That's Mandarin Chinese Language School Reviews

I have been here at That's Mandarin for 2 weeks. It's my first time in a day camp in China, Shanghai. I learned a lot of things about Chinese culture and new Chinese chracters. The activities are held after lunch. We have 3 hours in learning Chinese. During Tuesday's and Thursday's we go out for field trips. I met a lot of friends from other countries, people came here to learn new language and that is Chinese.

Teachers here are very kind and funny, they are good at making the class a much more interesting lesson than the kind we have in schools. Most students here are from other countries, we are seperated from our levels.

I am in the advanced class, the words are hard but the more is better than learning basic stuffs. This is the Day Camp experience I ever had.

We found the program to be very fun and interesting for my child. It provides an environment for him to speak Mandarin and build his confidence in speaking Mandarin. He also enjoyed the outdoor excursions which introduced the history and heritage of the Chinese culture. The teachers were very supportive and caring which makes it fun for the children to learn Chinese.

My 2 girls, Vina and Vanessa Joined That's Mandarin Summer Camp for 2 weeks. I feel that they enjoy joining this camp, Everyday after camp, they told me about tings that happened in camp.

The teachers are very friendly. According to my children's opinion, the teachers taught quite well. They entertain the students to learn Chinese. The teachers make my girls realised that Chinese is not a boring lesson.

Overall, this camp had perform a good experience as they have their summer break. In this 2 weeks, they also visit many places in Shanghai. They had a great time here in Shanghai. Maybe next time, they can join this camp again in a longer period.

Finding That's Mandarin was a real blessing. So far I have really appreciated my experience here, both from an academic point of view and a social one. The one-on-one program that I am attending is tailored to my needs (I came in here knowing less than nothing!), and now, after only two weeks, I am able to understand what's going around me and to make myself understood in everyday life situations. Moreover, the school is attended by the most diversified crowd, which adds value to the overall experience.

I had never studied any Chinese before and wanted to learn some basics before I traveled around China for a few months, so I signed up for a two week course with That's Mandarin in Shanghai. I'm certainly glad I did. I steadily progressed in my very basic Chinese every day. Their method really is to have the student jump right in, and after learning just a few words and grammar rules to go ahead and start practicing saying the kinds of sentences that are most used on a daily basis (often using role play interactions, such as pretending you are communicating with a waiter in a restaurant). The teachers would ask us to come up with unique, original simple sentences using the new words and grammar rules we learned each day. Then the teachers would write these sentences into their computer program and print them out at the end of the day so we could study them at night and review them again in class the next day. It was a great balance of keeping us on our toes to come up with sentences, but also feeling that is it was totally fine if we got something wrong, forgot a word, or took a while to complete a sentence.

The teachers were very friendly, knowledgeable in methods of beginner language instruction, and were an overall pleasure to work with. Each day we had one teacher for the first two hours and another for the second two. However those two teachers never changed - this worked quite well. We also had plenty of laughs in class and learned a little about each other. I only had one other student in my class (I believe all their classes are one-on-one or very small groups) and the small group setting made for an effective yet relaxed learning environment.

This course was the ideal way to begin my travels in China. For an introduction to beginner Chinese I definitely recommend That's Mandarin.

Before coming to Beijing, I had studied Mandarin in high school 6 years back. Naturally, I had forgotten a lot of characters and was not able to communicate as well as I had anticipated. Starting to learn again had its challenges - I often found myself flustered and frustrated.

While coming to the school, it's good to know that the teachers had the capability to adapt to my present level and were able to help me reach my person goals.

The unique teaching style of the That's Mandarin allows students to remember characters for the long term, and also provided me the ability to retain key grammatical structures. I think in a sense, this comes down to the management of the school, and the ease of communication between teachers who teach the same students.

To provide an example, during high school, I had a habit of forgetting characters a week after studying, but over here characters are reemphasized often enough to remember them for the long haul.

The other thing that was particularly useful was the fact that the all the notes were printed soft-copy & hard-copy. I was therefore able to go through my notes while sitting at dinner via my ipad or taking the train / bus / public transportation.

Program's strength is its flexibility and ability to meet students where they are at. If you have clear goals, That's Mandarin can help you get there. However, some teachers seem overworked/too many hours. Though they are exceptionally professional, there are limits to any one person's ability to pay attention.

I like comimg to That's Mandarin because everyone here is kind and patient. I love how the classes are desgined to fit my specific needs and ability, even on days when I am struggling the teachers are very encouraging.

My level of Chinese was OK before I discovered That's Mandarin, but i had forgot many words due to a change in circumstances and the lack of opportunity to speak with Chinese people at work. Luckily I discovered That's Mandarin, and instantly my Chinese started to improve again.

The teachers are fantastic and offer an extremely affable experience. They tailor the class around you and can quickly determine your level.

I thought the most enjoyable things about the classes were the story 'telling method' where you get to watch an interesting video and then talk about it afterwards. Initially you find yourself describing it in a very basic manner, not too dissimilar to a child would. But after a few classes you are able to express in much finer detail what is happening. For somebody who appreciates visual learning, I found this very effective.

The course coordinator Molly was very easy to talk to, very helpful and always contactable. I am doing a small group class with 2 people and we get maximum opportunity to learn using dialogues such as ordering a meal or asking for directions.

I think the teaching method is very effective, combining vocabulary, grammar and dialogues in each section.