Program Reviews

Guilin is a beautiful location, and it is very easy to make weekend trips to small villages or big cities, or to any of the local tourist attractions.

CLI itself is a great environment. There are plenty of comfortable areas to just hang out between classes, or quiet places to study. The classes are challenging but also relaxed and fun. The teachers are very easy to get along with.

The 'pengyou program' is not as advertised, though for the better. There are a bunch of interns/chinese university students who basicaly hang out in CLI common areas. They are incredibly freindly and helpful, they will almost always be enthusiastic to have a chat in chinese regardless of your level, or help you with your homework, or help you buy a sim card for your phone etc. You will probably end up getting to know some of them quite well.

The community in my experience is really supportive of people at every level. Its never too early in your mandarin studies to come. There are heaps of people who arrive with basicaly no chinese and in 2-4 weeks have learnt as much as they might have in a year at home, there are also students who have been studying for years and are already at a very high level.

I can't wait to go back :)

CLI is a welcoming, challenging, encouraging, helpful, home-like environment. You will be surrounded motivated, dedicated students, and helpful friendly interns. One-on-one class is an ideal way to learn. But of course you need to be self motivated, push yourself, and take advantage of every opportunity to communicate in Chinese. Guilin is a beautiful, safe, cheap, convenient, quiet friendly little city. Take time to explore, but the best way to take advantage of CLI is to make it as much a full-immersion experience as possible!

The teachers are professional, skilled, and very patient and flexible. If you know how you learn the best, they will work with you to develop the lessons in that way. If you are a beginner and have no idea where or how to learn Chinese, they will still tailor it to your specific needs, with reasonable but challenging expectations. I could not have asked for a better learning environment.

I absolutely loved my time at CLI. I am currently teaching English in Jinzhong, China. As a requirement for my position, I was to attend a language program over the summer to begin learning Chinese. From the moment I got to Guillin, I felt safe, supported, and ready to learn. As a first-timer in China, I was nervous about being able to navigate the city by myself, but within a week I was able to find my way around. I loved my classes, and finished one and a half books in 6 weeks. I went from not being able to say anything in Chinese to being able to hold simple conversation. I love my teachers and am really thankful that CLI's structure makes it so you can build actual bonds and even friendships with your teachers. I also loved my home stay family, although if I were to choose again I would probably stay in the CLI facilities, given that I felt I couldn't stay out late to be respectful to my host family (although I love them, and they did help my Chinese get better! Navigating the first few weeks was hard since they do not speak English, but we managed!)

My only comment is you must be self motivated to learn in this program-- a lot of what the teachers do is guide you into self-study habits and review material with you that you will also need to go over by yourself. Because it is one-on-one, you realllllly must come prepared to learn and pay full attention. That being said, I loved my teachers and do not think I could have advanced as I did without them.

Had a great time at CLI, very nice people, teachers, and community. I thought that the curriculum and teachers were challenging, and improved my mandarin. I thought that my mandarin improved more during the month at CLI than in the last five years I had previously studied mandarin. It is also fun interacting with locals, for example ordering local food, playing soccer or basketball, and going shopping. I am excited to return soon.

I am 14 years old and have been studying Chinese for 4 years about 2 days per week. My written skills are far better than my spoken. I attended CLI this summer for two weeks and I am feeling more confident about speaking.
My sister was also with me and more experienced and she also had a great experience. The teachers are fun and teach well. They helped me with my tones and radicals and speaking.
Our room was nice, air conditioned which is needed, it’s really hot in Guilin. The other students were nice and the activities and weekend trips were fun and educational.
I hope to go back again next summer for a longer time and I would like to continue to work on my fluency.
We took a separate trip to Youngshuo to see the Impression Sanjie Liu and it was incredible.
I had a great experience and highly recommend.

CLI is an absolutely wonderful place to improve your Mandarin! I was initially sceptical about how much I could learn in 3 weeks but CLI definitely surpassed my expectations. The teachers were lovely and tailored lessons to my learning speed so I could quickly complete chapters and move onto new material. Housing was clean and spacious, and very convenient as it's located directly above the classrooms. I really enjoyed the activities organised by CLI, especially the weekend trip: they were fun, affordable and well-structured. I had a great time in Guilin, thanks to the interesting people I met at CLI, my teachers and the welcoming locals. Would definitely recommend CLI to friends interested in learning Mandarin and looking forward to returning (hopefully soon!)

If you:
- Are a self motivated student
- Are serious about achieving fluency in Mandarin
- Can afford the tuition

...then there is likely no better place in the world to study Chinese. To really master a language, you need an enormous amount of time speaking with native speakers one-on-one. This school has a great environment in a quiet city in a beautiful part of China where you can do this all day with excellent instructors. I would recommend CLI without hesitation if you are serious about mastering the Chinese language. I have studied several foreign languages, and this is the best language learning environment I have seen in general.

Since you don't have classmates, and people come and go not confined to a particular schedule, the social scene can be a little awkward, so I suggest come to Guilin to focus on the language.

CLI is an amazing experience and is equally amazing in helping your language. This was my second experience ; once with my family for a 2 week stay in an apartment - this was a wonderful experience all round. I returned alone ( I am 14) for a 4 week stay with a homestay family. This experience was even better! My family were wonderful and included me in many activities. The 4 week immersion was really really helpful to language learning and I cannot wait to go back. CLI acivities and excursions are fun and the teachers and interns are so kind and helpful. They are there to ENSURE you learn Chinese, but in a really good and professional way.

I spent 2 months at CLI improving my Chinese. The support was fabulous from the beginning till the end, exact and prompt, providing proper answers to all my questions. The teaching was brilliant as I had three different one-on-one teachers who all had different styles and from whom I can learn different things. They were all really caring that I progress and used various methods. They were also very flexible - if I asked to change something, they were eager to follow, and I personally find them all very nice people. The programs CLI organized were all very diverse and quality programs from tea house visiting to weekend trips. The area where the school located is a bit out of the city center, but it is a very nice area with all facilities nearby. I can only recommend CLI to everyone, who wants to enjoy a personalized and flexible Chinese learning experience!

I went to study at CLI for 3 weeks. Previously I had been doing self study at home partly with a teacher for two hours a week. I thought that the CLI immersion program was great. I particularly enjoyed the one on one lessons but also liked having three different teachers. My aim was to improve my listening comprehension and my fluency in speaking. I really enjoyed studying at CLI. The teachers are great and very enthusiastic. I will I could have stayed longer.