemed like a good enough school, and was easy to apply to, with an english language website and everything, so I just though "why not" and went for it.

The fluff first: the campus is decent, has a big canteen with good food and a lousy environment, a few cafés, a couple of bookshops, a gym, a small bar and a few small stores selling fruit and vegetables and staple foods, a couple of tailors and cleaners. There is a bank and a post office. Most of your everyday errands can be run right on campus. There's a good supermarket outside of the gates, in the south-western corner of the campus by the big road Cheng fu lu. All the buildings look awful, most of them just dull, but the gym looks like some kind of space alien sacrificial altar. There's lot's of trees and a few small parks around, so all in all it is pretty nice, especially spring, summer and autumn. I will kind of miss biking to school in the morning. The classrooms aren't the shiniest, but they do just fine. I'm in the no 1 classrooms building(with all the 1-year students) and our classrooms have computers and projectors which all the teachers use for their powerpoint presentations.

I started as a complete beginner and currently I'm on the Upper Elementary level according to BLCU. Our first semester we had two teachers. One taught us grammar and showed us how to write the new characters, while the other one where supposed to practice our speaking. Mostly this meant reading the text from our textbook on a powerpoint over and over again, after a while blacking out some words, thus forcing us to "learn" the text. Sometimes we did simple speaking exercises and we usually did one listening comprehension exercise every day. Our grammar teacher would first write every character and talk to us about the elements of the character, sometimes also throwing in some etymology. As the semester progressed we spent less and less time on this, and were expected to be able to study them on our own. After this she would introduce the grammar points from the text(in english), give us a few examples and then make us answer her questions using the new patterns. If we had time we would read the text and sometimes speak a little(if the chapter was about hobbies we would say which hobbies we had for example). At the very start we had one or two weeks devoted to entirely to pinyin and the tones, but after that we began doing characters. The dialogues in our textbooks also had pinyin, though. We did around 25 new words every day and 2-3 new grammar patterns, which I found quite overwhelming, as it was all new to me. I also quickly found out that learning a character once was hardly enough, as it would be gone a week later. I recommend using a flashcard system with SRS from the beginning. I didn't, and characters stressed me out so much and took up a lot of my time

Now in the second semester we have three different obligatory classes: grammar, listening and speaking and reading. We also have one elective class, where we can choose from speaking, business chinese, pronunciation and scientific reading(reading about biology for example in chinese). In grammar class the teacher explains the grammar, talks some about each of the new words(for example when to use them, differences from words with similar meanings etc), makes us read the text and answer questions and asks for our opinion of the text(if the text is about the chinese idiom for "practice makes perfect" she might ask us if we agree with this or not, ask us about the attitude people from our country have towards acquiring skills etc). Depending on how difficult the material is, and how interested people are, there might be a bit of a discussion. In listening and speaking we mainly listen to a lot of listening exercises. The teacher plays the CD and asks us the questions from the book. We also do one or two speaking exercises(if the chapter is about movies we speak in pairs for five minutes about what movies we like and then get to relate this to the teacher in front of the class). In reading class we read texts and do 3-4 exercises based on the text(is this statement right or wrong?, what does this word mean in this context?). Sometimes the teacher might speak briefly about grammar points in the text that we haven't encountered before. I chose pronunciation, and we read texts on a powerpoint in front of the class, with the teacher correcting us on pronunciation and tones. She also explains the phonetics of the different sounds to us(in chinese). Every lesson has a different focus. First it might be tones, then finals, then initials. The teacher will correct you on stuff we've already covered that you still fail at, though.

Each semester has to tests: one midterm and a final test. The midterm is 30% of your grade, the final is 60% and homework and attendance 10%.

I feel BLCU places a lot of focus on remembering the texts we study, and a lot of time is spent just reading texts out loud in unison with the class. This was especially true the first semester. Some weeks we probably devoted half of our time to this! As for the grammar, the teachers usually use the example sentences from the book and make the students repeat this over and over again. Sometimes this works pretty well. I still remember 他的自行车被小偷偷走了，我把书放在桌子上 by heart from our text(would be embarrassing if there's a typo in there now...), which helped me to remember how to use 把 and 被 when I was new to them, as I could just replace the words. In some ways rote memorization of simpler phrases might be useful. Personally though, it bores me to death, kills my focus and my motivation. When it comes to the finer points of grammar(where should I place 了 here? what's the difference between 着 and 在 indicating that an action is in progress? etc) my teacher wasn't very good at explaining all the time, and didn't seem to have the patience either. There is also precious little time devoted to speaking in the classroom. I you ask a lot of questions and are very outgoing, you get to speak a bit, but the teachers don't push the quieter students very much. The teachers seem to be harder on the better students, correcting their tones sometimes or their grammar mistakes. After the first one-two weeks there is not really a systematic approach to pronunciation or tones, though. Some people still speak horribly(not minor mistakes, but stuff like pronouncing the pinyin Q like a K), most have trouble with sh, ch, zh or s, z, c and pretty much everybody speaks tonelessly. The teachers usually do try to change the worst mistakes at first, but then just give up. Tones are usually only corrected when we read a new word out loud in isolation.

