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Silk Mandarin Language School

Why choose Silk Mandarin Language School?

We at Silk Mandarin believe that understanding each other’s language and culture unites people. It is our mission to teach Mandarin and Chinese culture to all who have an interest in it, whatever their ambition, background or age, and wherever they are.

Since we opened our doors early 2015, our ground-breaking Slow Motion Technique has proven to be the key to learn Mandarin faster and with fun. Our high quality teaching and service has helped thousands of students to reach their learning goal and turned their dreams into reality.

Silk Mandarin offers flexible learning with online and offline classes, intensives and part-time courses, and Chinese camps for kids in Shanghai and Suzhou. Experience our innovative Blended Learning, the perfect combination of video classes and face-to-face sessions.

Founded
2015

Reviews

Default avatar
Marie
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Excellent learning experience

I began learning Chinese when I moved to Suzhou with Silk Mandarin in August of 2023.
First, I started with the HSK1 course. My teacher, Sisi, is a great teacher. She took the time to answer all my questions and correct my errors.
I really appreciate the fact that I can pre-study the lesson at home, at my own pace, thanks to the internet platform that perfectly complements and enriches the textbook and workbook. This way, during the face to face class, I can use the new words and new grammar points in order to speak.
The internet platform is really intuitive and the video explanations are very useful.
I was so satisfied by the HSK1 course that as soon as I finished it, I signed up for the HSK2 course and I am already planning to continue my Chinese studies with Silk Mandarin.
To sum up, I am really happy to study at Silk Mandarin!

Default avatar
Vitor
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Good quality program

Silk Mandarin is a reliable and good Mandarin school in Shanghai. Teachers are patient and professional. Laoshi Hannah is great! When I came to China first time in 2019, I chose SM because some friend recommended. I finished HSK 1 very fast and now I'm currently on HSK 2, with much improvement in my Mandarin skills. I recommend the course for foreigners that need to speak before even understanding the language itself. The course is practical and focused on daily life events. The location of the school is also a plus.

Default avatar
Francisco
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Online and onsite blended course experience

I tried to learn Chinese with a private teacher and After 4 months I gave up because I could not see real improvement and got desperate. 4 years later I came across a very funny and creative video about chinese language. I found out that the video was created by a chinese language school (Silk Mandarin) in Shanghai and I watched more of their videos. After watching some of the videos, I got motivated and decided to give chinese a second try! I started from the beginning, HSK 1 Blended course which is amazing for people with tight schedules. Because each student studied the lesson before class on our own time and during the online class we just practiced and reviewed if we had some questions. Silk Mandarin was very flexible and helped me finding a class that fitted my schedule perfectly. This course was great to remind myself what I learned before and practice my pronunciation during the class. After I completed the HSK1 course I decided to continue with HSK2 but I told Silk Mandarin that I wanted a different type of blended course. Once again they were very flexible and helpful. They offered me a Blended Course with onsite class instead of online. Online Blended course was a good start but onsite class is better for further levels like HSK2. I think the communication between teacher and student flows better and it really makes a difference to improve pronunciation.

Pros
  • Flexible
  • Good online platform
  • Helpful examples during class
Cons
  • A little expensive
  • None
  • None
Default avatar
Pieter
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Pieter Chinese Journey

Hi, my name is Pieter. I started learning Chinese thought Anki ABOUT 1 year ago, and build up quite a vocabulary! But as good as it is it is not enough. I struggled to comunitcate, to put sentences in correct order. 🙈
So a friend suggests Silk Mandrin to me. I enrolled, this was the best decision I have ever made.
The online classes just brilliant and very helpful. The online teacher, very professional. Helping me to perfect my Chinese.
You can definitely try out Silk Mandrin to help you on your journey to master Chinese!!
Pieter..

Pros
  • Personal interaction with your process
Cons
  • Web site can be slow
Default avatar
yasutsugu
4/5
Yes, I recommend this program

About my lesson

Thank you every time.
I am satisfied with the lessons.
The small class size suits me very well.
The teacher teaches very rhythmically.
She also teaches me not only Chinese, but sometimes also about Chinese culture and customs.
It's an advantage to be able to learn while I study.
If I could freely request, I would like to have more opportunities to speak and to have my pronunciation corrected.
I will make an effort study more, then I try to increase opportunity to speak more.
Thank you very much.
FURUTA 古田

Programs

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Alumni Interviews

These are in-depth Q&A sessions with verified alumni.

Matthew Fidler

Matthew Fidler has lived and worked as an educator in the cities of Shanghai, Taipei, and Suzhou. He has a great interest in studying Chinese culture, history, and (of course) language. He began studying Mandarin at National Taiwan Normal University and thanks to assistance from teachers at NTNU and Silk Mandarin has achieved success in the HSK exams.

Interview

Why did you choose this program?

When I arrived in Suzhou for work I wanted to expand on my Chinese reading, writing, speaking and listening. To that end, I needed a school which would be willing to go beyond simple conversational lessons and be willing to help me with my reading and writing as well. In addition, because I was working, I required an institution capable of working around my busy schedule. During my first visit to their facilities I was very impressed by the professionalism of Silk Mandarin’s staff and the quality of their instructional materials. I knew that it was the right place to achieve my goals.

