Hi everyone. I'm wanting to come and study in yunnan around September this year. Right now I have HSK 3.
So far the best school I have been able to find seems to be Huayang academy learnchineseinyunnan.com.
So my questions are what is the best school in yunnan for price and small class size.
Also I am really torn between living in Kunming or Dali.
Any information would be great.
Thanks :)
Josh
The main names you see you here are Keats, Huayang, and another I can't recall. They are all much of a muchness. Remember that they all pretty much have the same business model, and they all compete with each other, so that their prices and class sizes will be similar. If you have already studied Chinese you will probably have a preference for teaching style. It might be worth explaining your ideal, or what you prefer not to have, then you may get information from a recent student.
One other thing to consider is cost of living, and style of living. It helps if you can rent somewhere convenient to the school at an affordable price.
Dali Vs Kunming is a wider question. One key thing to consider is that Dali no longer has much of the quiet mountain city vibe. It is now a quaint but fully blown tourist
town. With all of the modern trappings of bijou stores and even some high end retail. Lots of crowds all year round. You are more likely to locals see you as a tourist (cash cow) than a novelty (also can get annoying).
Kunming is much more of a modern city and has become more international in the years I have been here. It is a bit like Shanghai was 15 years ago.
One final note, this has been discussed a lot on this site over the last few years. A search would help a lot. The search engine on this site is not ideal, try a google search using the following text
site:gokunming.com subject
The subject being your search term, e.g. 'huayang'
The one tiger can't recall is perhaps Kunming College of Eastern Languages, KCEL. They may or may not be cheaper now than Keats, but I've studied there and at Keats and I think Keats is a mite better, but this was all some years ago. I don't know anything about Huayang.
There are also courses at Yunnan U. and at Yunnan Shifandaxue.
Dali is a very beautiful place. Kunming has much more going on. One thing to keep in mind is that it only takes two hours by high speed train to get from one to the other.
So from what Ive read Keets seems to be the prefered school. One thing I dont like though is how much theya re charging for their rooms 2500 a month seems a bit overpriced to me. Currently living in Hakiou. Rent here is only around 1200 per month for a fully furnished room all utilities and private bathroom. Is the school overcharging for this. Maybe its better to find a hostel to live in for the 4 moths I am there. Does anyone know about keets living arrangements. Or how to find a cheap non permanent apartment in the area for no more than 1500 per month
You can rent a three bedroom flat here for 2500. Rooms for about 1000 probably.
You can find a shared flat for around 1000 per month on AirBNB, Tujia or any other website of your preference.
I've seen Keats, Huayang and Robert's school and found that for me, it really boils down to the individual teacher. I can't really say that the school has much of an influence here.
Robert's was a little run down, so I wasn't satisfied with hygiene there. Huayang is really new and nice, but until the new subway station opens next year it's a little inconvenient to reach. So I'd probably recommend KEATS, although it might be a bit more expensive than the other two.
Hi Josh,
If you need anything please contact us at Huayang we can help you out with apartments or bank cards etc. you can come in and meet us for a coffee to see what you need
thanks,
:D
Just a note josh we are running a 3 week summer course, if you want to join and check out our school
Hello! I am looking for colleges in Kunming licensed to accept foreign students under 18 years old (2 or 3 years pre-university programs) Can you recommend some?
