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Language Partners and Tutors
06
April

A very common and useful way of improving your spoken Chinese (汉语) is to have a language partner (also known as tandem partner) or a private tutor. I only thought about language partners when I was studying at BLCU because that seemed to be the norm, but language partners can actually be really good if you can find the right one.

There’s generally two reasons people go to BLCU:

  1. Study and learn the language and culture
  2. Cheap food, cheap booze, cheap shopping and party

For those who really want to work on their Chinese, it won’t take you long to realise that hanging out with international students who speak English (or Russian or Korean or whatever language other than Chinese) is not quite effective. This is why most real students will have a language partner (tandem partner)

Definition: Language Partner

Language partners are individuals who are (preferably) native speakers in which they can help you improve your verbal skills in their language. In exchange you will help them improve their verbal skills in your native language. (tandem partners, 互相朋友)

Definition: Private Tutor

Private Tutors are individuals who help aid and teach you in a topic (Chinese) in exchange for money.


Finding a Language Partner/Tutor

Language Partners can be really good if you can find the right one, and unfortunately that’s the main issue I had with them. I found it a bit harder (and when I say harder, I mean that I actually had to put some effort in) to get a language partner because I look Asian. The local Chinese will walk up and approach Caucasians because they prefer Americans or those from UK (to copy the accents). In my case, my roommate introduced me to a local friend she met in her tai chi class.

The best way to find a language partner or private tutor is by asking your teacher. Hopefully your teacher also teaches local students, if not, they would probably know of another teacher which does. Your teacher would also hopefully know of some new/student teachers who are looking for side jobs. From my understanding, many of the younger teachers don’t get paid much, and so they tutor for some extra cash.

And another option would be to advertise for a language partner or private tutor. There are pin-up boards at some language schools in Wudaokou, and even the classified section of The Beijinger which could be easily utilised. There’s also the option of attending a nearby language school instead of private tutoring, but I would personally rather have a one on one session… it’s not that expensive (forgot how much it cost…. ~50RMB/hr?)

What to expect with a Language Partner/Tutor

A private tutor is pretty straightforward; you get exactly what you paid for: a person who will tutor you. But a language partner should be two individuals who get along to some degree. In my opinion, you should be able to call your language partner a ‘friend’ and go on social outings and excursions together, this way you can actually learn words which are relevant to day to day life. But some language partners do one-on-one sessions where you spend 1hr teaching them and then they spend the next hours teaching you.

The funny thing about language partners is that it really highlights the cultural differences between nationalities. I didn’t really notice any differences beforehand because of the minimal interaction with the local students, and the local Chinese I did meet were quite typical.

You just need to keep in mind the differences in social interaction… The easiest way for me to describe a typical local Chinese student in a social situation is to use the analogy of the shy fat kid who suffers from verbal diarrhoea and/or foot-in-mouth when put under pressure.

Don’t get me wrong, not all the locals are socially stunted, there’s just seems to be a higher prevalence of them around international student hangouts? Or maybe I was just unlucky? Either way, you need to watch out for dodgy language partners (especially if you’re female) because it seems to be a common occurrence to use the ‘language partner’ excuse to pick up and/or hit on international students.

The arrangement I had with my language partner was 1hr teaching, 1hr learning. I actually wanted a more ‘hands on’ approach (ie going on learning excursions), but my partner didn’t understand the concept. And it was because of the very rigid class-room approach (although I had more fun in class) which had me very tired of the sessions with her very fast. I was already doing 25hrs of classes a week, at least 1hr a day for homework (yes I actually did it!), and I didn’t feel the need to kill my brain with another 2hr session once or twice a week.

To my language partner’s credit, she really helped me improve my tones (you could actually hear the difference after the first session). And if I was more dedicated in being accurate with my tones rather than improving my vocab, I might have actually appreciated her a lot more.


Conclusion

Language partners and private tutors will help you improve your spoken Chinese, but at the same time you shouldn’t be disappointed with the lack of effectiveness if you don’t find the right language partner for you.

I also want to add that I personally found it more effective to befriend those whom can only communicate with you in Chinese. This way it’ll force you to slowly struggle through conversations and improve your Chinese.

Example 1: Roommate

My roommate, although she’s an international student, didn’t know any English and I can honestly say that she was a huge contributing factor to my improvement of vocabulary. Our simple daily conversations usually ended with both of us flipping through the dictionary trying to work out what the other was saying.

Example 2: Classmates

Classmates are probably the best ones to talk to because you’re all on the same level and it’s a good opportunity to get know them. By the end of your course, you’ll find that you’ve made some life long friends. The bad thing about speaking with classmates is that it’s very easy to slip into English because many of the international students know some English or are learning it as well.

