Regular versus intensive programmes

[Dan Bang]

Since for instance BLCU offers the choice between a regular course (20 hours per week) and a intensive course (30 hours per week), I have been wondering what would be most rewarding to select.

If you for instance take BLCU's 12 weeks course into this consideration: would it be better to use the extra money (which the intensive course costs) on a private tutor? Is it better (for your development and so on) to have some spare time to explore Beijing and to mingle with the locals than to use all the time available on school? Or is it actually possible to combine this spare time(/social life) with the intensive course? What are people's experiences with the regular versus the intensive programmes (at BLCU)?

Any thoughts on the issue will be appreciated!

[Jizzosh]

Are you beginner or intermediate? It entirely depends on you, your ability to pick up the language, your motivation, and your distraction level, to name but a very few aspects.

I'm a level 2 beginner (I guess). I studied for a year at my university in the States, and fancied myself able to 听得懂 fairly well. From my experience in just the first 2 days of my coursework, 4 hours a day is plenty for me. I think until you're in the zone, more than 4 hours is overkill. I think 6 hours a day will be great when my mind is more spongy. And believe me, in 4 hours they beat your brain into a nice pulp, so by the end of the first term, it will be nice and spongy.

For the absolute beginners that I've maid friends with, some are flying and some are having to really take all their spare time to absorb the material. I don't exactly know what the absolute beginner course is, but I know that my course is one entire lesson a day, or 20-30+ characters a day. It can take a couple of hours just to do the homework each night, so take that into consideration. Do you want to have a social life, do you want to spend all your waking time in the library and in the classroom, etc. From what I've seen of my classmates, I'd suggest taking the 2 hours that you would be in class for tutoring and personal development... again, that entirely depends on how you learn and how much you know. Other than beginner classes, they don't take any time whatsoever (in class) to baby you, so if it turns out that in 6 hours you're drowning, then you would still need to get a tutor in addition to the two hours of class.

I hope this doesn't sound pessimistic... I know they have the 6 hour classes for a reason, and it's possible that the format is different to the regular college of advanced Chinese studies, where us long-timers go. Essentially, you have to evaluate yourself and decide what is best for you.

Here's a standard week of class for the 20hr Chinese language college students (which I think might be different than the intensive, but I gather that intensive would only mean more difficult and condensed):

Chinese Language (Vocab/structure/mixture of all aspects) class for 2 hours M-F

Chinese Listening class for 2 hours M/W

Chinese Reading/Writing/Grammer for 2 hours T/Th

Chinese Speaking practice class for 2 hours F

(Homework thus far, has been writing/memorizing 20-30+ characters/words a day --writing each char 10x and pinyin 2x-- and performing the excercises, which are anywhere from 10-20 questions which require you to write full sentences and answer questions in complete responses)

Again, not overwhelming thus far, but definitely challenging. I think 20 hours is probably good for the first time, and then you can move up to 30 hours, or if you want to really push yourself and you feel really confident, then go for the 30.

Anyone who's done the college of intensive studies as opposed to the college of advanced Chinese studies? Is the program structure same or different?

[Dan Bang]

I’m a total beginner when it comes to Chinese – that’s why I’ve considered selecting the intensive instead of the regular 12 weeks course that begins at the end of this month. They actually have a special 12 weeks course designed for beginners, and which they proclaim can be equalled with a semester of regular tuition.

But don’t get me wrong, I’m not thinking of being able to practise Chinese after 12 weeks in all cases. The situation is namely that I’m only 19 (soon 20) years old and I’ve never been completely on my own neither inside nor outside Denmark. So, I’m hoping to use the 12 weeks at BLCU as a platform where I can test myself and hopefully decide what to do (in China) – like go studying somewhere else or perhaps go getting a job as some sort of teacher. Besides, it would be very foolish of me to throw a lot of money (more than it costs already, I really find it remarkable expensive to go study in China) after something that isn’t me. But I might follow your example and “only” use 4 hours per day at school – as you said, otherwise it’ll most likely be overkill. I’d rather have some extra time where I can approach Chinese in my own way – and in a not too stressful environment. But what do you think my situation and my starting point taken into consideration?

By the way, how are you able to finance 1-2 years of study in China? Is it carried out as a part of a university degree? Are you living at the university – if yes, can I expect to find a “decent” place to live on campus at the end of this month and do the prices of accommodation correspond with those mentioned on their homepage?

[Craig]

Thank you for the information Jizzosh i was curious about a few things which you covered before i even had to ask . If you don't mind me asking what level did you indicated on the form to apply to beginner or elementry? I ask because i am in a similar situation i'm going to study in the fall and will have had one year of studys and know around 650-750 characters which isn't quite at the 800 level so i wasn't sure what to apply as.

[Dan Bang]

Hey Craig!

I've received some emails from BLCU about their whole course system - so, PM me your emailadress, and I'll send you the documents if I can find them on my computer. Besides, take a gace at the message at the top of this forum (and find the part about BLCU).

[Jizzosh]

If you don't mind me asking what level did you indicated on the form to apply to beginner or elementry?

Apply as elementary/intermediate... whatever the second one is. It doesn't matter because you have to take a placement HSK anyway, and after that, they stick you in whatever class they think fits your HSK result combined with a speaking test you take the next day. Plus, if the course you're placed in is too easy, you can move up, likewise if it's too hard, you can move down. You can only change the first week though, so make sure you really think about your knowledge. For me, I could actually move up to the next class with a little bit of work, but because my 听力 is not very good, I stayed where I am. Also, don't be too stressed if you don't understand what the teacher is saying... If your school in your home country was anything like mine, you never were made to listen as much as you should have, and your teacher may not have been from Beijing, so the accent might be hard to pick up... that seems to improve quite quickly, although I wish it was faster...

Oh, and you do a lesson per day, so if you end up in class with the 第1上 book, you're only about 4 weeks ahead of the 第1下 book, and about 8 weeks ahead of the 第2上book. So, if you just want to solidify, you can go back one or two classes and make sure you pick up the concepts, etc. If you're confident or just want to push yourself, you can move up. Just let me know if you have questions or issues.