Moving Family to China

January 3, 2015 at 08:53 PM

You might consider enrolling your children in an online school. And just have them learn the language when they're not in class. It may or may not be in your budget, but I've found one for about $3k per year. It looks reputable, and the price is probably in line with what they're offering. There are probably other options for accredited primary schools that cater to students from various parts of the world.

The main downside to this is that you'll need to find your children opportunities to play with other children and it won't help at all with their Chinese.

January 6, 2015 at 01:14 AM

Our current plan is to move to Guilin, take one-on-one classes in the Chinese Language Institute's Intensive Mandarin Program and enroll our daughter in the Guilin Sunny School, which was recommended by Bryan in the thread above. The Guilin Sunny School's international program, which is half a day in Mandarin and half a day in English, is ~$1700/semester for first grade, with two semesters per school year. If you're interested, you can check out the school's FB page here. It looks good. I wonder if there's anyone reading this thread who lives in Guilin? Anyone have any experience with this school?

Thanks,

Shane

January 6, 2015 at 05:55 AM

Am I the only person who thinks this thread is a free ad for the CLI and Guilin Sunny School?

January 6, 2015 at 09:57 AM

Am I the only person who thinks this thread is a free ad for the CLI and Guilin Sunny School?

Angelina,

You are not the only one. I think so too--it's mentioned again and again ad nauseum in this thread--SIGH.

Umm...

If you're interested, you can check out [the school's FB page here]...

Why is only this one school getting mentioned? Why aren't other schools being mentioned?

Warm regards,

Chris Two Times

January 6, 2015 at 10:34 AM

Am I the only person who thinks this thread is a free ad for the CLI and Guilin Sunny School?

No.

Apart from the free advertising, I think Guilin (Yangshuo) is possibly the worst place in China to learn Chinese.

Apart from being full of foreigners who have been in China for two minutes, and too easy not to speak Chinese, it is also full of Chinese people wanting to speak English. Every "training school" for kids in Guangxi and beyond offers trips to Yangshuo for the kids to annoy foreigner - which their parents have to pay for, of course.

I live in the next city down the road and avoid the place.

I would also question the schools' legality, too.

January 6, 2015 at 02:52 PM

I can't see much of a problem here. A school has mentioned its services and those of another school, but it's done so transparently (rather than pretending to be a satisfied student, for example) and the OP has mentioned those schools a few times in a quest for more info. There's no indication that anyone is pretending to be someone they're not.

If you do see something you think is spam, it's appreciated if you use the post report button (bottom right on every post) to let us know. We keep a fairly close eye on stuff, particularly from new posters, but we're always happy to take another closer look. But often it can be a genuine poster who's trying to help, or (as I think in this case) who is trying to get opinions on a school and, appropriately, giving us the links so we can check it out. There's a pretty good chance you're going to discourage a genuine member from posting.

If you send in a post report and don't feel we deal with it properly, you can always go ahead and post anyway.

January 6, 2015 at 02:59 PM

I'm sorry if my mentioning specific schools, by name, is somehow taboo on this forum. I have absolutely no incentive to promote any particular school(s), as I am not associated with either of them in any way. I'm only looking for constructive advice to help me and my family plan our trip to China.

My most recent post was in response to @hedwards' suggestion that we have our daughter attend an online school while we're in China.

My reason for posting a link to the elementary school in Guilin's FB page was so that knowledgeable members of this forum might give their thoughts, good or bad, on the school. Most useful to me would be if we could find either foreign teachers who have taught at the school I mentioned or else parents who have sent/are sending their children to the school, who might have useful, constructive criticisms or praise for the school.

Since my daughter's originally from Guangxi, the schools in Guilin sound most interesting to me so far, but we're really still open to going anywhere in China to study. If any of the members of this forum have suggestions of cities and/or schools that you think might be better for us than the ones that've been mentioned already, we would love to receive your input.

@luizhou, I'm curious why you question the schools' legality???

Thanks,

Shane

January 7, 2015 at 02:33 AM

I'm only looking for constructive advice to help me and my family plan our trip to China.

There has been plenty of advice from people who were saying that they have personally witnessed how a non-Chinese student was being hated by her Chinese classmates because they all thought she was holding the class back. Also, locals think that the area around Guilin does not lack its share of scam school. You should be careful.

Also, you say that the ad-like post #42 is in response to the suggestion of hedwards to try an online school. However, you did not say what you think about this idea. Nothing. You only said that Guilin Sunny School is ~$1700/semester, while an online school is $3000/year. You didn't say what you think about how easy would it be for your kid to find playmates. Do you care more about promoting a particular school (or even asking for a review), than about what is best for your child?

It's either you are being slightly irresponsible (by ignoring advice from people who know more about China, parenting in China, and Guangxi province) or there is something fishy here. Since you claim that you have no incentive to promote any particular schools, I would say that you are being irresponsible. So, what do you think about the idea to move to Guangxi and try online schools?

January 7, 2015 at 06:36 AM

Guangxi Shane,

Do you have any plans to fly out beforehand for a reconnaissance mission?

