This is a question I kept asking myself before applying for the Huayu Scholarship. Back then, no one could really help me, since I wasn't interested in the biggest schools. In the end, my choice probably wasn't the best, but I also didn't regret it. I would love to make a detailed ranking for many different criteria - if I could. But at least I can tell you about the criteria that I think are important to make a decision.
Before I go into details, I want to mention that it also depends on your luck (with your class). You might be in the best school with unmotivated classmates or maybe be in a rather boring school but your amazing classmates make your time in Taiwan awesome. The same goes with room mates, Taiwanese friends (or tandem partners), etc. So even if your choice is theoretically the best, there's still a chance that you're unlucky. In the end it's all a gamble. But don't worry, I will also talk about schools that are "the safest" and what you can do if you ended up in the "worst situation".
I selected 5 decision criteria: location in Taiwan, your Chinese level, environment of the school, courses offered, time management. The order doesn't represent the importance but simply the order in which I would consider the criteria. Depending on your person, some might be more important than others. While I searched for a school that seems "interesting" (and not necessarily best) for me, one of my classmates calculated exactly, where he would have the best deal money-wise.
1. City / Location in Taiwan
The basic choices are between north-central-south-east Taiwan and big-small city. (Small city doesn't always mean small university!) If you've been in Taiwan before, this choice might be easier for you. Just choose the region you like the best (or which one you still want to explore).
North: a bit colder climate (but still quite warm!), more people, more international, more to do. But you might be less exposed to Taiwanese culture and Chinese language. Also, it's pretty far from the South.
Central: Easy access to North and South Taiwan, especially from Taichung. Nice mix of bigger cities and exposure to Taiwanese culture. Excellent environment to practice Chinese. However, some might consider this area as boring. (I disagree though) Although the pollution is still a problem, but otherwise the weather is excellent. (mild winter, not terribly hot summer, not many typhoons)
South: The best area to be exposed to Taiwanese culture, especially Tainan. If you search for a more international environment, you can still have it at NCKU in Tainan or maybe in Kaohsiung. There's so much to explore in the South and some parts in East Taiwan aren't that far. The downside is that (except for Kaohsiung) you're pretty far from the bigger cities in the North and the weather can be terrible sometimes.
East: Probably the most beautiful area in Taiwan and almost no pollution. However, there isn't that much to explore (except for awesome landscape of course) and there aren't many schools. Depending on where you live, the North or South is not so difficult to access. Although the infrastructure isn't that good. Also, there will be many typhoons in summer.
Size
If you want the bigger cities, it will be probably a choice between Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung. While Taipei is the only city that has good infrastructure and is very international. If you don't want to go to the North, Taichung and Kaohsiung are also a good choice. (I feel Kaohsiung is more popular, however I still prefer Taichung)
The most popular smaller city is probably Tainan. It's still quite big when it comes to size though. But after living there for a while, you might understand why some Taiwanese people say that Tainan is "countryside". Other cities that might be worth to check out (personal opinion!): Pingtung, Taitung, Hualien, Taoyuan.
2. Your Chinese Level
I want to structure it by 3 levels: Beginner - Intermediate - Advanced (what a surprise!). But first, let me explain what I mean by each level.
Beginner: everything from zero to "ni hao"
[Yes, easy sentences are also considered as "beginner". But if you're at a higher beginner level, you might rather consider what I say about the intermediate level - especially if you stay for a year.]
In case of a total beginner, you don't need to worry about which school to choose. Every school usually has a beginner level and most of them would have at least 2 levels (half year of study in total). You could explore smaller areas with smaller schools and switch to a bigger school after half a year. Or maybe you're lucky and that school offers enough courses for a whole year.
The North might not be the best place to be exposed to Chinese, but on the other hand you don't have to worry about not being understood. In the end, you should clarify what your goal is. Experiencing Taiwan + Chinese language or bring your Chinese to the highest possible level. (Motivated beginners can reach a pretty decent Chinese level after half a year in Taiwan!)
Intermediate: Using simple Chinese on a daily basis
It's a quite tricky category, especially for those who stay longer. Generally, you should fit in most schools in bigger cities. From my experience, it also depends on the time of the year. In September, there's a chance that the higher levels aren't even available and the beginner levels are full. Around May, the choices should be bigger. Again, ask your desired language school about that.
Advanced: no big communication problems, reading basic texts
In that case, I would only choose the bigger schools. NCKU and NTNU are great schools when it comes to study program. I'm not familiar with other schools, but you might find smaller schools that have advanced level too. For example the Feng Chia University in Taichung sometimes offers advanced levels, although the classes might be super small. If you're in Taiwan for only a short time, you might have more choices. For those who stay for up to one year, again, I would recommend NCKU and NTNU, just to be on the safe side.