What did your program provider (or university) assist you with, and what did you have to organize on your own?

Since I was already living and working in Suzhou I thought there weren’t many things I needed my school to set up for me. However, my program still assisted me with many things to facilitate my language learning. My school provided textbooks and workbooks, as well as access to their library of graded readers. Most conveniently, when the time came, they arraigned for me to take the HSK test appropriate to my level and handled the shipping and reception of my official scores. I was responsible for helping to select a class and homework schedule which worked for both me and my teacher.

What is one piece of advice you'd give to someone going on your program?

Do not allow setbacks to become disasters! Learning any language is difficult and learning a language with a completely different writing system is doubly so. I personally had many situations where poor pronunciation or imperfect use of grammar led to a misunderstanding in my daily life in China. This can lead to a decrease in your motivation to learn and a decrease in your practice time. Fortunately I had a great teacher who worked hard to reignite my passion for Chinese and this kept my motivation from fading away. The only way to fail at learning a language is by giving up!

What does an average day/week look like as a participant of this program?

The average day or week in this program varies based on the needs and situation of the student. For my part I attended an individual class three times a week for two hours before heading off to my workplace. Students with a less hectic schedule can opt for longer group classes and can take advantage of the many recreational and cultural events that the school organises for weekends and holidays. Still, no matter your schedule, there are always opportunities to interact with staff and other students as part of the Silk Mandarin community.

Going into your experience abroad, what was your biggest fear, and how did you overcome it? How did your views on the issue change?

My biggest fear in going abroad was that I would not be accepted into a community and that I would fail in my language learning goals. My language program and the welcoming people of China helped me overcome these fears. I always felt like I was part of a learning community among my fellow students and my accommodating teachers. When you have people you can ask questions to and bounce ideas off of the day to day difficulties of living abroad become much more manageable. My fear of failure was further mollified as I saw my conversations with locals become more fluid and comprehensible. Over time I started to view interacting in Chinese not as a frightening prospect, but as a fun and helpful way to test knowledge and learn new ways of communicating.

How did this program accommodate your unique learning style and language goals?

Silk Mandarin was extremely focused on my goals from the outset: when I explained that I wanted to pass HSK tests within a certain timeframe they immediately started working out a study plan to get me where I wanted to be when I wanted to be there. As my unique weaknesses and strengths started to become apparent my teacher adjusted our activities in class. For example in order to address my low HSK listening scores much more time was spent on listening practice. What’s more, as time went on and my priorities shifted my teacher was willing and able to help me with new goals and ambitions. A good example of this is when I wanted to become more proficient in writing Chinese characters from memory and so my teacher assigned and even graded additional writing practice on top of the program’s standard workbook homework. The flexibility and individual care I received is perhaps what I found most impressive about Silk Mandarin’s program.

Staff Interviews

These are in-depth Q&A sessions with program leaders.

Cong Meng

Job Title
Teacher
8 years of Chinese teaching experience since graduating. Worked for some places Chinese training institutes like Mandarin Morning and Mandarin House, also a Chinese intensive program at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.
Cong Meng with brunette hair and red lipstick smiling with her head resting on her arms

What is your favorite travel memory?

I have lots of travel memory, but my favorite travel memory was the trip to Chengdu & Chongqing in 2016.

That was my first time travel to see my net friends. Chengdu &Chongqing were such big difference from my hometown. The foods, the people, the life, the traffic left me a really deep impression.

How have you changed/grown since working for your current company?

I feel like I changed a lot compare to the beginning. When I just join Silk Mandarin, I only want to do is just have classes, I really didn't want to join any school activities. As time changed, I changed my opinion, activities really can help our students to enjoy real Chinese life and they have more chances to practice their Chinese not only in class. I'm also studying hard for myself about more fun teaching skills to be a popular teacher.

What is the best story you've heard from a return student?

Recently I have a student who's from the United States. When I first received her informations, I was surprised that her Chinese was quite good. I was so curious that how she learned Chinese in only one year. And she told me she learned Chinese only because she watched a very popular TV show called <Mó Dào Zǔ Shī>, and she was really be attracted in that world what the story built. And one of the main actors was also her style. So she really wants to know the real Chinese culture.

If you could go on any program that your company offers, which one would you choose and why?

I would like to choose product development program. As time changing, the way people learning also needs to be changed. A smart learning way is becoming more and more important. I want to find out more interesting products to help Silk's students's Chinese learning.

Although this would be a big challenge to me, but I would like to try.

What makes your company unique? When were you especially proud of your team?

I have a lot of different experiences before I worked for my current company. I do have to say, a good company needs to have a wise boss!! I have seen many different types of bosses, and I really like Silk's bosses. They really have a very clear goal and a very clear steps to made us achieve this goal. They also know us well, and always understand us. I think it was the time when we had our yearly summarize meeting this March. Specially I've heard a lot of institutes closed at 2020, but we still did our best last year. This really made me proud of my team.

What do you believe to be the biggest factor in being a successful company?

I believe that in being a successful company, we need have a very clear mission. And need to have a very clear way to achieve this mission step by step.

At Silk Mandarin, we are all good partners. We always have passions for working and living. You can always feel friendly, Kindly, warm-hearted, and help from your colleagues. And these will also make you enjoy your work.