CLI: Chinese Immersion Program in Guilin, China

Translated by Go Overseas:

My name is Feifei. This is my fourth time to come to cli to learn Chinese.
I really like the environment and people of cli because they welcome me. I feel that my Chinese level is really getting better and I will learn a lot of new words and grammatical structures every day. I came to cli this time and they took the initiative to have a weekend event - Longsheng. Longsheng is a picturesque place, and I really like the feeling of calmness and comfort that it brings to my heart. I also like Guilin rice noodles. I always add more meat because it costs fifteen dollars, and the pork is crisp and fat. I also like my teachers very much, because I have many opportunities to discuss interesting topics in class.

This time I learned a new textbook. This textbook is about the hot topics of the current society and the phenomena of modern attention and the influence of these phenomena and topics. The title of my first text is ‘‘See’ If You Are the One, know the modern concept of marriage and love’. This article is about the theme of the discussion, the modern Chinese fast-food marriage and love phenomenon, that is, the Chinese people's concept of marriage and love. The Chinese concept of marriage and love is more traditional than foreigners. They are very concerned about the inheritance of family and culture, so getting married and having children is very important for them. On the contrary, many Westerners do not pay much attention to traditional family structure and family heritage. Chinese girls are looking for a partner who wants to 'have a car and a house, and both parents are dead.'

The second lesson is about the social hotspots of "women's rights protection". Because 'male and female inequality' is a social problem that has existed since ancient times, so the slogan of equality between men and women has been called for many years, but the problem remains presence. In today's society, gender discrimination is still very serious in some cases, and this kind of discrimination infects people's language and is reflected in various social phenomena. The good news is that modern women's awareness of rights protection is gradually increasing, and their efforts have sounded the alarm of gender morality to society.

My room in cli is also very cool and very warm. There is a bed in the room, a matching table and chairs bench, hot water, air conditioning, and a complimentary laundry and drying service. The place that I like most and satisfied is the switch next to the bed. This is because I am very afraid of going to bed in the dark. I think there will always be horrible ghosts in the dark! So overall, cli gives me a feeling of going home,

Finally, I really like this perfect place!

Original Review:

我叫飞飞，这次是我第四次来cli学中文。
我非常喜欢cli的环境和人，因为他们都很欢迎我。我觉得我的中文水平真的日趋提高，每天都会学很多新的生词和语法结构。我这次来cli也去了他们主动地一个周末活动-龙胜。龙胜是一个·风景如画的地方，我非常喜欢它带给我内心的那种平静欣慰的感觉。我也很喜欢桂林米粉，总是会加更多肉因为值十五块钱，而且猪肉又脆又肥。我也很喜欢我的老师们，因为我在课上有很多机会讨论有意思的话题。

这次我学了一个新的课本，这个课本是关于当下社会的热点话题和现代受人关注的现象以及这些现象和话题带给人们的影响。我第一个课文的题目是‘’看‘非诚勿扰’知现代婚恋观‘。这篇文章说的是讨论的主题是，现代中国人快餐式婚恋现象，即当下中国人的婚恋观。中国人的婚恋观相比外国人而言，是比较传统的。他们非常注重家庭和文化的传承，所以结婚和生孩子对他们来说是非常重要的事情。相反的，很多西方人不太重视传统的家庭结构和家庭传承。中国女生寻找伴侣是，想要‘有车有房、父母双亡’。

第二篇课文是就“女性维权”的社会热点问题而展开的，因为‘男女不平等’是从古至今一直存在的社会问题，所以男女平等的口号已经喊了很多年了，但是如今问题依然存在。当今的社会，在某些情况下性别歧视还非常严重，而这种歧视侵染了人们的语言，也反映在各种社会现象中。可喜的是现代女性的维权意识正在逐渐增强，而她们的努力向社会敲响了性别道德的警钟。

