Beijing

I spent a month in the Beijing branch, improving my Chinese. The atmosphere is pretty good at Hutong school. The school is not that big and there are enough activities so that it's pretty easy to meet other students and spend time with them.

The majority of students are probably in their 20's, staying for 1 to 3 months and have no prior knowledge of Chinese. If you're looking for a good time in a gap year/exchange period, Hutong school is a good place to be, however for me, it was also important to improve my chinese.

If there is a group for your level (for beginners there always is), you have 2 hours of speaking class and 2 hours of character class. The groups are usually small enough (2-5) to make for an intensive experience. If you want private classes, you can have 1 hour of private class instead of 2 hours of group class as well.

What I really liked about Hutong school is that the teachers/staff are quite flexible towards your lesson program. For example: If you are somewhat advanced in speaking but neglected learning characters, you could take 3-4 hours of character class and after you catch up, change back to normal. This is extremely useful for the non-beginner student who knows in which areas he's lacking, and something you can't get in a cookie cutter course at a Chinese university.

The private classes are also excellent. It really gives you a chance to make your own lesson. The standard group classes follow a textbook approach, but in your private class you can do whatever you like, from discussing movies to conversation drills, to grammar exercises. The teachers are really great, as they are willing to try a lot of things.