Example 3: Locals

I accidentally befriended a local Chinese storekeeper when I was at BLCU, she works at the Wudaokou Clothing Market 五道口服装市场 and we had some really interesting conversations where she would tell me things and I would only grasp about 60% of what she said. It was a real challenge to chat to her beyond the basics because of my limited vocabulary, but it was very satisfying when you finally understand what was said. Another plus was that I didn’t even have to bargain for the clothes in her stall =D

Category: BLCU  Tags: , , , ,  3 Comments
Wudaokou – BLCU Area Map
22
January

I decided to point out some of the key places in and around Wudaokou – BLCU area. This is a “cheatsheet” to places which I regularly went to around the Wudaokou – BLCU area. They’re the typical places which you would discover yourself given time, but I would have loved it if someone told me about these places earlier!

Note: a lot of shops closed down and a lot of new ones opened up so not everything might be applicable.


Shopping in Wudaokou – BLCU

Lotus Center

Directions: Walk down Chengfulu towards Wudaokou, it’s opposite Maccas (McDonald). Large supermarket/shopping center.

Wudaokou Clothing Market

Directions: Walk east, past China Post and the Chaoshifa to the junction of Chengfulu and Xueyuanlu traffic lights (where macca’s is). Walk south and cross at the overpass and continue down until you reach a stretch of little food shalls and a dodgy looking building.

Buying DVDs

If you’re sick of CCTV, you can get your hands on a lot of foreign movies and series for cheap.

Location:

  • There’s a deli/store set up next to the BLCU canteen, it’s at the base of the stairs which lead up to the food court and restaurant area. They sell a other knick knacks and snacks as well.
  • XiJiao Hotel Recreation building on the top floor has good quality DVDs for a couple of kuai more. Their series can go to about 160RMB or more.
  • Street Vendors also have a box or bag of DVDs, usually found around subway stations or street markets

Price: I forget exactly how much it costs, I think a single DVD is 5-8RMB and a series is about 15-20RMB. Longer series / box sets costs much more, around 160RMB and more (depending on how many dvds there are).

Quality: The DVD quality from the guys at the stairs range from ‘camera in cinema’ quality to dvd-rips. The shop at XiJiao Hotel is very good quality dvd-rip, but a few might be tv-sync.

Refund/Exchange: If the dvd doesn’t work, I take it back to the shop and exchange it. I never refunded them, and I doubt it’s possible.

I found the ones in Dalian slightly cheaper and had better quality than the ones I found in Beijing.

Eating on BLCU Campus

Canteen

Found next to the BLCU Bookstore, the Canteen takes up the ground floor of the building where all the students flock to during lunchtimes. The canteen only opens during certain times of the day, generally during meal times.

You can only purchase food here with a card which you have to buy (sorry I forget where you buy it from), and this card can be used upstairs as well. I didn’t really check if it’s true, but I’ve been told that it’s cheaper (by a few kuai) to eat downstairs…

Just remember that you pay for the items which you want instead of a once off payment. Generally 2 items and a block of rice (yes, it really is a block) is enough.

Food Court, Japanese, Chinese, Korean Restaurant and Cafe

I don’t know if there’s actually a name for this place, but it’s located upstairs of the Canteen. This is probably where most of the international students eat.

There’s a pretty nice Japanese Restaurant upstairs of the little deli which sells dvds. It’s across from the cafe and there a Chinese ‘Restaurant’ next to the Japanese Restaurant and Cafe and between this Chinese ‘Restaurant’ and the Canteen is a Korean Restaurant.

Muslim Restaurant

Don’t actually know the names of these places, but the Muslim Restaurant is joined to the Canteen building found closer to the Basketball courts. Everyone loves this place and the food here is great, you can’t go wrong with the meat sticks and bread.

But note that sometimes there’s more fat/tendon/cartilage than meat, bring tissues. Oh yeah, the bowls are for you to drink from.

Lush/Pyro

Upstairs the bookstore on the corner of Chengfulu at the traffic lights, opposite KFC. American owned, hangout. Very similar to Pyro.

Pancake stalls

These can be found everywhere throughout Beijing. It’s a delicious meal on the go, especially in winter, and costs only a few kuai. It’ll cost more if you want to add stuff to it, or if you’re in a tourist hotspot.


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Wudaokou Area
02
January

The university area which BLCU (Beijing Language and Culture University) is located centers around Wudaokou in the Haidian district. I’m not going to go into any details about Wudaokou in this post since I’m sure there’s been a whole lot of changes since I was last there. But because Wudaokou makes up a significant part of the BLCU experience, I think it’s necessary to touch on.