January 7, 2015 at 02:24 PM

@luizhou, I'm curious why you question the schools' legality???

Very few private schools in Guilin/Yangshuo are legal. The local authorities turn blind eyes (get kickbacks?), but they remain illegal.

I'm not saying they all are, or that the one you mentioned is illegal, but I'd certainly question it and definitely check it out.

I'm just saying "be careful".

I do notice that their website is only about teaching English to Chinese kids. They don't give an address and their only contact phone number is a cell phone. Hmmm.

January 8, 2015 at 05:42 AM

and regarding CLI, to bump my post in #29 again when I asked CLI how exactly can they ....

"it is common for students to temporarily come to China on a tourist visa and then switch to a long-term (one-year) student visa"

I am not surprised that it was not answered!

January 8, 2015 at 08:46 AM

You might consider enrolling your children in an online school. And just have them learn the language when they're not in class. It may or may not be in your budget, but I've found one for about $3k per year. It looks reputable, and the price is probably in line with what they're offering. There are probably other options for accredited primary schools that cater to students from various parts of the world.

The main downside to this is that you'll need to find your children opportunities to play with other children and it won't help at all with their Chinese.

@hedwards, thanks for your suggestion.

If our daughter were older, say high school age, we would definitely consider enrolling her in some online courses, especially for subjects that my wife and I aren't qualified to teach her ourselves, like calculus, physics or French, but our daughter's only 6 years old. The academic stuff she's learning at school is pretty basic. We can easily teach her at home. Our primary reason for going to China is so that we can immerse ourselves in Chinese language and culture.

Shane

January 8, 2015 at 09:11 AM

Do you have any plans to fly out beforehand for a reconnaissance mission?

@Flickserve, The short answer is no . We're not planning on taking a trip to China before we go there to study Chinese.

Our reality here is probably somewhat different than most of the other people posting on this board. We have a dog, 2 cats, a bull, 10 cows, about 50 sheep and 100 chickens to take care of every day. Time wise, there's not that much work to do, but the animals need water and all have to be moved to fresh pasture every day. Also, we live off grid and have a solar hot water system, which is great, but it requires that someone who knows what he's doing at least takes a look at it every day. It's possible for us to go away on a trip, but we rarely do, because it requires that we impose on friends, neighbors or family to take care of our place for us, and for some reason, things always seem to go wrong while we're away...

Our plan is to, sometime in the next couple of years, sell everything and go travelling. We may go to Japan first, or maybe the U.S. Mainland and Europe to visit friends and family, on our way to China. My wife, daughter and I are all planning on studying at some language school somewhere in China. Currently, we're leaning towards going to the one in Guilin that's mentioned above. I won't say the name again . Based partly on the advice we've gotten from members of this board, we've scaled back our plans so that we're just going to sign up, initially, for a month of intensive Mandarin classes. That'll be our reconnaissance mission. If we like it, then we can sign up for another month and see how that goes. As we learn more Chinese and make contacts with local people, maybe we'll find an appropriate school where we can enroll our daughter so that she can be around other kids her age, which will hopefully accelerate her learning of the language and also be more fun for her than just hanging out with mom and dad.

Shane

January 8, 2015 at 10:04 AM

There has been plenty of advice from people who were saying that they have personally witnessed how a non-Chinese student was being hated by her Chinese classmates because they all thought she was holding the class back. Also, locals think that the area around Guilin does not lack its share of scam school. You should be careful.

Also, you say that the ad-like post #42 is in response to the suggestion of hedwards to try an online school. However, you did not say what you think about this idea. Nothing. You only said that Guilin Sunny School is ~$1700/semester, while an online school is $3000/year. You didn't say what you think about how easy would it be for your kid to find playmates. Do you care more about promoting a particular school (or even asking for a review), than about what is best for your child?

It's either you are being slightly irresponsible (by ignoring advice from people who know more about China, parenting in China, and Guangxi province) or there is something fishy here. Since you claim that you have no incentive to promote any particular schools, I would say that you are being irresponsible. So, what do you think about the idea to move to Guangxi and try online schools?

Hi Angelina, I'm sorry if I've said anything to upset you. If I did, please believe me that it wasn't intentional. Please don't be angry with me.

I'm appreciative of the advice you and others on this board have given me to help us prepare for our trip to China. I get the impression you think I'm ignoring everyone's advice, but really I'm not. Based on what I've learned here on Chinese-Forums and elsewhere, we've scaled back our initial plans pretty drastically from what they were in the beginning.

You're right. In post #42 I didn't reply directly to @hedwards suggestion that we have our daughter attend school online while we're in China. If you've been reading this thread, then you know that our primary reason for going to China is to study the language and be immersed in Chinese culture. As I've said above in the thread, my wife and I are more than qualified to teach our daughter any academic material she might be missing in 1st or 2nd grade at a U.S. school. Really, the only reason we're looking for a school for her to attend is so that she can have social interactions with other kids and learn Chinese. So, rather than saying to @hedwards, "No, we're not interested in having our daughter take online classes," instead I explained what we were planning on doing. I guess that's just my way. If possible, I always try to phrase things in a positive way rather than a negative way. Anyway, in post #52 I responded directly to @hedwards suggestion.

