Public Service Announcement

[boris.yeltsin]

I'm attending Bei Shi Da now for their summer language program and did a brief homestay, so if anyone has any questions feel free to PM me. Overall my experience is pretty iffy, but not necessarily the fault of anyone but mine. Bei Shi Da is pretty different from what most people said on these boards. I can't say it isn't worth it though.

[roddy]

Actually, just ask and answer in public, so that more people can get the benefit of the information.

[enceeno]

"Overall my experience is pretty iffy, but not necessarily the fault of anyone but mine"

Boris,

What do you mean by this statement? I will be going to BNU sept...are there things you can warn me about...or advice or suggestions to make it less iffy?

Thanks for your help

[boris.yeltsin]

I can answer questions about BNU but questions about homestays will have to be PM - I read these forums before I came here and saw one or two other people say the same thing and I couldn't understand why they would have to be so secretive about it, but now I understand!

I can only speak for the summer program which apparently is much different from the school year. In general it's a lot less "serious" than what I've heard about the school year program, in terms of both the students and teachers. Now, I'm not saying this is what *I* think per se, but the more studious among us have the impression that many students here are of the "daddy paid for me to come here so I'm gonna have fun and party all night and not go to class" ilk. These people don't bother me though.

Teaching quality varies but in general is ok, if you are ok with the teaching-out-of-the-book method. There is definitely many opportunities to practice dialogue in class, but don't expect that fancy schmancy creative stuff that non-Chinese teachers use, like taking students to the market or having you do show-and-tell in class. It is definitely better than what I would expect from a graduate student TA, which is who I hear BeiDa and other schools use to teach their classes. A classmate of mine told me that for the school year his teacher actually recommended BLCU over BNU.

The California, Princeton in Beijing, and other programs are completely separate - they get their own dorm, own teachers, have classes in different buildings, etc. There is very little interaction between the two. So if you're going to BNU through one of those programs, your experience will probably be completely different from mine. But again, this could be different during the school year. But the students in those programs definitely seem more serious than my current classmates, probably because they get actual tests and credit for their summer work.

Speaking of which, I forgot to mention that besides the occasional tingxie, we don't get any tests, homework, or grades for this summer class. There might be one or two teachers who do, but most don't. They don't take attendance either.

[Jamoldo]

no tests and all that? sounds very different from what the school year would be like. I am sure for one to study at BNU he or she would have to be a self starter and by going to China on our own, its evident that many of us probably self starters...

Programs like IUP and Princeton had better be more serious, students there are paying some serious money to go to them. I hear both are very intense, but that you learn quite a bit of language. However, its not too social and one cant really explore Beijing, the town or the culture. Like all things, good for some, not for others.

[roddy]

Now, I'm not saying this is what *I* think per se, but the more studious among us have the impression that many students here are of the "daddy paid for me to come here so I'm gonna have fun and party all night and not go to class" ilk. These people don't bother me though.

That doesn't surprise me too much - I'm quite often on or around the BNU campus, and the foreign student population over the summer is certainly a lot more loud, young and western than it is the rest of the year. It's a pretty common thing to see though - I've seen the same thing in ESL schools in the UK, where long-term Japanese and South American students got fed up with Spanish and Italian teenagers turning up for a few weeks and disrupting their schedules.