Wudaokou Cinemas

Arriving in any foreign country for the very first time can be quite traumatic, especially in a massive city like Beijing. Lucky for me, someone was there to greet me and show me the ropes. I’m sure I would have been okay (though extremely anxious) without a guide, but having a personal guide (or a guide book) dramatically cuts down on confusing conversations, frustration and getting lost.

Contrary to my belief that I would breeze by with my dodgy Chinese, it takes some time before you can get used to the Beijing accents, and fine-tune your own pronunciations enough for the Beijing locals to understand you. After you have this under control, I found that most of the locals will be quite helpful if you only ask (although I found that a lot of them lack the knowledge in general).

Wudaokou Shopping Complex

BLCU itself is in a fantastic location (NB. all these estimated times are relative to Dorm 4)

  • 20-25min walk to Zhongguanchun (electronic market)
  • 20min to Lotus Center (shopping complex)
  • 15min walk to Wudaokou (relative to traffic lights where KFC is)
  • 10-15min walk to Wudaokou Clothing Market
  • 10-15min walk to Wudaokou train/subway station (to get around the rest of Beijing)
  • 10min walk to Chaoshifa (supermarket)
  • 5-10min walk to Cinema and (new shopping complex)
  • 5min to the Hospital/Health clinic and Post office

Wudaokou is like a mini city center because of the large number of primary schools, high schools, universities and apartment blocks around the area. There are usually street vendors along the main street but if there are cops around, they’re likely to be in ‘hiding’ (standing on the streets with a suspicious bulk of goods covered in cloth).

The shops tend to open around 9am and close around 10:30pm. They are usually by the roadside, but some can also be easily missed due to unlikely locations or dodgy looking hutongs or alleyways.

It’s extremely easy to shop around Wudaokou, and it’s impossible to starve with all those restaurants, cafes, bars, stalls, vendors etc. There’s really good authentic range of restaurants in Wudaokou which mainly cater to International and Korean students, but there’s also quite a few nice Chinese and local restaurants around.

The best way to get a good idea of where everything in Wudaokou is, as well as many other districts in Beijing, is to get your hands on the Haidian district map which can be found in September 2007 issue of That’s Beijing…. err… obviously that might be a bit hard to find now, and unfortunately I gave ALL my maps away before I scanned it.

I can’t be sure if it’s still there but I got the Haidian District Map and That’s Beijing Magazine from Isshin Japanese Restaurant (refer to image on the left for directions). I strongly recommend you get your hands on the magazine regardless of whether there’s a map in it because the magazine itself is a great resource!

Also, Isshin is a really nice Japanese restaurant to eat at! =P

There’s a lot more to Wudaokou which I won’t go into, but thankfully I found a pretty good post which lists quite a lot of stuff/places in the Wu at beijing-visitor.com


PS. Check back soon, I’m writing another post on Wudaokou – BLCU Area Map

Category: BLCU, Travelling in China  Tags: , ,  3 Comments
BLCU Dorms
12
December

Please visit:

BLCU Accommodation Rates if you want to have an idea of the cost of BLCU Dorms

BLCU Accommodation – Scholarship Students if you are a scholarship student

BLCU accommodation, dorm 4 When preparing to go to BLCU, TJ and I did a quick check over which dorm buildings were good or at least were decent to stay in. It didn’t take long for us to work out that Dorm 17 is the most popular and most difficult to book, one of our classmates stayed at Dorm 17 only because he booked and paid it the semester before. [Note: cost of accommodation in each dorm varies]

Booking Dorms

The actual process of booking the dorm room involve:

  1. Calling up BLCU
  2. Explaining it to someone (in Mandarin)
  3. Making a payment (1 month)
  4. Showing them your proof of payment when you get there

I did it the ‘easier’ way by just rocking up and asking for a room. It seems like it’s a lot more like a first come first serve basis because they’ll always say they’re “fully booked” but somehow magically find a room when needed.


Dorm 17

These are the pros of Dorm 17 from my experience. Please take into account that I never actually stayed in dorm building 17

  • It’s newer (clean)
  • The fuyuans are nicer
  • It’s “off campus”
  • The rooms are bigger (questionable)
  • Closer to Wudaokou and train station
  • Private gate keepers
  • Buzzing with international students

BLCU accommodation, dorm 4The downside of Dorm 17 would be that it’s the dorm furtherest away from Building 1 (the main study building), this means waking up extra early in the mornings to get to class or even buying a bike (highly recommended). I also question the rumour that Dorm 17 has bigger rooms because I discovered some super-huge dorm rooms in dorm building 4 (I snuck peeks while walking past open doors).

