When my friend informed me that she would send her son back to Beijing and attend summer classes in 新东方 last summer, we were interested.  Grandparents live in Beijing and have invited my teanage son to spend some time with them in the summer since it is no longer easy for them to travel here anymore.  At first, we hesitated because we thought he would be bored with the grandparents.  But we realized it would be perfect for him to attend some classes during the day and spend the time with the grandparents at night.

The grandparents were elated to hear the news.  Yet they wanted to check out the facility and evaluate the programs in 新东方.  Grandma made the trip one day; she talked to the instructors and sat in one English class.  Grandma was not impressed about the class.  She said that Nick did not need to attend any of the English classes in新东方.  Anyhow, grandma bought a新东方program and studied the information with grandpa at home.

Daddy went to Beijing to investigate as well during one of his business trips.  He and his mother finally enrolled my son in SAT Prep course, thinking he would have a chance to improve his testing skill in Math and get a glimpse about how Math was taught in China.

My son was very excited; he and his friend were planning mini trips they could do over the weekend of the summary school in Beijing, only to find out that there was no weekend for them.  The SAT prep course is a 17 day, none stop course, which is a total shock for the boys. 

The second shock came when they went to the class.  The whole course of the class was devoted to English, no Math!  Ha-ha, so much so for the time and effort Daddy and Grandma made.