Winter 2006 Bootcamp

DETAILS:

Our winter 2006 bootcamp was held during the Chinese new year between late Fanuary and early February.

Total Participants: 13
Nationalities: 7
Beginners: 9
Intermediate: 4

SUMMARY:

Overall, we can rate our winter2006 intensive Chinese bootcamp as a success. Our participants, whose age ranged from 19 to 63 were from all over the world and with various occupations and interest. Two of our participants flew in all the way from the United States just to attend take part in our program.

We had planned to be in our usual mountain resort and headed there on the due date. Once up in the mountain, it was obvious that things were not as they were supposed to be. One of the buildings had issues with frozen water pipes while the other had issues with small heating units that were not powerful enough to keep the place warm. It was cold! At that point, we felt that the name "bootcamp" was extremely appropriate.

To the participants' credit, they handled the cold like champions for a couple of days but it was clear that the conditions were just not appropriate to study. It's hard enough to learn Chinese but it's almost impossible to do when you're bones are frozen. We deemed it essential to move the camp to a more appropriate location. After a late night conference, we organized for the whole group to move into a hotel closer to Shijiazhuang city for the duration of the camp and re-organized our schedule/curriculum to fit the new plans. Once the accommodations were taken care of, everyone was able to relax and concentrate on their studies.

TESTIMONIALS:

I came to China to learn to speak Chinese. After 6 months I found I had learned a few basic words and phrases but I was not progressing as quickly as I had hoped. When I saw the website advertising the Chinese Language Bootcamp it sounded pretty good, but I'm a sceptic! A friend who had been on a previous Bootcamp recommended it strongly and said that one of the most valuable things he got from it was a structure for continuing the learning after the course was finished. I did the beginners course in Jan/Feb '06 and I certainly got what I wanted. The Instructors are wonderful, helpful and great teachers. The course content was challenging and interesting. The learning environment is supportive but requires some hard work and focus. I certainly made some huge improvements on the course and better yet, since then my Chinese language skills have been improving rapidly. I'm going back to do the next level in August '06. Hope to see you there...

Dave Hadley, Harbin. China. April 2006

PICTURES

Here are a few takes from the winter 2006; Click the thumbnail for a better picture.

The Teachers	studying hard	more homework	concentration...	Level 1 Class
Doing Homework	graduation toast	studying opens up the appetite!!!!	Meal Time	Group photo