Child in Chinese School - Resource Help, Please

[imron]

places to find Chinese kids his own age, optimally ones whose parents allow them to play computer games and watch movies, and who don't have a full schedule of classes at weekends.

Try the school with the smoking and fighting

[Theodora]

Try the school with the smoking and fighting

Yeah, quite.

[Theodora]

Thanks Hedegepig, and Gato. I'm pretty sure the flat thing is for real, b/c our Chinese teacher, who helped us with the flat stuff, says the same thing is true for her in Changchun and also cities in Jilin, and we met a laowai with a Chinese wife who also remarked on it as an oddity compared to the south -- everything on Ganji was one year, rent six-monthly or very occasionally quarterly. But I'll double-check.

Lots of good stuff on that thread, thank you. We decided against Beijing on the grounds that we'd end up with an English-speaking social life and not have to use much Chinese in daily life, and also I originally wanted him in an ordinary state school, and in Beijing that tends to involve a tonne of guanxi, I've heard. Beijing, we cockily concluded, in a phrase that may come back to haunt us, "would be just too easy..."

[Franciscus]

Please excuse the epic post. I'm sure I'm being optimistic in what I'm asking for, here. But perhaps there's some direction someone can offer? Or, even, any "Oh god, d'oh!" moments that transformed Chinese for you?

This. There are many different courses but I like the HSK ones the most. Btw it's great for learning radicals.

Good luck!

[li3wei1]

I'm with HedgePig (post 18). Sounds like it's not broke, so don't fix it. If your son is happy in school, you're in the top 10%, enjoy it while it lasts. By all means use Pleco etc. to make his life easier or more efficient, but I wouldn't try to add hours to his schedule, it sounds like he's cramming it in as fast as he can go, and like it's fast enough for him to get by. Maybe some chill time watching Chinese TV.

[kdavid]

Firstly, I salute you and your son's tenacity. I ran a TESOL training institute in Harbin from 2006 until earlier this year. In that time, a number of applicants inquired about bringing children with them. As a teacher, (graduate) student, and father, I've always recommended against bringing children to China for a number of reasons.

Indeed, having a child dramatically changed my outlook on China, and has been the primary motivation for moving my family back to the US. I won't get into those reasons here, as I don't want to digress from the OP's inquiries.

In short, it seems like your son is expressly precocious and provident, and I commend his dedication to this endeavor.

Any thoughts on places where you do typically see tween Chinese kids on evenings and weekends would be very welcome, particularly now the weather's beginning to warm up?

The reality of China is that most children stop having a social life outside of the classroom once they hit middle school.

I've been teaching ESL in Harbin for close to seven years now. I still have many students now who were in my very first classes (as pre-schoolers) back in 2006. In that time, I've watched them grow and develop, which has been an extraordinary experience. However, at the same time, I've seen that wondrous divine spark initially present in their young minds gradually languish, especially as they transitioned from primary to middle school.

Middle school students don't "hang out" as American students would. As you know, they spend morning and afternoon Monday through Friday in class. After class on weekdays, they often have supplemental lessons. Such lessons also constitute a majority of their weekends. If a middle- or high-school-aged student can get 2 - 3 hours of free time a week to vegetate in solitude (e.g. watching TV, "leisure" reading, etc.), they're pretty well off.

Students your son's age who will have an abundance of free time will either be drop outs or rich kids; neither are a group I'd recommend your son spend a lot of time with.

This sounds unusual and might just be a story your landlord or agent made up. You might ask kdavid on this forum about that. He's lived in Harbin for many years.

Lastly, per the apartment issue, I've probably rented somewhere in the ballpark of twenty apartments for various teachers over the years. This has included dealing with a lot of agents, landlords, etc. In this time, the only landlord who wanted six months at a time increased the rent every six months.

[gato]

n this time, the only landlord who wanted six months at a time increased the rent every six months.

In other words, this is not standard for Harbin?

[kdavid]

In other words, this is not standard for Harbin?

While it's not unheard of, it's certainly not the standard. The standard, in my experience, which I'd think is quite broad, is twelve months.

Agents like six months as it means a higher chance of turn around, which, of course, they cash in on. It also gives the landlord an opportunity to raise the rent.

Shorter contracts are in the favor of agents and landlords. Longer in favor of the renter.

The agents I've dealt with, and I mean all of them, have been a very dubious lot. They'd call a landlord prior to the rent coming to term and claim that the rent in the area had jumped by x amount (even if it hadn't, of course) in an attempt to get the current occupant to leave so that they could bring in a new one.

[gato]

How about paying six months' rent up front, as the OP is doing?

[kdavid]

Rent is always paid up front here.

[gato]

So you pay 12 months up front if you are on a 12-month lease?

[imron]

Where I used to live in Hebei, you could get a 12-month lease for the cost of about 2 months rent in Beijing, so paying 12 months in advance might not be as bad as it sounds

[gato]

For a rich laowai ;-)

[kdavid]

So you pay 12 months up front if you are on a 12-month lease?

Yes.

Where I used to live in Hebei, you could get a 12-month lease for the cost of about 2 months rent in Beijing, so paying 12 months in advance might not be as bad as it sounds

The average cost of a tolerable apartment, between 35 - 50 sqm, depending on area, is around 1500/month.

Higher end places around 80 sqm in good areas and with good heating can be around 3000/month.

[imron]

For a rich laowai ;-)

In Beijing I was paying RMB 2,500 a month for a ~70 sqm apartment in an older building. To rent an equivalent place where I lived in Hebei, twice that amount would have been enough for a year.

[gato]

That's not that cheap.

[kdavid]

That's not that cheap.

What's not cheap? 1500 or 3000?

1500/month is the standard here, and most apartments at that cost are in older buildings and in dirty neighborhoods (e.g. no place for children to play downstairs, poorly lit at night, trash in the stairwells and outside, uncouth neighbors, KTV/串 restaurants keeping you up late at night during the summer months, etc.).

3000/month here is fairly high-end, and is worth every penny. I lived in crappy apartments until summer of last year, when I decided to move us into a Party complex. We're paying through the nose, but it's so worth having everything I need right downstairs, an elevator, my son's kindergarten literally two minutes away, and being able to walk around in my underwear when it's -30 degrees outside.

I got absolutely fed up with living in China last winter, so I had to move us somewhere where I can sometimes forget I'm here.... if that makes any sense.

[imron]

That's not that cheap.

Are you referring to kdavid's comment or mine? RMB 2,500 a month for a ~70 sqm, 2-bedroom apartment within the 2nd ring road is pretty cheap for Beijing.

[gato]

Yeah, cheap for Beijing or Shanghai, but I thought Harbin would be cheaper.

[roddy]

Gee, I wonder if a passing admin might split these off-topic posts....