Timber structure in China is developing rapidly, but the gap in teaching timber structure at university is large between China and other countries. Chinese civil engineering students’ design and analysis capacities of timber structure should be improved. Various practice resources and studying experiences can be obtained to students under the advanced timber structure teaching system by collaborating with foreign universities and sending Chinese students abroad for summer school in the area of timber structures. This paper introduces the course content and teaching methods of the summer school in timber structure. The students’ feedback of the summer school shows that the effect of studying abroad is significant, e.g. students’ design ability got improved, students’ practice experience got increased and students’ academic English got enhanced. This paper discusses the English teaching, practice teaching and pre- post- teaching, and raised related improvement measures. It also explores the development of the future summer school in timber structure.