3. Surroundings / Environment
The 2 main categories would be international and traditional environment. This could apply to the school itself, but also to the whole city. Let me give you 3 examples:
- NTNU (Taipei): international school and city
- NCKU (Tainan): international school, traditional environment
- Any school in Taichung: school + city in between, but a bit more on the traditional side
This is important if you want to know how much you will be forced to speak Chinese. Again, this can be a bad thing, but also a good thing.
4. School program / Courses
Although all schools that are approved by the Ministry of Education have a pretty decent standard, there's still a huge difference in the courses they offer. I would say that there are 2 groups: intensive program and basic + elective courses. The second group might seem more interesting at first, but on the other hand it will take you longer to complete the units in the book. Especially if you have language exchange partners or use Chinese a lot in general - you might not make good use of the (for example) pronunciation elective course. I loved the electives from the advanced levels at NCKU. But on the other hand, my Chinese didn't improve that much. I got exposed to so much more, but the basis (the basic course) wasn't solid enough (although our teacher was excellent in explaining vocabulary).
5. Time Management
I listed this as the last big criteria, although I think that this super important when it comes to enjoying your stay in Taiwan. Some schools make you occupied the whole day (especially if they have the system with electives), at other schools you're free at noon. While having much free time sounds awesome, you might also ask yourself what exactly you want to do with that time. If you have awesome classmates who are also free in the afternoon (or whenever you have your free time), or a (Taiwanese) partner, or maybe just have enough things to do, then go for it. If not, you could end up being bored the whole afternoon, sometimes wishing the classes were longer.
6. Other criteria
There's a bunch of other things people might consider. They shouldn't have high importance, but might still be quite useful if you cannot decide between schools.
Price
Prices can vary a lot. Not to mention that Taipei is very expensive. If you don't want to spend much more than your scholarship, you might plan your stay carefully and/or avoid Taipei. Some people might be surprised when I say that it can be quite expensive to study at NCKU. Although Tainan is known to be super cheap (with excellent food), NCKU is a pretty expensive school, not to mention the dorms. But as always, you might find a strategy that makes your stay more affordable.
The best price-performance ratio I've seen so far is at Fengjia University in Taichung. They offer a lot, while the price stays quite decent. Also, Taichung isn't that expensive. (in general, but there's super expensive places too)
Public or Private school
This might sound like a weird point, but it might be a small but significant difference. Often private schools offer you a student ID and you can participate in many activities. From what I saw, public schools tend to exclude you a bit from the "campus life"? This might also just vary from school to school. Prices might also vary, although good schools are on the more expensive side in general.
Future university degree
You want to study at this university in the future? It would be perfect if they also had a good Chinese course, right? It's a good opportunity to meet people, check out the environment and maybe even helps you with your application in the future? Just be careful that you don't attach too much importance to this criteria. A good university doesn't always mean a good language centre. That's also why you shouldn't ask Taiwanese friends for recommendations (unless they have many foreign friends).
What are the "safest" schools in Taiwan?
If you read the whole text until here, you'll probably know my answer: NCKU and NTNU. If someone knows other good examples, please let me know! :)
The reason is simple: They're big schools and super popular. There's (almost) nothing that can go wrong. When you want to be on the safe side and look at the decision criteria I mentioned, you can probably say which one you want to choose. I mean, they're in totally different areas.
Worst case... what should I do?
First: don't panic (unfortunately that's what I did). The school doesn't offer much program, your classmates have other things to do and you don't have (many) contacts outside of school? Well, that's the situation I was in. And now I know how I could've changed this situation. I might write a separate post about this topic, but I try to summarise my thoughts for now. The most important message here is that you shouldn't be afraid of making the wrong choice, since there's more options than one might think.
1. Try to find out what situation you're in
Don't stress yourself. But if you notice that your situation might not be optimal, then you should start to think of alternatives. I want you to be fast, because the beginning of the academic year is usually where everything starts.
2. Find alternatives within your school
Student clubs, attend lectures (unofficially!), join some projects, find language exchange partners, etc.
3. Motivate your classmates
Some people might rather join you if you have good ideas (for activities). Try to find out what your classmates like and find common interests. Maybe you could sing KTV, go hiking, shopping, etc.
4. Build "groups"
Make a Facebook or Line group for your language centre (if it doesn't exist already). Go eat together from time to time, that's how you can get to know students from other classes better. You don't know people from other classes to begin with? Well, just go to their classroom and introduce your group. Usually teachers are happy to see that you're motivated. I know, it's hard to start. I gave up midway and regretted it afterwards. So don't make this mistake if you chose this strategy. You might find people with the same goals.