We are supposed to learn all new words in the texts for the tests, but in listening and speaking and reading class we get a lot of quite formal and rarely used words, and we don't spend any time on them. We have two listening classes a week, and each might have 40 new words. I think this is quite inefficient and that we could spend more time reinforcing the words from grammar class or doing fewer, more commonly used new ones each time.

That said, I think this is the case at a lot of universities - it's just the chinese educational philosophy. For the first semester, I think BLCU was good for me. I was miserable sometimes, because it was hard and we went through the chapters so fast, but I stuck with it, got the basics down and learned a lot about how to learn. I also, at last, took responsibility for my education, which might be the most important thing going forward. Chinese is hard. You have to fight for it and employ good strategies if you want to learn it in a reasonable amount of time. Learning a language is very personal, I would say. There are several ways to do it, and even using the same approach two students will likely struggle in different areas. When you have 20 people in a classroom, it's impossible to design a lesson format that is perfect for everyone. Once you've learned the basics and provided that you are reasonably honest with yourself, you will probably be able to identify your weaknesses by yourself. I've found that out of my 20 hours a week, only a few really add value to me. A lot of what our teachers do is just making sure we do what we're supposed to do, like babysitters. If I followed a textbook, did the grammar exercises by myself and then had a tutor help me with the parts I couldn't figure out, and with pronunciation, tones, and conversation practice, I'm sure I would progress much faster. This would require more planning and discipline from me, would make it easier for me to slack off and rob me of one social arena. But I would prefer it.

Lastly, I'd say BLCU's reputation as a party university isn't completely unfair. A lot of people don't seem terribly interested in chinese. Your average student is more the laid-back party type than the chinese history geek, but there are of course lots of exceptions to the rule. There's a lot of english speakers, so it is likely that you will have a few americans or europeans in your class to hang out with and not speak too much chinese. If you're an absolute beginner I think this is fine - going to some small town and being the only guy who isn't japanese or korean, and having chinese skills to the point of being able to say hi sounds very lonely to me. If you are more advanced you might get more out of your time if you're in an environment where chinese is the only common language.

[prateeksha]

I completely agree with rebor's review of the 初级 level taught in BLCU. Most of it is rote cramming, sometimes going to the extent of only memorising the sentences in the text. I started my one year study with 初级-下 which rebor currently is pursuing. One advantage you can take from studying elementary classes after coming to China is that you get used to being instructed in Chinese. I , for one was completely dumbstruck on my first day of classes. Once I got used to it, the lessons started getting monotonous. It surprised me to see that many people who started studying Chinese from scratch after coming to China had horrible pronunciations - not just the tones, but reading pinyin like an English word.

At the end of 初级 I found out I was still largely unable to understand what was going around me while travelling in subway or on the TV show. I had good grades, so I jumped to 中级-下 [skipping the 中级-上 level]. Now Intermediate is nothing like Elementary. The Comprehension lessons are about problems in society, "current" affairs, modern lifestyle and the like. 听力 lessons are grouped according to the target 说法 skill, for example - expressing contempt in various situations [towards world affairs, mother's behaviour or customer service], debating on issues, discussing sports etc. These two are compulsory courses.

There are too many choices for optional courses. One can take upto 20 hours per week, 10 hours of which are the above mentioned two courses. The optional courses offered are - Business Chinese, 写作, 人文地理, 中国文化， 数字与科技， English/Japanese/Korean to Chinese translation, synonym discrimination, 普通阅读, business chinese newspaper reading, situational chinese listening and news listening. I was so pleasantly overwhelmed at the time of picking my optionals - all these subjects look so informative and interesting! I chose Business Chinese, English-Chinese translation and Synonym Discrimination; all of which have been extremely useful and enriching to the core studies.

