Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

I liked the way the course was structured with 4 hours of classes in the mornings and a one-on-one session in the afternoon. The level I was in was easy in the beginning but I think that helped boost my confidence in speaking and allowed me to get even more out of the small group lessons. There were also office hours once a week which was a great time to practice talking with different teachers.

On-site administration of your program

The overall administration was decent. The resident advisors were available and willing to answer questions about places to go on weekends and in the afternoon during the week. There were about 80 students from American universities and many of them had Chinese roommates who were also great friends and helpful in adapting to life in China.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

The rooms were great. The neighborhood was safe and had many shops right outside which was convenient for snacks. However, it seemed like quite a trek in order to get out to the popular sites such as the Forbidden City etc. This was probably due to the fact that the train stop by the school was closed the summer we were there. So, we had to walk about 20 minutes to the next stop.

The program provided lunch every day which was good and had a decent amount of variety. There were shops outside where we could get breakfast and dinner but I usually just bought things at the grocery store to eat for breakfast.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

There was a 3 day trip in the middle of the program where students could pick between going to Nuanquan near Yuxian (around 4 hours outside of Beijing) or Dalian (a coastal city). I chose Nuanquan because I wanted to experience life in rural China. It was definitely interesting but I wish we could have actually stayed in the village instead of a hotel in Yuxian. There was also a day trip to the Mutianyu part of the Great Wall and another village called Cuandixia. There were a couple of performances of minority group's music which I enjoyed and we had the option to participate in one of three activities: ping pong, calligraphy, and wushu. I did calligraphy because I like art. It was a very small class but that meant we each got more attention. Throughout the summer we used practice paper to write the phrases he taught us but on the last day, we got to write them on the white paper that we could hang on the wall when we got home. I really enjoyed being able to explore the city and found that that was one of the best ways to learn how to use Chinese. It also helped that my friends were in levels above me so I learned a lot from them when we went out. One negative experience for me personally was that I was not satisfied with my Chinese roommate because she was not as engaging as some of the others and did not go on any of the outings with me because she was in cram school and had classes all day. Though, I still learned things from her when I had questions about homework and I did get to talk a lot to my friends' roommates.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

I felt Beijing was a very safe city. A couple of my friends and I were in Houhai late one night and thought that the train had stopped running so we ended up walking about 30-40 minutes back to campus.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

I loved their method of teaching with large group and small group classes in the morning and then one on one in the afternoon. At first, I was intimidated by the idea of having a one-on-one class but I definitely wished the sessions were longer. It was a great way to practice the grammar and vocabulary as well as learn new vocabulary that was relevant to my particular interests.