Study abroad in China--Learn Chinese language with homestay

High School Program

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n About the Program	n Host Families
n Activities and Excursions	n Student/Parent Feedback
nSchedule & Fees	n Register Online

nAbout the Program

Our high school program is designed for students aged 14 to 18 to learn Chinese while participating in a homestay. Students will study Chinese in quality language programs catered for teenage learners, and at the same time, they will stay with a Chinese family with a resident teenager. These families are specially selected for hosting teenagers. In the families, students will be taken good care of and have full immersion with the language and culture. Our program features a variety of activities, including cultural excursions, volunteer events, after-class activities and tourist visits provided by Lotus, the university or host families. For these students choose to participate in volunteer events, as a non-profit, charitable 501 (c) (3) organization, Lotus Educational Foundation is eligible to provide official statements of volunteering for them.

Programs we offer to high school students are:

4/6-week Summer Program for high school students at Beijing Language and Culture University

Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU) is the only University in China whose main function is to teach Chinese language and the culture to foreign students. Over the last several years, more than 20,000 foreign students have graduated from BLCU. Every year, some 3000 students from several countries, and more than 1000 Chinese students study here.BLCU is by far the largest and most popular university to study Chinese for foreign students. The HSK Test (Chinese TOEFL) is administered and developed by BLCU.

BLCU summer Chinese programs for students aged from 14 to 18 are held from Jul to Aug each year. Students will be placed into appropriate classes according to their Chinese levels. Credit transfer is available. After-class activities and electives are provided by the university.

One-on-one personally designed independent study for high school students

Our One-on-One tutoring is flexible and held all year around. It offers participants the opportunity to learn Chinese what, when, where and how they desire. Our tutors are native Chinese graduates with at least two years experience in teaching Chinese as a foreign language. Most of them teach at renowned universities in China such as Beijing language and Culture University, Tsinghua University and Beijing Normal University. They will customize individual study plans based on students’ Chinese levels and desired study fields. The One-on-One tutoring is the most efficient way to improve Chinese language skills in a short period of time.

nHost Families

Our families for hosting teenage students are carefully chosen and interviewed from a large number of applicants. They will help students in orientation when first arriving, and give them good assistance and support in their life, especially in unexpected situation such as falling sick. They will also be warm and open-mined to offer teenagers a real family environment where students can learn Chinese language, know Chinese culture and customs and build friendship with the family, which often lasts beyond students’ stay in China.

Staying with a local family is definitely the best way to practice language and have close contact with the Chinese culture. As a fully integrated family member you will eat, watch TV, shop, and experience daily life with your "mom, dad and brother or sister." Meanwhile, you won't have to give up your privacy as you will have your own space -- a private bedroom and bathroom.

Each family has all the convenient living facilities you would find in a Western home, including TV, DVD player, computer with DSL, refrigerator, microwave, washing machine, air-conditioning and western toilets with 24-hour hot water. Your room will be fully furnished with a bed, desk, wardrobe (or closet) and air-conditioning. Most families are located in nice communities, where a swimming pool, tennis courts and a supermarket are available.

Each of our host families has been interviewed by our staff and a security check is completed before a family is accepted. In addition to our on-site staff, the host families will also assist you and provide all the necessary information and first-hand help needed during your stay.
Families near the campus have convenient public transportation between the university and their home, which usually takes no more than 30 minutes by bus or train.

nActivities and Excursions

Lotus activities

Lotus arranges cultural excursions and volunteer opportunities for students. The excursions and activities are for students to communicate with local people, learn Chinese culture and have a chance to do volunteer work in China. Our excursions and activities are:

Charity excursion to rural senior centers in Hebei Province

Students will visit rural senior centers in Hebei Province with our Beijing staff and some Chinese volunteers. This is a precious opportunity for students to understand life in other places in China, and offer help and companionship to the seniors.

Teaching in Tibetan Charity Orphan School

After completing their courses, students can volunteer their time to teach in a Tibetan charity school for orphans and experience Tibetan life.

To know details of our volunteer opportunities and read stories from our past participants, please click here.

Visit to Lama Temple in Beijing

Lotus will organize a cultural excursion to the famous Lama Temple in Beijing. Our Beijing Staff will introduce students important elements in Chinese traditional culture and how they influence the Chinese language.

BLCU activities

For students who will study in BLCU, the university will arrange free excursions to a couple of the city's most important historical attractions such as Great Wall. There will also be trips to places outside of Beijing with some extra cost. Some after-class activities are also available at BLCU with a small charge. These activities include Wushu (Chinese Martial Art), Chinese character calligraphy and so on. We also have One-on-One afternoon tutoring available which is very helpful to improve your Chinese language skills within a short period of time.

Tourist visits arranged with host families

Lotus can arrange tourist visits in and around Beijing with their host families for students at a low cost. Students will be guided by their host families to visit famous sight-seeing and cultural sites. They will learn Chinese language, culture and history and have interaction with their host families during the visits. Some of the most famous sites are:

The Great Wall, Ming Tombs, The Forbidden City Museum, The Summer Palace, The Temple of Heaven, etc.

These visits are especially helpful to One-on-One students, for they don’t have tourist visits organized by the university. The visits guided by host families are safe, flexible, economical and interesting. Students interested in the visits can indicate in their application forms or tell us in their emails when applying.

nStudent/Parent Feedback

Laura & Meredith with their host family (host wife and children)

Laura & Meredith, mother and daughter, from USA, joined Lotus One on One program in summer 2006.