我在cli的房间也挺酷，很温馨。房间里有床，有配套的桌椅板凳，有热水，有空调，以及提供免费的洗衣干衣服务。最令我喜欢和满意的地方是床旁边的开关。这是因为我非常害怕在黑暗情况下摸黑上床睡觉。我觉得黑暗中总会有恐怖的鬼神！所以整体而言，cli给我一种回家的感觉，

最后，我很喜欢这个十全十美的地方！

I had the most incredible time at CLI. It's an amazing community of learners and explorers across many countries, backgrounds, and ages. I so enjoyed learning alongside folks from ages 16 to 60+; it made for a dynamic community and so many interesting conversations. CI has really developed something special in its community; the teachers, interns, and other staff are kind, helpful, fun, an deeply invested in your success. If you push yourself to fully integrate into the program and truly take advantage of all the many in-language cultural opportunities they offer, your growth will be exponential. By the time I left, I felt I had developed true and deep friendships with the Chinese faculty and my homestay parents. Throughout my time, I participated in classes on Chinese traditional watercolor painting, paper cutting, cooking, tea, and more, and I went on two of the overnight weekend trips. The trips were an incredible way to bond with other students and the participating staff, and also to experience some beautiful and oftentimes more remote areas that you might not know how to find on your own. I highly recommend participating in as many activities as possible - they'll only enhance your stay.

I can't speak highly enough of my teachers - they were inspirational in their dedication to me and their dedication to the craft of teaching Chinese. I encourage you to take every opportunity to get to know your teachers outside of class - I made baozi, went out for meals, and shared personal stories and ideas with my teachers, and it was one of the most special parts of my time in Guilin.

I also feel that my Chinese skills grew tremendously. If you push yourself to stay in language as much as possible, you'll find that there are endless opportunities to grow; every encounter and every meal can become another opportunity to learn something new.

Can't recommend CLI highly enough - if you have the chance, go! You'll love it.

Translated by Go Overseas:

Hello everyone! Since they are almost all comments in English, I write for the public or students of Spanish.
It has been a great opportunity, a great experience. My time there has been short, only three weeks, but for work reasons, I have only been able to go during this time. I had been studying Chinese for quite a few years, although intermittently, I saw that I was not advancing and that is why I decided to reinforce it. I read very positive comments about CLI on many sites and websites I visited.
Everything is sensational, from the moment they pick you up at the airport and you feel that you are not alone. They help you to land and not feel the shock that comes from China.
The program is intense and fantastic.
In my case I feel that I have reinforced a lot. The Chinese language is a passion, 3 weeks has been very short, I hope I can come back soon.
I recommend CLI and its program and activities.

Original:

Hola a todos! ya que son casi todos los comentarios en Inglés, escribo para el público o estudiantes de Español.
Ha sido una gran oportunidad, una gran experiencia. Mi tiempo allí ha sido corto, sólo tres semanas, pero por motivos de trabajo, sólo he podido ir durante este tiempo. Estudiaba Chino desde hace bastantes años, aunque intermitentemente, veía que no avanzaba y por ello me decidí a reforzarlo. Leí comentarios muy positivos sobre CLI en muchos sitios y páginas webs que visité.
Todo es sensacional, desde el momento que te recogen en la aeropuerto y sientes que no estás solo. Te ayudan a aterrizar y no sentir el shock que supone llegara China.
El programa es intenso y fantástico.
En mi caso siento que he reforzado muchísimo. El idioma Chino es una pasión, 3 semanas ha sido muy corto, ojalá pueda volver pronto.
Recomiendo CLI y su programa y actividades.

There's a profound & rare opportunity to be amongst like-minded people who are committed to this language. You share chats about approaches to hanyui, gain ideas, see people's paths, understand their fascination and commitment, as well as their visions for the country and the country's role in the world. Ultimately, you are given the space to reflect on your own role, and your own paths to this language.
Further, most people I spoke with achieved a sense of consolidation of all the random bits of Chinese we had been studying over the years. This place, be it the charming guesthouse next door or the neighbourhood, is the most conducive to coalescing your whole historical relationship with the language into a sharpened tool ready to channel your mind through, and to develop one more personality.