One difference on the not-so bright side would be that the opportunity to speak and express your opinion on the subject of the text you are being taught will decrease drastically as you move from 初级 to 中级。The teachers really have a lot of syllabus to teach and the approach shifts more towards learning words from a grammatical point of view [词性，用法，常常搭配的词]

I would strongly recommend that one should learn the basics []what could be upto the elementary level in BLCU]. From my own experience, learning the basics in your home country could help you build a stronger foundation. My teacher back home was not Chinese, I feel that some of the handy tips and tricks she gave us while learning the basics were exclusively what a person who has studied the same language as a foreigner can give. She would give us many memory aids and references from our mother tongue that helped me grasp the basics very firmly.

As far as the study environment is concerned, I believe one will go fine as long as one is self-motivated. There are plenty of Chinese people who are pursuing their degrees in the same campus so finding a 语伴/中国朋友 is not difficult at all. The teachers are very helpful and if some student is having quite some trouble with studies they even offer 辅导课 after class [of course in classrooms, of course without charge].

However, if you are the sort that gets motivated by competition and general environment of the campus, BLCU is not exactly the place to be. There are many people here who recently finished school and were sent here to study Chinese. Many people's lives here revolve around hanging around in free wi-fi cafes and bars/pubs around 五道口. The minimum 70% attendance rule is implemented strictly, but I personally know many people who continue studying semester after another without ever attending classes. They do not conceal the fact that they in fact are working in Beijing. When I was in 初级, the teacher would literally have to force some people to speak. It can be easy to fall into a rut or develop a false sense of accomplishment if most of the people around you are attending the class just so that they can be eligible to appear for the final exam and get the certificate.

To sum up, I believe the infrastructure is excellent. The teachers are really competent and helpful. The classrooms are nice. The campus is beautiful. There is ample scope for one to push their limits as far as possible. However, if/when I come to China again to pursue Masters studies, I would really like to choose a university that will provide a stricter study environment.

[roddy]

Many thanks for these excellent write-ups, folks.

[JayDee]

Is the one years 20h a week program is enough to complete a four years degree in Chinese after? I told CSC that I knew nothing and they only gave one year to learn the language.

[rebor]

To me that sounds quite hard. I had a classmate last semester who was in the same situation, but I think he decided on doing one more year of Chinese before attending university(don't know how he would finance it). If you are a good student and prepared to put in the time, you could probably skip a grade, if you study over the winter break(6-7 weeks long if i remember right). In that case you would finish BLCU:s lower intermediate level. I know of a couple of people who did this, but most were Japanese or Korean. Even if you pull it off, you would be at roughly HSK 5, so keeping up with you chinese classmates could prove a challenge...

[akire]

Hi! Today i recived my admission notice from BLCU. Hurray!!!! However, there is one thing about the payment i just like to check with you guys before i do anything. This is a part of the email i got:

"You should complete the balance payment by wire transfer at a local bank, and here is our bank information:

Bank Name: HSBC Bank Hong Kong

Account Number: 098-364185-838

SWIFT CODE: HSBCHKHHHKH

Name of Beneficiary:　Sinowest International Education Inc.

Bank Address: 2/F, HSBC Building Mong Kok, 673 Nathan Road, Mong Kok, Hong Kong

Beneficiary Address: 141-758, 6200 McKay Avenue, Burnaby, BC, V5H 4M9, Canada

Please mention the reference number when you send the payment. In order to reserve the accommodation for you, please make sure to complete the balance payment before October 30th, 2012. Please email us the receipt from the bank.."

As far as i can tell i'm only supposed to pay before October 30th if i want to reserve the accomondation i've applied for. This means that if I don't want to pay now and reserve the accpomondation I don't have to pay untill arriving in Beijing, right? Or will I loose my spot if I don't pay before October 30th?

Thanks!

[idamse]

Hi!

This forum has been really useful!

I am a norwegian girl, and right now I am in my second year of chinese. Next year I want to go to Beijing to study chinese for 1 year, and BLCU looks like a nice option.

Even though, I have some questions about the BLCU campus environment:

- I would like to have a great year with social gatherings, but still take the studies seriously. Is this possible at BLCU? Lots of places I have read that most of the students there are not really motivated and are just partying - is this true?

- I really like to work out - how is the gym at campus?

- Which dorm would be the best if I want an OK standard, but not to expensive?

Thank you for your response,

Ida