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Short Term Vs Long Term
19
May

To be quite honest I don’t think there’s much difference between the Long Term or the Short Term courses at BLCU. It’s hard to know for sure because I can only compare with what others have told me… But I can still remember thinking to myself: “I wish I was doing a short term course instead!” everytime I heard about the many activities the short term students had.

In brief, I think the short term course provides:

  • More flexibility
  • More freedom, time (unless you do the 30hr course)
  • More activities, excursions
  • More lenient teachers (can you even fail?)

I guess another way of describing the difference would be that:

  • The long term course felt like I was going to a school with international students but still with homework, assignments, exams, stress and more homework.
  • The short term course felt like a party/adventure with a bunch of people from all over the world.

Whether or not you learn more Chinese in the long term course or the short term course is really up to the individual though. I believe it’s a matter of will power, however the influence of peers can also make or break your progress… It’s pretty hard not to study when your peers fear failing the exams, and I’m sure I wouldn’t have gone to the cafe to study as often as I did if there was no incentive for me to pass each of the classes.

On the other hand, it isn’t rare to meet students who aren’t really students. They’re the ones who enroll, pay the fees, and never rock up to a class… I’m not exactly sure why they do that, but it happens.

For more details on start-end dates, costs etc download the Chinese Language Program 2009 here. Or you can have a look at the Beijing Language & Culture University website for international applicants.


Category: BLCU  Tags: ,  2 Comments
Worth going to BLCU?
18
April

I’ve received quite a few emails from readers about BLCU (Beijing Language and Culture University), and many people ask me about my exchange experience in Beijing… And then I got an email asking: “Was it worth it?” It wasn’t the first time, so I fell right into my automated response talking through rose-coloured glasses. But whilst writing a response, I had to stop when I realised that I wasn’t being objective enough.

Most people ask me about my experience in Beijing:
“Did you enjoy yourself?”
“Did you learn anything?”
“Would you go back?”
“Is it safe?”
etc.
And my automated response is a big “Yes!”, without a doubt I loved every moment I had in Beijing. From the smelly torrential rain, to the street vendors and even the kids pooping/peeing in public. There’s no doubt I have very fond (both good and bad) memories of Beijing and my student life at BLCU.

Now, back to the question at hand: “Is it worth going to BLCU?“
Well, if I look at the question objectively… there’s just no way for me to answer it because. First of all it depends on the expectations of what you want to get out of the experience, for example if I expected to speak like a pro Beijinger at the end of the trip versus expecting to meet all the wonderful people and learning about the differences in drinking cultures of other students. Secondly I (sadly) don’t have any student exchange experience to compare with.

What I can say is what other students have told me about their experiences and my personal observations…


Teaching

The teaching style in Beijing/China seems pretty standardized with slight variations depending on each teacher. The style, although standard to many of the Koreans and Japanese students attending classes as well, is definitely not what a western educated person like myself is used to.stress To be quite honest, during the short 6 months I spent studying at BLCU, it was probably the hardest I have ever studied in my lifetime.

A typical class at BLCU would consist of:

  • The teacher randomly calling students up to the front of the class to do dictation or write sentences on the board.
  • Everyone was expected to read the new chapter and be able to recite it at the end of class, sometimes even performing the dialogue in front of classmates.
  • 综合 zonghe (comprehension) taught us new chapters, new words, new gramma, new exercise and more homework.
  • During 口语 kouyu (speaking) we would take turns to tell the class a story
  • 朗读 Langdu (tones) involved reading and reciting famous literature slowly but very accurately (to the point we would be repeating the same tones over and over… and over again),
  • 听力 Tingli (listening) had us in a daze struggling to listen to recordings and attempting to answer questions which we couldn’t even understand.
  • Dear old 语法 yufa (gramma) bored us to tears with exercises like fill-in-the-blanks and crosswords.

Campus

In regards to the campus life, I’m quite sure many universities around Beijing and even China are all quite similar.

  • Attend classes with fellow international students
  • Socialise and explore with fellow international students
  • Eat with fellow international students
  • Get drunk with fellow international students
  • Sleep with fellow international students
  • Sleep at the dorms for international students

Okay I admit, I might be generalising a bit… I know that there are international students who befriend many local students (vice versa) and it’s not rare to see a local and foreigner couple together.

