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Sourigaijin
Joined: 17 May 2014
Posts: 23
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 Posted: Wed May 21, 2014 7:05 am Post subject: Homestay in China |
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| Hello, everyone. I have been following the China forum for several months now but this is my first time to post. I will soon be going to China for the first time to teach at a kids' training school in Dalian. I have been studying Chinese on my own for a couple of months now and will enroll in a Chinese language school soon after I arrive in Dalian. I am thinking I might like to try total immersion into Chinese language, culture, and daily life, so I am considering looking for a nice family to homestay with. Has anyone here ever done this? What are your opinions and/or experiences? By the way, I have previously done homestays in a few other countries and for the most part had positive experiences. |
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fat_chris
Joined: 10 Sep 2003
Posts: 3198
Location: Beijing
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| Posted: Wed May 21, 2014 7:11 am Post subject: Re: Homestay in China |
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| Sourigaijin wrote: |
| Hello, everyone. I have been following the China forum for several months now but this is my first time to post. I will soon be going to China for the first time to teach at a kids' training school in Dalian. I have been studying Chinese on my own for a couple of months now and will enroll in a Chinese language school soon after I arrive in Dalian. I am thinking I might like to try total immersion into Chinese language, culture, and daily life, so I am considering looking for a nice family to homestay with. Has anyone here ever done this? What are your opinions and/or experiences? By the way, I have previously done homestays in a few other countries and for the most part had positive experiences. |
Could be good, could be otherwise. My personal opinion is that it could be otherwise.
Look out for the host family that wants a ferriner in their house in order to get round-the-clock in-house English practice and free help for their Little Wang with his English homework. That would put a monkeywrench in your total immersion plan.
I am thinking of creating my own little "total immersion plan" for next year: full-time language study coupled with a "no English" policy--well, as little as possible. My total immersion program will not include a homestay with a family, instead, it will simply be pounding the pavement day in and day out and talking with as many people as possible in Chinese only. That should do it.
Warm regards,
fat_chris |
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Sourigaijin
Joined: 17 May 2014
Posts: 23
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| Posted: Wed May 21, 2014 7:27 am Post subject: |
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Hi Fat_Chris, thank you for your thoughtful reply. I had already kind of considered the possibilities that you have raised. My thought is that I would like to find a nice family who speaks no English or very little English, and go into the situation with the express understanding that I am there to speak Chinese in the home, not English. I certainly wouldn't mind helping the child or children with their English homework to a reasonable extent, as I do want to be a part of the family and make a contribution. I am thinking maybe working out a deal that I tutor the kid(s) X hours per week in English in exchange for living with them and being part of the family.
Thanks again! |
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Shroob
Joined: 02 Aug 2010
Posts: 1339
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| Posted: Wed May 21, 2014 7:57 am Post subject: |
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As well as being careful for being roped into 24/7 English teacher, you should also be careful in choosing where you go.
A large proportion of families will not speak mandarin at home, rather they will speak a local language. You should pick somewhere that has mandarin (putonghua) as the local language. |
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Sourigaijin
Joined: 17 May 2014
Posts: 23
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| Posted: Wed May 21, 2014 8:08 am Post subject: |
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Hello, Schroob. Thank you for that. I will be living in Dalian. I wonder if people commonly speak more-or-less standard Mandarin in Dalian. I guess I need to make sure that I find a family that actually speaks standard Mandarin in the home.
Speaking of Dalian, I have been doing some reading, and it seems like it's a pretty nice place. I cant't wait to get there! |
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thebroformerlyknownaschou
Joined: 09 May 2014
Posts: 96
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| Posted: Wed May 21, 2014 8:16 am Post subject: Re: Homestay in China |
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| Sourigaijin wrote: |
..... I will soon be going to China for the first time to teach....
........I might like to try total immersion into Chinese language, culture, and daily life, so I am considering looking for a nice family to homestay with.....
.....I have previously done homestays in a few other countries...... |
short answer: no!
long answer: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
this is a really bad idea. super-bad. (and not in a funky-80's way.)
you really want to work full time with young children, then come home to
a tiny bedroom in a cramped apartment.......no privacy, no personal space,
no chance to be alone, nowhere to work, no quiet zone, constantly
being harassed for "shu-shu to jiang yingyewe with little yang-yang?"
you'll be signing up for a year of pure hell. just don't do it. you'll have
plenty of opportunities to immerse yourself. do a year first. if you
survive, then consider the homestay.
p.s. those other countries were nothing like china! |
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rogerwilco
Joined: 10 Jun 2010
Posts: 1549
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| Posted: Wed May 21, 2014 8:56 am Post subject: |
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Just ask anyone that has agreed to a "language exchange" of Chinese and English. The agreement is typically 30 minutes of English practice, and 30 minutes of Chinese practice.
In my experience, the Chinese person wants to be "clever" and have most, or all, of the time spent practicing English.
I agree with some of the others that you will probably lose all free time and privacy.
Many Chinese households can also be very noisy. No sleeping early at night or late in the morning for you ! |
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NoBillyNO
Joined: 11 Jun 2012
Posts: 1762
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| Posted: Wed May 21, 2014 9:10 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| I would like to find a nice family who speaks no English or very little English, and go into the situation with the express understanding that I am there to speak Chinese in the home, not English. |
I think u may not find that with an exchange home stay program....and some have a specific requirement to match u with a home that has offspring of equal age. The need to be licensed and registered with the local uni's...the main complaint I have heard is they expect you to act like one of the family .. as to coming in earlier than you may expect....visitors .. overnight ..... meds when ur sick .. and it is not cheap... better to just go to school and live in a dorm... |
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fat_chris
Joined: 10 Sep 2003
Posts: 3198
Location: Beijing
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| Posted: Wed May 21, 2014 9:12 am Post subject: |
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| rogerwilco wrote: |
| Just ask anyone that has agreed to a "language exchange" of Chinese and English. The agreement is typically 30 minutes of English practice, and 30 minutes of Chinese practice. In my experience, the Chinese person wants to be "clever" and have most, or all, of the time spent practicing English. |
Seconded.
