On the Wrong Side of the Songjiang, Harbin

[china-j]

My wife and I have been here in Harbin since August teaching oral English on the NORTH side of the river at Heilongjiang Institute of Science and Technology. Now that we have an idea of how things "generally" work around here, I'm wanting to start taking some Chinese language classes, but there are a few issues.

1) My classes are M-F 1030-1315, while my wife's are (currently) Th-Fr from 830-1000. The problem posed here is we don't know what extra non-english major classes she may get here in the next week or two, and if/when she does, what the schedule will be like.

2) I am on the north side of the river, which as you Harbiners know, is currently frozen but also basically puts me out in the middle of nowhere. Even taking the local ferry across can be an hour long ordeal, depending on if you have to wait for the ferry or not.

3) I have a 22 month old son and another one on the way (due in June), so it's not like I can just go to Chinese class whenever I want. Gotta have at least ONE pair of eyes on the kid.

Soooo... just looking at the forums and what I've seen/found, the Bin Cai school from a COST perspective seems good, just not sure time-wise if it will be my best bet. I've also seen someone post about the Chao-en school, although the only website I've found is in Korean (not very helpful to this English only person here... and they have a lot of characters in pictures only, not text, so of course no translating web page can handle those). There was one other one... Zhao-something, but haven't seen much else on here about it.

Anyone have any ideas or help to the following questions, then:

1) Anyone know anything about the Chao-en school? Webpage? etc.?

2) Anyone know of a language school on the NORTH side of the river?

3) Anyone familiar with the general scheduling guidelines of the schools? That's going to be my biggest limitation, I'm sure... trying to work the classes around my schedule?

4) Would it, in your opinion, just be better to try and find someone here at my school (teacher that is) who could tutor me? And what would be a good going rate for it?

5) Any other help, clues, ideas?

My wife and I are planning on being here long term (at least till the oldest kid hits 10-12 years old), and we really enjoy Harbin so far. Only thing we are disappointed in is, again, not being able to get onto the other side of the river very often and really enjoying the city. This side is basically residential, and is so "new," that there aren't many sight-seeing opportunities, other than Sun Island and that are over there. Thanks in advance!

[nevins]

Hello China-J

i' m a harbiner, i'll give you some advice then!

1.i don't konwn about Chao-en school , mybe it's wrong spelling !

2 in th north side of river, there is not any language school! because it's suburban in Harbin

3, your school to South of river there have some bus but need to transfer in Gong LU da QIao bus stop! may be take you one and a half hours to the language school you know!

[pancake]

1) Anyone know anything about the Chao-en school? Webpage? etc.?

Sure, I went there for a few months. It's in the same general area as HIT and Bincai, not sure how convenient it will be for you to go there. I have a business card somewhere with the exact address if you're interested. The sign outside of the school just says "Chao-en" (in Hangul) and "Good Language and Culture School" in English.

2) Anyone know of a language school on the NORTH side of the river?

Sorry, can't help you there. But these guys are based closer to the river, near the Shangri-La hotel. Should save you some commuting time if you opt for it, though pricewise it's in a different league than Bincai/Chao-en.

I know of at least one university north of the river. Maybe it would be worth seeing if they offer mandarin at a suitable level? But of course, scheduling-wise a university possibly isn't the best option.

3) Anyone familiar with the general scheduling guidelines of the schools? That's going to be my biggest limitation, I'm sure... trying to work the classes around my schedule?

Mandarin Workshop (link above) are very flexible, you could even have classes on weekends if you wanted.

4) Would it, in your opinion, just be better to try and find someone here at my school (teacher that is) who could tutor me? And what would be a good going rate for it?

I don't know about this. You can get some random university kid for very cheap, but will s/he really be able to teach you? Could be a bit hit and miss, I think.

I personally use Mandarin Workshop to supplement the HIT lessons. I think they are just great, though at 70 RMB/hour they had better be. My teacher is certified and a 北大 graduate. More importantly, he is really passionate about Mandarin and speaks passable English which does come in handy since my Chinese isn't particularly functional yet.

[Haerbinren]

yes all the bus transfer from north side of river to south side is at GONG LU DA QIAO(the bridge with only road), not the other bridge that is made of steel and made by Japanese during WWII and have only train track on it. the end of the Gong Lu Da Qiao looks like a pair of scissors, we used to call that bridge ''Scissors Bridge''.

i wish i could tutor u chinese, i live by the river too, but now i live in the US and only go back to visit once in a while. welcome to Harbin!

[Lu]

I've never lived or studied in Harbin, and am unfamiliar with the situation, but your description makes me wonder if many of your issues can't be solved by moving to south of the river. Or is that not an option for your family?