Language Program that starts in the afternoon

[Maqqie]

Hello. I am currently studying chinese at SISU (Shanghai International Studies University) and am scheduled to finish at the end of this year. I would like to continue to study for another year but I don't like how the classes at SISU start so early (classes start at 8am). I know this is common practice in China (as compared to western countries which start their classes later in the day) but are there any good universities that offer a 1 year chinese language program that start their classes say in the late morning or in the afternoon?

My friend recommended Shanghai Normal University, but their website doesn't state the time at which classes start everyday.

Thanks in advance,

Maqqie

[imron]

but are there any good universities that offer a 1 year chinese language program that start their classes say in the late morning or in the afternoon?

No.

[Maqqie]

Any in Beijing? I am happy to go there too if need be. I really hate getting up so early in the morning.

[roddy]

No problem, ECNU apparently starts at a much more civilized hour.

So apart from the cruel and unusual scheduling, how are the classes at SISU?

[rezaf]

There are classes at our university that start at 6 am so consider yourself lucky.

[jbradfor]

as compared to western countries which start their classes later in the day

When I took Intensive Chinese at UCB they started at 8:00 AM. My grad school (in the USA) started classes at 7:30.

[Maqqie]

Thanks for the reply roddy but from that thread you linked, it appears classes at ECNU start at 8:30am, still a bit too early for me. I am hoping to be able to attend classes that start at 11:00am at the earliest because I am hoping to take next year's studies at a more leisurely pace (since i'll probably be starting work in 2013 so I want to treat 2012 as a bit of a holiday as well).

Studies are going well at SISU . We just finished our end of semester exams and I got my results certificate too so i'll be moving up to intermediate 1 next semester. Made lots of friends too (who all can't speak fluent english so we speak in mandarin all the time. Definitely benefits my spoken chinese a lot).

[Maqqie]

thanks for the replies rezaf and brad. 6am... gosh I would probably skip half of those classes...

In Australia (where I am from) the earliest university class I ever had, started at 10am but most (for me) started at 12pm. However even if classes did start at 8am, i'd been much more willing to attend them because they'd be for my main degree, as opposed to the chinese language studies I am doing in Shanghai, which are purely additions to my primary degree.

[xiaohouzi]

When I was studying at Tsinghua last year students had a choice of morning (8-12) or afternoon (~1-5) classes. The course was very well ran and the teaching was excellent.

[imron]

It gets light at 4.30am in the morning anyway, so just pretend 4.30am is really 6.30am, 8am is really 10am etc. That's really the only way it's going to work. In fact, if you keep your watch on Melbourne time, everything will just work nicely

You could probably find a private school that fits your schedule, but if you're looking for a university, you're pretty much going to be out of luck.

[anonymoose]

You're unlikely to find anything that starts around 11am, since people in Shanghai, at least, seem to break up for lunch at about 11.30am.

Shanghai Jiaotong University has classes that start both in the morning and in the afternoon, but how many morning starts and afternoon starts you get depends on which level you get put into. I'm not sure how much flexibility you have to choose classes.