5. Find alternatives outside of school
I know some people who are experts in getting themselves busy with activities outside of school. They might be more proactive, or maybe just met the right people. Who knows... I'm not that familiar with all the possibilities, but let me list 2 of them:
- Taiwan Hostfamily Program: Excellent program, I can recommend it to everyone. Just apply to every event you can find and also try out the monthly application. I found a super awesome host family that way! try to search for both, host families in other regions, but also in your city. (I made the mistake to ignore those in my city...) This program is limited to students in Taiwan. BUT. Language students included! :) So as long as you're registered at a language centre, you can participate.
- WWOOF Taiwan: Maybe the more unusual option. It's a bit like a hostfamily program, but with a significant difference: you will help out on a farm. I like WWOOFing, since you never have to feel bad about staying at someone else's house because you help out with farm work. Important: it's not working but helping. Working in Taiwan is forbidden for "normal" language students, especially if you got the Huayu Scholarship. If your host violates this law, you should theoretically report them. But usually WWOOF hosts are aware of this and treat you totally different than their workers. Even if you might do the same work, you'll still notice a difference. Unfortunately the WWOOF Taiwan web site has a rather bad design, especially if you compare it to the Japanese one. But often you can Google the farm name and do your own research. Anyway, it's worth trying!
Example of some Schools I know
Taichung
Since I lived in Taichung, I heard quite some things about other schools too. But note that those informations are not from myself and I can't judge exactly. So please do your own research.
NCHU (National Chung Hsing University)
It's famous for its agriculture programs and also seems to be the best university in Taichung in general. But the language centre? Well... The problem is probably the structure and the organisation. There's almost no activities and no facilities for language students. The building itself isn't really favourable, the classrooms are uncomfortable and it's not really fun to hang out in the hallway. Not to mention that the language students are usually spread over the different floors... In my opinion this is a big issue and makes studying there less enjoyable. However, I have to praise the language classes themselves. It's an intensive course with 3 hours a day. Instead of just walking through the textbooks, teachers try to add more to their courses. The quality of the course totally depends on the teacher and on the students. If everyone is motivated and fast, then you'll make huge progress in a short time. The people in the office were super nice and helped me out a lot. The classes are in the morning and you're free for the whole day after noon. Again, this factor can be good or bad, it depends on your interests.
Feng Chia University
It seems to be the school with the best price-performance ratio in Taiwan. Unfortunately that's all I know about that school. But I recommend to check their website, it's pretty detailed. The campus is rather small but looks nice. It's next to Taichung's famous night market. However, a friend once told me that the classes at NCHU are better and not so slow. But they still seem to include language students a lot into their school activities. So maybe still the better place for people new to Taichung? They have a big list of electives, but unfortunately due to lack of students they can't offer them all each term.
Tunghai University
Super huge campus with a small cow farm. (fresh milk products <3) Next to a night market and I think I once heard that it's a more foreigner friendly school but can't say for sure. The information on the website seems promising, however they don't say how many levels are really available and how many electives they really offer. Also, I don't know anyone who's been there before. But maybe it's an awesome school? Unfortunately it's quite far from the city centre.
Others
There's also the National Taichung University of Education and the Providence University. I didn't hear much about them, but it seems like they're more suited for beginners. But don't take my words for granted, if you want to try out one of those schools, please contact their office first. I heard that the National Taichung University of Education also offers more intensive courses. So maybe good for motivated beginners?
Recommended
NCKU (National Cheng Kung University) - Tainan
When it comes to quality, it's an excellent school and beats my previous one. However I personally didn't enjoy my time there as much as I though I would. But in the end I still had a great time. This school offers everything language students want - including a nice environment.
The only negative aspect is that contacting their office can be a challenge. I don't know if they're just too busy or if they don't do their job well, but for an excellent school like this it is a big disappointment. Pro tip: don't give up and send E-Mails until they answer.
Some people (including me) find their Chinese level placement (test) system ridiculous. But usually it doesn't affect the experience too much and this could probably happen at any school.
It's a great school. They offer a lot. They have up to 9 Levels (2 years and 3 months of study) and for the 9th level, topics vary each season, so it can be repeated multiple times. Each term there's at least one trip and one contest, depending on the time of the year they also have events corresponding to Taiwanese culture.
They offer many elective classes, although the ones for more advanced levels are much more interesting. There's also cultural courses like Chinese painting. Sometimes they even have a course for Taiwanese language. Heavily recommended!
NCKU has the normal program, affordable individual classes (including the electives) and intensive summer courses. There's something for everyone, I would say.
NTNU (National Taiwan Normal University) - Taipei
I've never been there and can't tell you detailed information. But since it's said to have the best language centre in Taiwan, I feel I have to mention it. It's also the origin of the textbooks used in all Taiwan. If you want a language centre with excellent reputation, do your research, it might be the best fit for you!
No comments:
Post a Comment