Summer Classes at Bincai, Harbin

[9Benua]

Hi guys, I've browsing this forum and learn about bincai. It seems it's a good value. I'm planning to learn mandarin for this summer. I'll be free from mid may to end of august. I have very limited mandarin so I'll be starting from the basic. Reasonably, what should I expect from 3 months of study? I'll be willing to hire tutor to help me outside school to maximize my learning. Is there any cram schedule on bincai?

[g1izmo]

Hey 9Benua,

Im also thinking about Bincai (this summer) because it seems very good value for money + small classes (max. + they help you with VISA application + they provide affordable housing.

Information about Bincai is quite limited interms of peoples experiences at the school. Im not aware of any cram schedules but Bincai offer daily one to ones with Chinese students instead of you having to pay for a 1-2 session. But why pay more for extra private lessons when you cant yet string basic sentences together? Private classes are way more fun after youve developed a basic word bank so are able to make your self understand (minus the grammatical errors). Your afternoons and money after the 4 hour morning session would be more well spent learning new words and characters because only after youve developed a basic vocabulary bank can you start practicing to talk.

Dont expect miracles, after 3 months you can expect to be able to read and write about 300 characters and have very basic exchanges with chinese speakers AT BEST. If your serious about speaking chinese hit the characters now! and opt for home stay during your 3 months in China.

Also check out Kunming College of Eastern Languages, they have similar prices.

r