Live the Language

Hi,
My name is Inge and I have been for 6 weeks in Beijing to learn Mandarin at LTL mandarin school. I learned a lot in those 6 weeks because of the good lessons of the teachers. I can talk about clothes, directions, paying and other things. During those 6 weeks I have been celebrating Chinese new year with my hostfamily and her family. I learnt in those time the culture and how a chinese family live. That was a great experience for me. Afther school the school planned nice things to do for the students. Example as going out for dinner, seeing the Great wall or a Temple. That made it nice to learn the other students and very good to learn the language. Overall I have been very happy that I choose LTL mandarin school, they made my time wonderfull.

A fantastic school to study at located in an equally fantastic area of Shanghai. I would say that the most excellent attribute that I experienced was their flexibility. Due to my work and travel commitments, which tend to be last minute, I had numerous interruptions to my daily schedule. Dealing with LTL was a relaxing process and solutions were always easy to find. My initial 7 weeks of intensive study was spread out over almost 4 months. I personally find this kind of flexibility to be excellent.!. On from that dealing with Alex, the head of the School in Shanghai, was an easy and often fun process. Along with Dannie and Johann, and of course the excellent teachers on their rather large roster. The weekly events that were organised are an excellent chance to get an inside view of the life and history of Shanghai, whilst also giving students a great chance to further practice their Chinese language skills in real life settings. Also I found that the one on one classes were excellent and the teachers I had allowed the classes to flow organically, so we not only studied from the text book, but also discussed contemporary topics and delved into Chinese history.. Overall my experience with LTL was a positive one and I would highly recommend any student wishing to further their study into the Chinese language in Shanghai, to get in contact with LTL.!!. 谢谢

I have been with the LTL school for 4 months. During the first month I was studying Chinese as a student. At that time I did the individual program in which I had 4 hours of Chinese every day. During this time I had the opportunity to study Chinese with 3 different teachers. They were all very well prepared. Studying with three different teachers gave me the chance to understand different points of view and learn three different teaching methods, which allowed my Chinese to improve super-quickly.

After the first month I started my internship for LTL. In this way I've been able to see both sides of the school, as a student and as a worker. Working for LTL gave me the chance to learn many new things all very useful for my career.

Also my manager was really impeccable, every day he taught me something new, making sure I was able to get by myself at the end of the day. All of this was an unforgettable experience.

During my 4 months in China I chose to stay in a Chinese homestay, it was the best choice I could make. At home I had the opportunity to talk and improve my Chinese, not to mention the homemade Chinese food that is really delicious.

I believe that the bonds I have created during this period at LTL will last a long time and that this experience will be impossible to forget.

I spent some time in the Summer of 2017 with LTL in Beijing learning Mandarin and the memories from that short time will last a lifetime.

The school was excellent, very relaxed and calm. A great environment to learn. My classmates, all three of them, were great company and we became good friends outside of class as well as in. Between us, we grew a strong bond with our teacher, Lucy (pictures attached below). The classes were well put together and within a short space of time my Chinese improved like I never imagined and it continues to do so to this very day.

The students and staff at the school are wonderful company and provides you with a great reason to get out of bed everyday!

I stayed with a Chinese Homestay during this time to top up my learning and try something I may never do again. What an experience. The mother, father and daughter were lovely company, so caring and thoughtful. The facilities were ideal and the food they made everyday was just sublime.

Zero negatives and memories I will cherish forevermore.

For two months, I visited a one-by-one language course at LTL in Beijing. I did not participate in the whole cultural programme, since my internship place already provided a place to stay. Furthermore, I also participated in the language programme in Chengde for one week.

The one-by-one language course was okay, but nothing special. During the two months, I had courses with two (male) teachers and we covered the book 'Short-term Spoken Chinese'. In my opinion, the quality of the language course can still be improved. A little more engagement and creativity from the teacher's side would have been nice. Apart from learning from the book only (which makes it a bit boring...), more creative exercises could have been applied during the course in order to better learn Chinese, for example reading a simple Chinese book or making a role play, etc. I think this engagement can be expected from a trained language teacher. I felt I did not speak sufficiently during the course, although it should be the priority that the student is engaged to speak more (at least more than the teacher).

For one week during the two months at LTL I also participated in the language programme in Chengde, which is a small town not too far from Beijing. I was told that staying at Chengde would boost my Chinese language skills - which was also true. However, in my opinion this programme is a bit overrated and too costly for the service received.
My host family was an old couple, which was pretty fine for me. They were really nice people although I would have wished that they would have integrated me more into their lives and showed more engagement. After my language course in the morning, which finished in the afternoon, I mostly came home. My hostmum would arrive at home a little later and start to cook. In the evening we watched tv together and then went to bed. It would have been nice to do more things together with them, such as joining them visit the places they go in the afternoon, or cooking together, etc. I also think for the price I payed for that week, at least the most important facilities should be provided (and it should not be needed to be stated extra), such as a shower, a bed (with a mattress - I had one but I heard of another person that slept on a wooden bed and who didn’t sleep very well) and a clean environment (often they didn’t wash the dishes properly and they were smoking a lot in the living room). Otherwise it was really interesting to see an authentic Chinese family.
Since Chengde is a quite small town, as mentioned, you rely a bit on the activities offered during the programme, in case your family is not very active. Before going to Chengde, I was interviewed by one of the LTL employees which activities I would like to do (horse riding, rafting, playing soccer, etc.). However, I was quite disappointed by the activities offered in Chengde since it turned out they were not included in the price for the Chengde programme. Zhongwen (a really active woman even though highly pregnant) tried to organize a lot but I was shocked about the huge prices. When staying longer Chengde, which is not the most interesting place on Earth, and I think I would get poor after a while if I always had to pay so much extra for every activity. The school could help to join more things that do not cost so much or even don't cost anything.

I hope those things I mentioned could be improved in the future, since I think that LTL school and also their Chengde programme has a lot potential. The outcome just needs to be more adjusted to the price and more creativity could make the stay at LTL much more interesting and fun.

Thank you.