TJ and I were tossing up between Dorm 4 and Dorm 6, near the basketball courts. TJ arrived at BLCU before me and had settled in Dorm 4, so when I got there I checked out one of Dorm 4’s rooms, and decided to check out one of the rooms in Dorm 6 too. The major downside was that Dorm 6 didn’t have elevators.

Beijing Insight Smart Guide

Apartments

BLCU Dorm Building 4 Before my final decision, I went around checking out the apartments nearby (some of which also do not have elevators). There were apartments still under renovation, rooms for rent, people looking for an extra roommate etc. My conclusion was that living off-campus would not be beneficial for someone staying short term (up to 6 months), so I went back to Dorm 4. By that time, a lot more international students had arrived and the available rooms in the building was running out fast!

At first, I didn’t understand why they always get you to check out the room before you agree to move in, but it didn’t take long for me to realise that EVERY room I went to was DIFFERENT. Most of the rooms are standard in size (sorry, I never took a photo), with bathroom/toilet in each room. TJ had a smaller room compared to mine because hers had a balcony (the balcony can be useful for laundry), but some other friends didn’t even have a balcony like TJ or the extra space I had.

I didn’t think the rooms at Dorm 17 were bigger than compared to my dorm room though, and I’m sure that there are bigger rooms than the one I had… You just need to know which ones they are!

Dorm 4

Pros of Dorm 4

BLCU accommodation, dorm 4 - Uploaded with the Flock Browser - http://www.flock.com

  • Very central (convenient)
  • Hope internet café/restaurant downstairs (you can leech off it in the stairwell on the 1st & 2nd floor, sometimes the 3rd floor)
  • They don’t lock the doors when it’s past curfew
  • Some of the fuyuans are nice
  • Newly installed security cameras
  • Buzzing with international students

On a side note, the “24” on the ‘Hope’ sign doesn’t mean 24hrs a day! They’ll stay open for as long as people are there, but sometimes close quite early (1-2am).

BLCU accommodation, dorm 4 The furniture found in each room is the same: wardrobe, 2 study tables, 2 beds, mini fridge and TV. I like the fact that there’s a lock on the wardrobe as well as the drawer of the study table. But don’t expect all furniture to be functioning 100%.

Dorm 8

And last of all, I just want to mention that I had a look at the single (单人) room in Dorm 8. Just seeing the room made me glad that I was in a shared room because it’s very small, and the room looks very lonely. But of course, there are downsides of a shared dorm too (bad roommate, no privacy etc).


P.S. If you decide to stay in Dorm Building 4, try and avoid the first floor!! There’s a rumour that there was a death in one of those rooms at the beginning of 2007. BLCU Dorm 4 elevators

P.P.S. Beware, the elevators can jam up. You might not want to stay on the top floors, I was on the 3rd floor which seemed to be low enough to use the stairs when the elevators were off or out of function.

P.P.P.S. Scholarship students are put into Dorm 1 or 2… That means communal showers and toilets (squatting toilets)! O_O visit BLCU Accommodation – Scholarship Students for more information.

Category: BLCU, Education, Reviews  Tags: ,  33 Comments
BLCU Campus Map
06
July

One of the things I wished I had when I went to BLCU was a better map of BLCU campus and the area surrounding BLCU (as well as the rest of Beijing!). When arriving on campus, it would be nice to actually know where you need to go to get things done because the process of actually getting anything done takes AGES sometimes. This blog post is dedicated to a few basic things I think would have been useful for those new to BLCU and the Wudaokou area.

First of all I need to put in a quick disclaimer: Please keep in mind that this post is based on my experience of studying as a student at BLCU during September 2007 to January 2008, there is constant construction going around in Beijing and buildings may be constructed or disappear overnight!

The map that BLCU sends out to students is correct but it can also be very easy to misinterpret because some buildings are out of shape, out of proportion and you have no idea where to get your basic supplies!

    Basic knowledge about BLCU:

  • BLCU = 语言大学 Yuyan Daxue. Some locals and students might call it “Beiyu” but it’s not as common.
  • Beida = 北京大学 Beijing University. This is NOT Beijing Normal or another university with ‘Beijing’ in it.
  • Ditie Daxue is opposite BLCU.
  • Wudaokou is an area buzzing with shops, restaurants, cafes, apartments, and basically flourishes from the many many students in the area. Considered the University area because it’s near Beida, Tsinghua and BLCU.
  • It takes about 10mins to walk from Dorm 4 in BLCU to Wudaokou (KFC traffic lights)

One of the most useful things you should know is the two road names which BLCU is located: “Chengfu Lu” and “Xueyuan Lu“. This comes in handy when you’re drunk off your face from another night out at Sunlitun (or Propaganda) and you were unlucky enough to find the one taxi driver who doesn’t know where “Yuyan Daxue” is.