I honestly didn't do much research before I went. I got lucky: everything was great.

My teachers were amazing, with my daily teacher (Anna) being one of the best teachers I've ever had for anything. Anna was able to use simple Chinese and body language to communicate everything with virtually no English, meaning I got a ton of actual Chinese practice. I was consistently impressed at how effective she was at using Chinese to teach despite my low Chinese level. The class adapted to my needs, and my teachers clearly communicated out of class because classes later in the day reinforced newly discovered weaknesses. The classes were the best part of the program, no doubt.

People in Guilin really don't speak English, so you quickly learn how to live in China. My Chinese was pretty bad when I first arrived, but was still able to make it day-to-day as I learned more phrases.

Housing was great - I recommend you live in CLI if you can. You can quickly get to classes, and you can make your own schedule. If you live in a homestay, you need to coordinate with your host family which can infringe on social events.

Guilin of course is beautiful - it's well known by all Chinese people for it's natural beauty and that reputation is well earned.

The activities were great to see the famous sites, but as time went on I made friends in Guilin and spent time with them instead - better to spend time with the locals instead of foreigners I figure.

Overall it was a great experience and I will always be trying to think of a way I can return in the future.

I did a 4 weeks immersion course at CLI in May 2019, and couldn't be happier with my experience. If I had had more time, I would probably have extended my stay by a couple of weeks. If you're considering doing an immersion course in China, CLI should definitely go on your shortlist.

First of all, I made great progress on my Chinese fluency in those 4 weeks, even though that is a relatively short time. Each week, you have 20 hours of completely tailored one-on-one lessons with three dedicated tutors (comprehensive, reading/writing and speaking/listening), moving at the pace that you need, focusing on the things you want to improve most. We used a textbook as a guide, but we did a lot of stuff outside of it, too. If you have a specific direction you want to take your Chinese in, or have a specific learning style, CLI is definitely really good at accommodating that. I arrived having studied a little Chinese beforehand, but there were also people there who arrived not speaking a word of Chinese, and people who were fairly fluent already, and they all seemed to be very happy with their individual programmes.

Outside of class, you're also in an environment where you can practice your Chinese all the time if you want. There are interns from the nearby university in the common area of the building at pretty much all hours, you can chat with them or ask them questions and they're really helpful if you're trying to do things like get a Chinese SIM-card or order things online.

Guilin is pretty laid back as a city, and because most people do not speak English, you really do get to practice "in the wild" every day. So even though it's not as vibrant as Shanghai, say, it's a better learning environment in my opinion.

Getting to know the other students was without a doubt my favourite part of the experience. Everybody's motivated, you get to meet people from all sorts of different backgrounds, and there's always people around to grab dinner with, have drinks on the roof with, or go places on the weekend.

So, definitely highly recommended, might even go again myself some time!

CLI provides a great learning experience. Classes are all one-on-one and are tailored to whatever the individual student needs/wants. Not only are the teachers willing to use whatever textbook the student wishes, but they are flexible as to how classroom time is spent. The faculty and staff are all friendly and helpful, making the student's time in and out of the classroom enjoyable. There are several optional programs a week, such as calligraphy or a visit to a tea house, that round out the experience of being in China. There is also the option to only speak and be spoken to in Mandarin, giving one the opportunity for a truly immersive experience. I've been a college professor for over 10 years and was a language instructor prior to that, and I wholeheartedly recommend CLI.

CLI has wonderful teachers. I may well go back again for this reason alone. They really do care and they really do try to provide students with what they need to improve their Mandarin. The down side is that this is not really an immersion program. Once class is over, the students almost all speak English. And some of the teachers seem to encourage this. Moreover, the staff are even worse. One staff member repeatedly spoke English with me while I spoke Mandarin. And this happened more than once. The result is that the school has intensive classes, but the overall experience is not as transformative as it could be. Some of this is natural, given the high numbers of native English speakers in the program, but the school could do more to combat it if it really wants to provide an immersion program. See below for some specific suggestions.