Where to do Chinese?

[brightsky]

What are the advantages and disadvantages in doing Chinese at a Sunday Chinese School in comparison to doing it at a normal day school?

[Liuy]

alot more, and better competition

 

[Gloamglozer]

Advantages:

1.  Teacher can teach at a faster pace because most of the students are more capable ones at the subject.
2.  The content being taught is usually of a higher standard and hence, will expose you to more difficult concepts and more likely to prepare you better for the exams.
3.  Depending on which Chinese school you go to, you teacher may have "contacts" within VCAA and they will reveal to you all the nooks and crannies of the subject (some of course may not go your way, but then again, that's life).
4.  When you're writing practice essays, having more than one teacher's feedback is extremely valuable, albeit you'll find that the Chinese school teachers might be harsher.    For me, it was strangely the opposite.   

Disadvantages:

1.  Once again, depending on what type of school your day school is, you may receive better one-on-one help from your teacher.
2.  Since Chinese school is mostly comprised of background students, you may find that the teachers actually teach in Mandarin, not in English.  So if you are not fluent to the language, it will take some time to get accustomed to it.  I happen to unfortunately fall into this category and it was painful at the start.
3.  As Liuy said before, it is more competitive and hence trying to get the top SAC ranking is quite difficult. 
4.  As most Chinese schools are held on the weekends, this takes time out of your weekends.

I do want to point out, however, that these points are pretty subjective and really do depend on which Chinese school and day school you go to and most importantly, what sort of teachers you get at both schools.

[IntoTheNewWorld]

2.  Since Chinese school is mostly comprised of background students, you may find that the teachers actually teach in Mandarin, not in English.  So if you are not fluent to the language, it will take some time to get accustomed to it.  I happen to unfortunately fall into this category and it was painful at the start.

This should go in the advantages column...?

[brightsky]

Thanks for the replies!

I was more on the line of stuff like "would SACs get moderated upwards if you do Chinese at the Chinese School?", etc. In a generalised statement, the scores attained at Chinese school (study scores) in Chinese are much higher. Is this solely because of the fact that, in Chinese schools, the students are usually more proficient in Chinese, or do other factors contribute to this as well?

[Gloamglozer]

2.  Since Chinese school is mostly comprised of background students, you may find that the teachers actually teach in Mandarin, not in English.  So if you are not fluent to the language, it will take some time to get accustomed to it.  I happen to unfortunately fall into this category and it was painful at the start.

This should go in the advantages column...?

I was thinking about this for a while but initially, I found it more of a disadvantage than an advantage because I had absolutely no clue what the teacher was saying.  So really, I wasn't getting my money's worth.  It wasn't until 3 terms in when I've built up a decent vocabulary and sharpened my aural skills till I actually could understand most of what was being said (or at least the general gist of things).

In all, if you're in my situation, it starts of as a disadvantage and then if you put the work in, it will become an advantage.

[Liuy]

I reckon having lots of competition helps to some degree.

It gives you knowledge of what you need to strive for, thus making you work harder and achieve better

[*ryan777*]

I reckon having lots of competition helps to some degree.

It gives you knowledge of what you need to strive for, thus making you work harder and achieve better

+1
just make sure the competition isnt too overwhelming or it could put you off completely (i realise its hard to judge this before you start at a school tho)

[darkphoenix]

Yeah Gloamglozer summed it up nicely.

I actually get chinese assessed at my normal day school, and do Chinese school on weekends for extra practise.

Agreed that chinese school is significantly harder than your normal day school. And you get exposed to the competition and hopefully be motivated to work harder.

[cltf]

It depends how good your school teachers are. In my opinion the more chinese you can fit in the better. So do normal day school and XJS, and score a VCE examiner as a tutor, then you're practically set for chinese

[Gloamglozer]

It depends how good your school teachers are. In my opinion the more chinese you can fit in the better. So do normal day school and XJS, and score a VCE examiner as a tutor, then you're practically set for chinese

How do you know who the VCE examiners for Chinese are???

You don't.  You ask them and if they say, "yes" then you can either trust them or not.

But it's usually pretty easy to tell. 

[iffets12345]

Just go XJS, they basically hold the balance of VCE Chinese in their hands. From Chinese politics to VCE Chinese, corruption is ever-present.