I'm sorry, but I can't see how post #42 can by construed as "ad like."??? It's true I've mentioned the names of two schools in Guilin a few times in this thread but only in an attempt to elicit feedback from others on the board. I've only ever been to Guangxi once in my life. That was in 2009 when my wife and I adopted our daughter in Nanning. We've never even been to Guilin before. I don't know anyone in Guilin, and my only knowledge of the two schools I've mentioned is what I've learned from looking at their websites and exchanging a couple of emails with their staffs.

Thanks again for your help Angelina.

Shane

January 8, 2015 at 10:22 AM

Why is only this one school getting mentioned? Why aren't other schools being mentioned?

Warm regards,

Chris Two Times

@Chris Two Times, The reason the two schools in Guilin are the only ones getting mentioned is that they are the only schools that have been suggested to us. I've searched around on the internet and looked at other language schools in China, and all the ones I've seen (Hutong School, 1to1Mandarinworkshop, etc...) state explicitly on their websites that they don't take kids under ~16 years old. If you have any good suggestions for us, we'd be happy to hear them from you.

Thanks,

Shane

January 8, 2015 at 11:23 AM

I'm sorry, but I can't see how post #42 can by construed as "ad like."???

[New Member A] I'm looking for a school in China that meets these requirements.

[New Member B] Hello, [New Member A], as it so happens my school has everything you need, why not give us a try?

[New Member A] Wow, [New Member B], that's exactly what I was looking for, what an amazing coincidence, btw everybody, here are some links and the facebook page of this school I'd totally never heard of before.

You'd be surprised how often this sort of things happen where [New Member A] and [New Member B] are one and the same person and/or working for the same company and the whole thing has just been a setup from the start. It's so common on Internet forums that people are generally very wary about this sort of thing and anything that looks even slightly suspicious.

January 9, 2015 at 03:12 AM

Our plan is to, sometime in the next couple of years, sell everything and go travelling. We may go to Japan first, or maybe the U.S. Mainland and Europe to visit friends and family, on our way to China. My wife, daughter and I are all planning on studying at some language school somewhere in China. Currently, we're leaning towards going to the one in Guilin that's mentioned above. I won't say the name again . Based partly on the advice we've gotten from members of this board, we've scaled back our plans so that we're just going to sign up, initially, for a month of intensive Mandarin classes. That'll be our reconnaissance mission. If we like it, then we can sign up for another month and see how that goes. As we learn more Chinese and make contacts with local people, maybe we'll find an appropriate school where we can enroll our daughter so that she can be around other kids her age, which will hopefully accelerate her learning of the language and also be more fun for her than just hanging out with mom and dad.

Sounds good to me. And you are pretty self sufficient as well - as a city boy, I am impressed.

After the experience of sujeto, people just want the best for you especially with a child to look after.

So long as you have a plan B (and plans can always change), prepared for culture shock, don't come in with airs and graces, are open minded (with a bit of street sense, of course:) ), willing to learn, what more can one ask for from a new arrival?

January 9, 2015 at 07:17 AM

Sounds good to me. And you are pretty self sufficient as well - as a city boy, I am impressed.

After the experience of sujeto, people just want the best for you especially with a child to look after.

So long as you have a plan B (and plans can always change), prepared for culture shock, don't come in with airs and graces, are open minded (with a bit of street sense, of course:) ), willing to learn, what more can one ask for from a new arrival?

Thanks Flickserve. I appreciate your positive words of encouragement. It's not the first time my wife and I have gone to a new country, where we didn't know anyone and didn't know the language. The only new thing this time will be that we'll have our daughter with us. Hopefully, whatever we end up doing in China, we'll be able to make it a positive experience for our daughter. Once we get to China, I'll be sure to post again here in this thread so that you and all of the other members who've helped us can hear how things turn out for us.

January 9, 2015 at 07:20 AM

[New Member A] I'm looking for a school in China that meets these requirements.
[New Member B] Hello, [New Member A], as it so happens my school has everything you need, why not give us a try?

[New Member A] Wow, [New Member B], that's exactly what I was looking for, what an amazing coincidence, btw everybody, here are some links and the facebook page of this school I'd totally never heard of before.

You'd be surprised how often this sort of things happen where [New Member A] and [New Member B] are one and the same person and/or working for the same company and the whole thing has just been a setup from the start. It's so common on Internet forums that people are generally very wary about this sort of thing and anything that looks even slightly suspicious.

That makes sense. I've never personally seen something like that on a discussion board, but I can easily see how it could happen.

January 13, 2015 at 05:04 AM

One more thing to consider. Because your daughter "looks Chinese" (because she is....), most/many/all Chinese will expect her to speak Chinese, and will look down on her / mock her / give her grief for not doing so. The fact that she hasn't lived in Chinese since she was 10 months old does not affect this reaction. They'll say they understand why, but it won't change their behavior.

Not saying you should change your plans because of this, but just be warned.

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