Here’s the basic map of the BLCU campus I made using Google Maps.

KEY:
Green Lines: Outlines the BLCU campus
Red Dots: The main gates which you enter or leave the campus
Yellow Lines: The main roads which BLCU is located on
OrangeDots: Indicate where you can find an ATM or Bank
Blue Dots: The more important buildings you would want to know on your first day of arrival

I never actually explored the entire campus, I didn’t really think it was that interesting…. But I must admit that it is pretty important to know where you can go to find help, the bank and ATMs, the internet for your dorm room, food, shopping etc. It’s not too difficult though, I usually just stumbled across places or a classmate would let me know, and the worst case scenario would be to just ask for directions.

It isn’t too difficult to exchange currencies at the Bank of China on BLCU campus but when I went there, they wouldn’t take $AUD for some stupid reason!! (Click on the image on the left for labels of the OrangeDots). The Buildings highlighted with Blue dots are probably the most useful ones, and it’s just good to have an idea of where they all are.

The Friendship Store near the Basketball Courts is your BLCU on campus One-Stop -Shop! Cernet is the name of the BLCU internet shop where you can apply for internet connection for your dorm. BLCU has it’s own tiny Post Office near Cernet but there is also a huge one next to the Chaoshifa. (Click on the image below for labels of Blue dots)

The Chaoshifa is a the local supermarket (ie Coles, Woolworths) to stock up on supplies in your mini fridge. But keep in mind that you need to carry your shopping bags all the way to the South Gate and it takes a good 5 minutes to get there. The other buildings are just good landmarks and I pin-pointed Dorm 17 because it’s technically “off campus” and Dorm 4 because it’s the main dorm for international students.

Having any sort of map will be a blessing, TRUST ME!! I’ve lost count of the times TJ and I were fighting with the map of Beijing to work out where the heck we were and how the heck to get to where we wanted!

Here is a quick video I took of BLCU after exams finished (that’s why there isn’t many people around)


I still have quite a few BLCU related posts to blog about (I have it in my head but it’s just not typed up yet), and I’m in the process of breaking up my post on my trip to the Harbin Ice Festival, so remember to check back soon =)

Category: BLCU, Education, Travelling in China  Tags: ,  8 Comments
Flushing Toilet in China
12
December

There’s a notice on my dorm building (the main dorm for international students at BLCU) that told us that we won’t be having any HOT water for a week from 8am-6pm.

This is quite alright with me since I like having late showers anyway, but when I went to turn on the hot water (during the set time period), a stream of ugly brown sewer-like water came out!!! So, to my horror, I had to make do with an unsatisfying FREEZING COLD shower – and can I just add that it’s currently WINTER here and I’ve never experience below zero Celcius until now.

I suppose I should be happy it’s the HOT water that they’re fixing up and not the COLD water. It was already bad enough the last time we didn’t have cold water because that meant we didn’t actually have any flushing toilet water! I only discovered this fact when we had used up all the stored water in the toilet…

For those who may come across this problem, you might want to consider the following for flushing toilets:

  1. Fill a large container (a medium sized pot will suffice) with water (assuming they only blocked the hot or cold water). If you don’t have either and you’re desperate, use drinking water.
  2. Lift up the toilet seat to optimise the target area.
  3. Position the container about 30cm from the toilet rim.
  4. Pour in ALL the water at once into the toilet bowl. It’s important that there is a decent amount of water poured in all at once and also at a decent but steady speed to create the ‘flushing’ effect.
  5. If the nasty stuff is still there, increase the amount of water and repeat with increased speed.
  6. If it still doesn’t work, fill the toilet tank manually and then FLUSH!
  7. If all else fails, call in a Fuyuan and bug the hell out of them until the toilet is fixed!

P.S. The toilet service man usually only comes in the evenings around 4pm. If your toilet was blocked the night before, you might want to consider hiding out in the many cafes around the Wudaokou area.

P.P.S. And please remember, learn from other peoples’ mistakes, no flushing toilet paper down china toilets (especially the ones with the sign). The toilet WILL clog!! (Squat Toilet Troubles)

Toilet

Let’s hope this dirty hot water incident is a once off. I might have to borrow someone else’s shower if it isn’t fixed!!

Category: BLCU, Education, Travelling in China  Tags: ,  3 Comments
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