Hi everybody, I would like to know if anyone can suggest me a good school to learn chinese in Kunming. I know there is plenty of them advertising in here but there s always a difference between what they offer you in the brochure and what you really get.

Hope some former students can share their experience with me.

Thank you

Anyone ?

It really depends on you. Reviews of each school are contrasting. Most schools will offer a free demo class though, so you can see which one suits you best.

This topic has been covered in several threads. A quick search will help you.

The consensus is that these schools are actually much of a muchness.
If you are already in Kunming, find one that is convenient to travel to from where you live.
If you are not already in Kunming, find one that fits your visa needs, and is in a location you would wish to live in.

HI,you can come to the Kunming college of eastern language(KCEL),the school have all level class also have schoolarship,they can arrange visa for you,the school is located at the center of city .It is very convenient.

But be careful - for example when I first registered at Yunnan Normal University they told me I can have a single room, even told me how much and when exactly I will have to pay. When I arrived few months later in the campus they just looked surprised when I asked about single rooms and informed me that it was never possible to have one. Also visa processing lasts about 6 weeks (it took them almost 4 weeks to take my passport and application to psb which is located few hundred meters away from the campus). Before I studied at Yunnan University and there also were problems with payments, I was informed before coming that I can pay for the dormitory monthly or even daily if I want, but of course, when I arrived they asked for a one year payment in advance and told me that monthly payments are impossible. It is common (at least in my experience) practise for schools to hide a lot of things before you pay tuition and then just drop them on you.

I've never studied at KCEL, but some time ago there were some students of KCEL who complained on gok cause they were denied visa.

I suggest you go to Huayang academy to attend a demo class there. There are quite professtional teachers of over ten years experience on Chinese teaching. It is the best of 2013 vosted by gokunming's followers.

I would agree that the teaching is very good. However, there were a number of students who had visa problems this summer, as in Huayang was having visa applications declined.

I was pretty satisfied with Keats.

While a school provides the opportunity and structure, teacher skills are important, the key acquiring language is the student's effort. In short, your effort is the key.

With that bit of pablum out of the way, each school has a different, for the lack of a better word, 'character.'

The best school, in my opinion, is Keats. I was never a student at Keats. However, I saw amazing progress by Keats students. Keats demands students engage and Keats demands its teacher work. If you want good results in a short time, I'd say Keats is your choice.

I studied at KCEL. It suited me. All the teachers I had were okay to good. My progress directly reflected my effort. I also hired one or two tutors on an hourly basis to augment my in class effort. I had no visa problems at KCEL. In the interest of full disclosure, I did not like the owner much but in the end he did treat me well when I had a stroke in March of 2014. He helped with the hospital and assisted my sons when they came to Kunming to bring me home.

Huayang on the other hand would not be my choice. I lived in the same compound where Huayang is located. When Huayang opened there seemed to be only students learning English. I saw very few foreign students. My impression was Huayang was off to a slow start. When Huayang was voted the best language school I was very surprised. It seemed odd a school in operation for less than 90 days, and with only a handful of students, could garner enough votes to win. Clearly a get out the vote effort had succeeded and the award had nothing to do with teaching. I tend to avoid BS situations.

Good luck.