I'd like to know what types of problems a new student encounters when arriving in a new country, what kind help would he be looking for?
Would a student association be useful?
Please be specific in the different sections: accommodation, schooling/tutoring, counseling, events/trips.
The idea is to create an association for my University that would create good conditions for exchange students.
thank you for your help.
去别的国家留学很不容易何况言语说得不流利,所以我想知道当你们到了时遇到什么困难？应该希望有怎么样的帮助。
这是为了开创一个留学生部, 谢谢你们的帮助。
Having an interpreter is very helpful. Helping them set up a bank account, taobao account, etc.
That's a very good idea rui rui! For new students, they speak little to no Chinese, probably read zero Chinese and don't understand the local culture. From this you should be able to figure out...
Accommodation - they don't know what is out there, how to look for what is out there or understand what is required in terms of contract terms etc. So they need help with basically everything, particularly the finding accommodation part. Usually in the west it is almost done exclusively online with quite a high level of trust and very few scams, quite different in to China. So having someone to help them look for a house, agree terms and most importantly negotiate with the landlord especially over price (almost never done in the west) is critical. Also the setting up of services, water/power/internet are key. If a Chinese student is able to help a foreign student to do these things, it will be an excellent basis for the Chinese student to then be able to practice English too as well as possibly extending into friendship (and maybe romance!).
After accommodation is sorted, they may wish to look for furniture, another difficulty when you don't know where to look or how to negotiate!
Simple things are important too. Where to buy every day food, simple things like ordering mi xian or simple rice dishes. Where the local supermarkets and markets are, basic language instructions over numbers and how they are said locally (as often foreigners are talked to in Yunnan Hua, making the "shi" and "si" indecipherable for newbies!). All are vitally important for day to day existence!
As I haven't been a student here, I can't comment on the trips/counselling/tutoring. But fitting into a social group is also very important, both for their learning and mental health. So having students offer friendship is also very important.
As has been mentioned, definitely help with finding reasonably priced accommodation. Most ads that are written in English ( on this site for example ) are way above average rental prices, so some help looking on Chinese websites is a must. My school gave me no help whatsoever when I was searching for an apartment, so this would be great for new students.
It's also important to provide your service in languages that most new foreigners in China will manage to understand. These could include Spanish, Arabic, French, English, Japanese, Korean, Russian...
Maybe need a directory of local toilets lol