BLCU is actually the smaller university in the Wudaokou area so there’s a lot less students and amenities compared to the other universities (especially Peking and Tsinghua). The one time I went to Beida (Peking University) left me at awe at what an amazing campus it was. The buildings, Weiming lake, pagodas, bridges etc made you feel like you were in city of its own.

I have to admit that it was the massive Weiming lake in the middle of the Peking campus that caught my attention, but the traditional style of their campus buildings were also just as impressive. Beida is definitely the more elegant (almost regal-like) campus compared to BLCU.

Tsinghua on the other hand, although just as impressive as Beida, has a more modern/westernized style of buildings. I can’t say too much about Tsinghua, but like BLCU, it is much closer to the Wudaokou area and subway line (which in my opinion is a huge advantage over Peking campus).

Students

Wudaokou is well known as being the international students hangout, and regardless of which university (Peking, Tsinghua or BLCU) you attend, you will be surrounded by foreign students when in the area (refer to above: campus life).

It’s difficult to say what proportion of the population is foreign and from which country (the university website might have some statistics though). And from my experience, international students don’t interact much with local students (except the canteen) because class times are different and in different locations on BLCU campus.

At the end of the day, if I was to go back to Beijing to study again, BLCU would definitely be on the top of the list. What I like most about BLCU is that it’s extremely convenient because of the location (even if you have to walk a bit to get into Wudaokou), but mostly because the campus is quite small, you always end up seeing familiar faces and bumping into fellow students around campus (takes the edge off the loneliness if you don’t know anyone there).

It would also be pretty interesting to go to Peking or Tsinghua just to experience a different campus, and I’m quite sure that Peking and Tsinghua will be a little less ‘dodgy’ than BLCU because they seem to be a lot more established and are much larger institutions than BLCU.


So was it worth going to BLCU? Yeah definitely, I fulfilled my expectations and more! And the main reason for that was that I actively went out and made sure I fulfilled them (plus it helps not to have high expectations~).

Category: BLCU, Education, Reviews  Tags: , ,  10 Comments
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
It’s All About Balance
20
February

A friend emailed this to me and I just couldn’t help but smile giggle

It’s a great example of human nature in action, our need to feel superior to others by belittling anyone and everyone we can. Although I know there’s really not much difference between cities and even less between cities within the same country, I still can’t help find some humour in this…?

IT’S ALL ABOUT BALANCE

Once upon a time in the kingdom of Heaven, God went missing for six days.
Eventually, Michael the archangel found him on the seventh day, resting.
He enquired of God, “Where have you been?”

God pointed downwards through the clouds.
“Look Michael, look what I’ve made,” said God.

Archangel Michael looked puzzled and said, “What is it?”

“It’s a planet,” replied God, “and I’ve put life on it. I’m going to call it Earth and it’s going to be a great place of balance.”

“Balance?” inquired Michael, still confused.

God explained, pointing down to different parts of the earth,
“For example, North America will be a place of great opportunity and wealth while South America is going to be poor.The Middle East over there will be a hot spot and Russia will be a cold spot. Over there I’ve placed a continent of white people and here I’ve placed a continent of black people.”

God continued, pointing to different countries.
“This one will be extremely hot and arid and this one will be very cold and covered in ice.”

The archangel, impressed by God’s work, then pointed to another area land and asked, “What’s that?”

“Ah”, said God. “That’s Western Australia, the most glorious place on earth. There are beautiful people, impressive towns; it is the home of the world’s finest artists, musicians, writers, thinkers, explorers and sportspeople. The people from Western Australia are going to be modest, intelligent and humorous and they’re going to be found travelling the world. They’ll be extremely sociable, hard working and high achieving, and they will be known throughout the world as speakers of truth.”

Michael gasped in wonder and admiration but then exclaimed,
“What about balance God, you said there will be BALANCE!”

God replied sagely, “Wait till you see the wankers I’m putting on the East Coast”

Category: Education, Observations  Tags: ,  One Comment
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
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