Dear Lotus Educational Foundation,

Thank you for the wonderful experience my daughter and I had in Beijing. Being able to be immersed once again in Chinese helped Meredith speak and understand the language more fully and apply the knowledge gained from her high school Chinese classes.

Meredith found her tutor helpful, responsive and knowledgeable. Meredith had specific goals she wanted to attain to help her with her continuing study of Chinese and the tutor helped her achieve those goals. On our daily wonderings and sight seeing through Beijing after her lesson, Meredith confidently spoke Chinese in all situations. It certainly was nice for me to be able to have someone about who could speak the language!

Our host family was generous and kind. Fortunately, most of them could not speak English, which was very helpful to Meredith, although having some family members have a good command of English was also helpful, as Meredith was able to receive an in situ lesson for things she did not understand. The host family was comfortable having two additional people in their house and Meredith also enjoyed playing with the children…and the opportunity to once again, use her Chinese.

To be frank, I wanted to go to Beijing to “check out” the situation regarding quality of tutoring, home stay family quality and the overall quality of the program. As you know, Meredith is a high school student and has been studying Chinese for four years. She will continue her study of Chinese for the remainder of her high school career. To that end, I was looking for a program in which Meredith could return to every summer that provided steadily increasing difficulty of mastery of Chinese, taking fully into account her steadily increasing fluency and study of Chinese during the academic year. The Lotus program provides such a structure. I am also confident that staying with a host family will also continue to be a very good experience.

As an organization, you all were always quick to respond to my questions and provided information for our alternative attainment of our Chinese visas. The pick up and drop off service is terrific as well as all the extras you provide, such as the SIM chip, the dictionary, etc.

Kind regards,

Laura Hayward

Kevin(left) with other Lotus students at the gate of Lama Temple

Kevin Busch, USA student, joined Lotus 4 weeks One on One program in 2006.

A Thank-you note from Kevin’s mother Wendy Liang:

On short notice, we had to scramble to find a suitable program for our son to fill the remaining summer month with some productive activity. We did exhaustive search online and came across with the Lotus program. The program fits our need perfectly in three areas. First, the program can be individual. A tutor will be provided to tailor the program to student’s schedule and pace. Second, my son did not speak nor write any Chinese, the tutor was able to start him from ground 0. When he returned from only a month long, 4-6 hour/day one on one tutoring, he could converse and comprehend in very basic Mandarin, which I think is phenomenal progress. Plus, at the end of the program, the tutor provided us with a detail study report with description of the study plan, progress, and areas for improvement. Third, my son chose the Homestay program which provided a very safe, worry-free environment especially he has never been in China before. The host mother took really good care of him. In fact, he was very ill for 3 days with fever and all and the host mother took him to the hospital for necessary medical attention and nursed him back to health. I wonder now if he had stayed in a dorm or apartment, could he have turned out ok. Last but not least, through both the Lotus program and the host family, my son was guided in various excursions to Beijing’s favorite sights on the weekends.

Throughout the program duration, I kept constant contact with the program office in Beijing via email for any question and concern. With the time difference, they always responded within 24 hours. This has really provided us ease of mind.

I also want to comment on their expedient sign-up procedure. Although we made the decision to pursue the program on short notice, they were able to accommodate our need and got everything going in one-week time frame.

I would recommend the Lotus program if you are seeking an enriching cultural experience with full language immersion. We will not hesitate to participate again in the future.

Wendy Liang

nSchedule & Fees

4 week summer programs at Beijing Language and Culture University(BLCU)

Dates:
27 Jun--24 Jul, 2007
12 Jul--8 Aug, 2007

Program fee: US$ 2,980

The program fees include:

Registration and all the paper work (including supporting documents for visa application) before and after you arrive in China.
Tuition fee at BLCU.
Homestay in a family with teenager of similar age. The homestay includes private bedroom, breakfast & dinner, computer and DSL service.
Free excursions organized by BLCU.
Excursions and activities organized by Lotus.
Texts and other required materials.
Assistance and supervision, provided by our on-site staff.
Airport pickup and drop off.
Welcome/Orientation Package, which includes: Chinese-English-Chinese dictionary, map of Beijing, phone card of 100RMB and a mobile SIM card.
Welcome dinner and other stuff prepared by the host family.

One-on-One personally designed tutoring

Date: Anytime to fit your schedule

Program fee: US$690/week

The program fee includes:

Homestay in a family with teenager of similar age. The homestay includes private bedroom, breakfast & dinner, computer and DSL service.
20 hours/week personal tutoring.
Excursions and activities organized by Lotus.
Textbooks and other materials.
Airport pickup and drop off.
Assistance and supervision provided by our on-site staff.
Welcome/Orientation Package, which includes: Chinese-English-Chinese dictionary, map of Beijing and phone card of 100RMB.
Welcome dinner and other stuff prepared by the host family.

To apply for our One-on-One tutoring program, there is an application fee of US$ 250.

Note: Students interested in the tourist visits arranged with host families, please indicate in their registration forms or inform us through emails when applying. The visits will be arranged with an extra fee according to how many and what sites you plan to visit.

Register online