Recommend a summer course?

[jd144]

Hi. I've been to China twice, but never to directly study Mandarin. I will have some weeks off in summer and was wondering if anyone could recommend a good summer course? Any city to increase flexibility. Looking for 2-3 weeks. Any help would be much appreciated.

[Lu]

Have you considered Taiwan? The Mandarin Training Center at National Taiwan Normal University has a summer school, to my knowledge. I studied there for a year and didn't do the summer school itself, so I don't know the details, but it's a good school and Taipei is a good place to be.

[abcdefg]

Are you looking for group instruction or one-to-one?

 

The latter offers much more flexibility as to start and stop dates. Also you can arrange instruction that is tailored to your current level and personal language learning goals.

[grawrt]

If you only have a few weeks I would recommend getting one-on-one classes. Big classrooms just wont give you the improvement you're looking for as one-on-one does, even if it may feel that way.

 

It'll be more expensive but worth it in my opinion.

[hedwards]

It depends what you're looking for. I assume that you're wanting a bit of structure so that you can fill in things that you missed out on.

 

But, if you don't need that, one of the best things to do is find a friend to go around with you and push you to use the language to stretch yourself out. You can probably get that for not too much money or even free if you don't mind helping them with English or paying for the activities.

 

Just an option that you can use on top of or instead of proper classes. I think the worst thing in many ways are intensive programs. Some people get by with them, but I found that not enough of the material was sinking in to make the extra hours worth while. I would have been better off with a couple hours a day and spending the rest of my time enjoying the language.

[jd144]

Hi. Thanks for the replies. I think one to one would be much better. I have had classes before and feel they are inferior to one to one. I don't mind paying for money for tuition if it is one to one.

 

When i have been to China before I studied with friends informally, like hedwards suggests. I felt this worked quite well. Given the small amount of time I have this may be the best option again. I only learn Chinese for fun/interest. I don't have to meet a certain level at a certain time. Given the short amount of time I have to go to china, approx 2-3 weeks, ideally I wouldn't want to be in a classroom ALL the time, as I feel this would make my trip a little dull.

 

Thanks for the advice! I will continue to think about the options.

[abcdefg]

Four hours a day of one to one instruction (Monday through Friday) would do a lot to help you improve your Chinese and would still leave time for socializing and pursuing outside endeavors.

 

It's not that difficult to arrange. I would first pick a place you want to go, and then figure out how to arrange some teaching. Where have you visited in China before?

[jd144]

Beijing - 3 months

 

Haining/Hangzhou/Shanghai - 3 weeks.

 

I've got quite a lot of time to plan so arranging things should be ok.

[m000gle]

My recommendation would be Beijing Normal University's Summer Short-Term Chinese Language Program

 

Program Description (2014): http://bnulxsh.com/jieshao/2011short_september_EN.html
Example Timetable A: http://bnulxsh.com/jieshao/2014-summerA-schedule-en.pdf
Example Timetable B: http://bnulxsh.com/jieshao/2014-summerB-schedule-en.pdf
BNU International Student Office Website: http://bnulxsh.com/english/index.php
* This information is from 2014, but little changes year-to-year, beyond exact dates and perhaps costs in line with inflation.
** I will update this with 2015 information once it becomes available.

 

During summer 2011, between my two academic years of long-term language study at the same institution, I decided to take four weeks of this summer program in order to brush up on my rather weak reading/writing abilities.  I met some great friends, felt the program was well run, and really enjoyed my entire time at BNU; perhaps I'm biased, but it would be for all the right reasons.

The textbooks used at the time, in the Advanced class, were:
 

感悟汉语:高级读写 (ISBN: 9787303095070) - http://www.amazon.cn/%E6%84%9F%E6%82%9F%E6%B1%89%E8%AF%AD-%E9%AB%98%E7%BA%A7%E8%AF%BB%E5%86%99/dp/B0028ADNAO/
感悟汉语:高级听说 (ISBN: 9787303095087) - http://www.amazon.cn/%E6%84%9F%E6%82%9F%E6%B1%89%E8%AF%AD-%E9%AB%98%E7%BA%A7%E5%90%AC%E8%AF%B4/dp/B0028ADNAE/

 

The duration of study is fairly flexible.  Most stay for either the A or B session in its entirety, some stay for only 2-3 weeks, while others actually stayed for the full two months of A/B combined.

The instruction is about as good as you could hope for, in a summer program.  BNU is excellent when it comes to Chinese language instruction; and, I would argue, is perhaps the best school in the country in this particular field.

This program will offer you the flexibility and quality you seem to be looking for, and comes at a reasonable cost.  It does not, however, offer any one-on-one instruction, with most classes being in the 10-15 person range.  I actually consider class study to be preferable to one-on-one; but it's up to you.  To each their own, when it comes to preferred class type and teaching/learning style.

If you have any questions, I'll do my best to help out.  That said, contacting the school directly, for more up-to-date details, is never a bad idea.