LTL Language School

Studying Mandarin at LTL Language School has been an incredibly rewarding experience. From the very beginning, I felt warmly welcomed by both the staff and fellow students, creating a comfortable and supportive learning environment. What truly sets LTL apart is its commitment to making language learning enjoyable and immersive—there were plenty of fun activities that allowed me to practice my Mandarin in real-life situations and connect with people from all over the world. The teachers were not only knowledgeable and professional but also genuinely passionate about teaching, which made every class engaging and dynamic. I especially appreciated that the lessons went far beyond the textbooks, offering cultural insights and practical communication skills that I could use right away. LTL made learning Mandarin not just effective, but truly enjoyable.

Don't be afraid and give it a try. I promise that you will want to comeback sooner than you think.

LTL is the second language school I have attended in China. LTL stands out because of its experienced teachers. The classes were well structured and interactive. In every class you practice listening, reading and speaking, and you will laugh a lot ;) (kudos to teacher Sara!). Then there is the kind support staff that is always ready to help you. They make you feel at home in the school. After class LTL organizes many activities in which you discover Beijing, Chinese culture, and you can practice your Chinese outside of class ;). I definitely recommend this school!

My life in Beihai was a fairly interesting one. I went and stayed with a generous family. The school organized this home stay for me before my arrival after asking me questions about my preferences and any special considerations I may have. An added benefit was that the home was only 20 minutes away from the school by electric scooter. They did this and gave me a good teacher as well. The school had a small feel as there were only a few students there. However, it felt like there was little stratification or cliquishness with the students present. We would have activities frequently, typically the activities involved food and would happen on a weekly basis. My only critique that was not anyone's fault was that I got switched around between a few different teachers. Experiences may vary, as I heard this was an exceptional circumstance. Overall, this was a school that gave me the chance to learn Chinese in a setting where I felt the most freedom to express my thoughts in Chinese and learn vocabulary in an engaging way.

Hello,

I am currently doing the LTL Chengde immersion program after successfully completing two months of LTL classes in Beijing. It has has been a month since I joined this course and I have to say that I am completely satisfied with it and here are the reasons why:

Home stay:

I am currently staying with a lovely family of four (parents and two kids). The children love to play and enthusiastically help you practice your speaking skills. Two meals a day are offered. Everything is delicious nourishing and a deep dive into Chinese cuisine. Most of the home stays are located in the very centre of Chengde, so you will be at the popular hangout spots and bustling areas in no time!

Classes:

I currently have four hours of class, five times a week. They alternate between morning and afternoon class and therefore offer a lot of variety regarding time management. Classes are also completely customisable. You will generally follow the book that LTL will provide you with (said book is split into chapters each containing listening speaking and writing parts), but you can always make suggestions to your teacher if you want to make changes. You will have 1-on-1 class, therefore everything is super flexible. You are also not limited to a traditional classroom. As the Chengde program does not have a central school. In theory any place can turn into a study space. Coffee shops are most popularly used, but I have also experienced parks, supermarkets, shopping malls, a roof terrace and strolls around the city. Also at this point a shout out to my lovely teacher Ida, who is so patient with me every day and inspires me to continue to study hard. Thank you!

Immersion:

The program offers a lot of different extracurricular activities. Throughout the week there will be calligraphy and tea classes, badminton, swimming, cat cafe hangouts… the list goes on way too long for me to count all of them. That’s all thanks to Chengde’s School coordinator Zhongwen (中文), who is not only super creative when it comes to planning and organizing an unforgettable experience, but will also help you with and minor and major issue that you might encounter. So you will be in absolutely capable hands here ;) Regarding the weekend you can explore famous places with a language partner all day long!

As for the daily life here you will find that, in fact rarely anybody can speak English. So you will be pushed out of your comfort zone daily. But, I find that my Chinese has improved more rapidly in this past month here in Chengde, than it has in those two months I spent in Beijing. As for the people here I can say that everybody I have met so far is friendly but more so very curious. You can also prepare yourself to have some pictures taken. Food is widely available. From small stalls along the road to full blown restaurants offering all kinds of delicacies.