That has been my experience as well. I never enter into the language exchange agreement plans (schemes), at least not in China. I did do one in New York City and that actually worked out quite well for me.
Why should one have to enter into such an agreement and give 50% English (and as rogerwilco alluded to, most likely, 75% or more English) when one can simply wander around the city and have loads of conversations with every Tong, Ding, and Har-ree at 100% Chinese and 0% English? Boom!
fat_chris, Super Genius!
    
Warm regards,
fat_chris |
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fat_chris
Joined: 10 Sep 2003
Posts: 3198
Location: Beijing
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| Posted: Wed May 21, 2014 9:13 am Post subject: |
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| NoBillyNO wrote: |
| better to just go to school and live in a dorm... |
Also seconded.
Warm regards,
fat_chris |
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Bud Powell
Joined: 11 Jul 2013
Posts: 1736
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| Posted: Wed May 21, 2014 9:13 am Post subject: |
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Access to shower when needed? Western toilet...? Food when you're hungry? An occasional beer at home?
Give it a second thought. |
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fat_chris
Joined: 10 Sep 2003
Posts: 3198
Location: Beijing
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| Posted: Wed May 21, 2014 9:15 am Post subject: |
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| Sourigaijin wrote: |
| I will be living in Dalian. I wonder if people commonly speak more-or-less standard Mandarin in Dalian. I guess I need to make sure that I find a family that actually speaks standard Mandarin in the home. |
I spent a summer studying at Dalian University of Foreign Languages. That was waaaaaaay back in 2001. I enjoyed the experience and I quite liked Dalian.
The people in Dalian spoke very clear Mandarin. Granted that was 13 years ago, but I think that hasn't changed since then.
That was nice for me because I spent a year slogging it out in Sichuan and wading through their local dialect. As soon as I got to Dalian, it was as if the cotton was pulled out of my ears and I could understand people much more clearly.
Warm regards,
fat_chris |
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Toast
Joined: 08 Jun 2013
Posts: 428
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| Posted: Wed May 21, 2014 9:32 am Post subject: Re: Homestay in China |
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| Sourigaijin wrote: |
| Hello, everyone. I have been following the China forum for several months now but this is my first time to post. I will soon be going to China for the first time to teach at a kids' training school in Dalian. I have been studying Chinese on my own for a couple of months now and will enroll in a Chinese language school soon after I arrive in Dalian. I am thinking I might like to try total immersion into Chinese language, culture, and daily life, so I am considering looking for a nice family to homestay with. Has anyone here ever done this? What are your opinions and/or experiences? By the way, I have previously done homestays in a few other countries and for the most part had positive experiences. |
New job, new students, new country, new food, new friends, new environment. I'd *personally* prefer to settle in a little more gradually than to jump 100% in the deep end into the full blown Chinese experience. Take a few months, see if you like how things are panning out and then add the homestay thing into the mix. Granted Dalian is one of the more civilized parts of the China, but this country *can* be full on at times. You may hate it, and be thankful for the bulk of your free time alone. Come first and get the lay of the land then do what you want to do. |
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Shroob
Joined: 02 Aug 2010
Posts: 1339
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| Posted: Wed May 21, 2014 9:35 am Post subject: |
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| The consensus seems to be...don't to it! |
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fat_chris
Joined: 10 Sep 2003
Posts: 3198
Location: Beijing
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| Posted: Wed May 21, 2014 9:42 am Post subject: Re: Homestay in China |
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| Toast wrote: |
| New job, new students, new country, new food, new friends, new environment. I'd *personally* prefer to settle in a little more gradually than to jump 100% in the deep end into the full blown Chinese experience. Take a few months, see if you like how things are panning out and then add the homestay thing into the mix. Granted Dalian is one of the more civilized parts of the China, but this country *can* be full on at times. You may hate it, and be thankful for the bulk of your free time alone. Come first and get the lay of the land then do what you want to do. |
+1 and seconded.
Shizzam! Toast nails it yet again. He is wielding quite the hammer these days.
Seriously--the above could be considered to be the post of the week--definitely the gold standard when it comes to advice when coming to a new country--better to ease in and take incremental steps rather than dive in 100% into the deep end of a pool that may or may not have any water in it.
Hammer Toast Time!
I personally am not a fan of the homestay experience. When I came to China in 2000 with the Peace Corps, I first had to endure ten weeks of training before I "swore in" as a new Volunteer. My group was the last group that got to live together with other Peace Corps trainees in a spartan dormitory (two to a room) at the teachers college where we were hosted during the summer training.
In 2001 Peace Corps changed it up and required trainees to live with a host family during the duration of their training. They've been doing that ever since; I am glad that I got to do the training experience by having a bit of my own space at the dormitory--I don't envy the cats that go homestay stylee.
Heck, Peace Corps training is rough enough (to contradict my above about easing in), at least I had some downtime in the evening to decompress--I'm not sure one would be able to get that in a homestay situation with a Chinese family in their apartment.
I am a huge fan of getting the downtime/me time for a bit of decompression here in Our China. It does the body good and really can help one clutch onto whatever strands of sanity one has remaining.
Just my 两角。
Warm regards,
fat_chris |
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