All in all a one in a lifetime experience, which I can recommend to basically anybody who wants to try something new and exciting. As I am currently doing a gap year in between Highschool and University, I can especially recommend this option for other fellow students. Chengde is a great spot for young people to visit!

I booked 3 weeks of 1-on-1 classes, with 4 hours of class time everyday after finding out about LTL from searching around online. My teacher was Presli, who was at all times super energetic, warm and considerate.

During our first class, Presli and I set up how we would work to reach the goals I had set beforehand in improving my spoken chinese and fixing in some more advanced grammatical structures. LTL Chengdu had a variety of formal materials available, and we chose a textbook that was suitable to my level and aims in improving my speaking skills. The textbook itself was up-to-date and included interesting topics (unlike my previous experience with the HSK series, which was often an exercise in willpower to get through) and often acted as a launchpad for topical discussions that allowed me to get hours of interactive practice and feedback in my speaking every lesson using what I had just learnt.

Throughout the three weeks, Presli also adapted the lessons when she noticed I was particularly interested in certain topics, and we ended up having a lot of cultural and historical discussions which both upkept my energy throughout the lesson, encouraged genuine expression while using Chinese and taught me a thing or two about Chinese history. Because of my goals, the textbooks were definitely not the only materials we used, and Presli employed a lot of interesting and fun media. She also made sure that I left with some excellent recommendations on Chinese media since I'd previous struggled to navigate the wide variety that exists.

Regarding logistics, the process of setting up my lessons was super simple. I booked mine a little last minute (about 2-3 weeks beforehand) and after a few forms I was basically ready to go. The easiest way to pay is using Wise to wire money, but it's a simple enough process. Throughout the three weeks, I was encouraged to give any feedback if I wasn't happy, either to my teacher or to the admin team, and we could correct things. This wasn't necessary for me, but I never felt like if something was wrong that anyone would have any hesitation or issue with fixing it to my satisfaction.

The atmosphere of the Chengdu school was also great. Every single teacher is super nice and they are all ready to communicate with you in Chinese at a level that your comfortable with. During my first week, everyone was keen to make sure I was seeing the best sites of Chengdu and gave me a lot of recommendations. Presli even helped me find and book my tickets for Dujiangyan with a Chinese app so that I could avoid some nasty booking fees on the international sites which were higher than the actual prices.

The student community also felt much more tight-knit than other schools, and we practised speaking with each other during our short lessons breaks as well as met outside of the school. This was another thing about LTL Chengdu that was great and really set it apart - we often spent a lot of time together outside of the classroom. Every day I'd start or end my lesson by gathering with the students and teachers and eating lunch together at local places, and occasionally we'd also get dinner together. LTL Chengdu also more formally plans weekly socials activities - for example, I particularly enjoyed destroying the other students at mahjong (with no credit to my own talent, but a bit to luck and a lot to the team of Chinese people sat behind me giving me helpful hints) and then going out for hotpot afterwards, alternating between the non-spicy broth and the sichuan 'medium' spicy. We also went out into the city, doing things like watching the incredibly successful movie Ne Zha 2 together (which none of us foreigners had heard of) and on my second weekend with LTL Chengdu, I, Presli, her friend (and knowledgable tour guide), and a fellow classmate took a weekend trip to Chongqing to explore the city. We had great fun seeing, doing and eating all the things one must when they visit Chongqing (including testing our bravery with a lot of high altitiude sightseeing), and of course it was also an incredibly immersion experience in Chinese.

While of course I imagine it must vary from school to school, I haven't seen or heard of a Chinese language school with such friendly teachers or such a tight knit cohort of students as I experienced over my three weeks in Chengdu, and even with my examples it's hard to express how friendly and welcoming an environment it was.

Chengdu itself is also a great city, and quite underrated in the eyes of foreigners it seems. The atmosphere is very relaxed, and the people, as demonstrated by LTL Chengdu's teachers, are all incredibly friendly and ready to let u try your Chinese with them. The vast majority don't speak English, so it is definitely more of an immersion experience than, say, Beijing or Shanghai. Coming from England, I also appreciated the weather ☀️

I cannot recommend LTL Chengdu enough, and I'm extremely glad it was the language school I chose. If I return to China, I'll definitely be booking another few weeks with the school.