That's Mandarin Chinese Language School Reviews

After finishing an Internship in Beijing, I was looking into taking part in an intensive Chinese program, I was staying with some family who suggested That’s Mandarin and I am very glad they did. I choose the small group classes as it was just me and one other student, I found that after a small group of lessons I was able to go out around the city and just talk with people and practice my Mandarin right away.

When I had my trial class, we discussed focusing on my proper pronunciation; this was an area I had struggled with. Being in the small group class gave me lots of speaking time where I was able to focus and build confidence with my speaking. I think there’s a very cool part about That’s Mandarin, in that they teach what you really need to know for daily life rather than when I learnt Chinese back home they focused more on the reading and writing, whereas since being here and concentrating on my listening and speaking skills I have experienced a really fast progression with Mandarin.

I did the intensive program which was 4 hrs day, from 10-12 in the mornings & 1 to 3 in the afternoons, 5 days a week. I signed up for 3 months and am currently having a break for the summer but have decided to sign up again at the end of August. The intensive course covers speaking, listening, reading & writing so you learn every part of the Chinese language, which includes learning the Chinese characters which is quite hard! I think That’s Mandarin has an interesting approach in teaching you to speak straightaway, I choose to study the video classes where they show you a video and you need to describe what you see, this way you learn a variety of things right away, this really worked for me. I heard at University people can study for over a year and still can’t speak Chinese because they learn a lot of reading and writing.

I started learning as an absolute beginner, since my studies I can see that I can understand a lot more, when people are talking to me in the beginning I was just lost but now I kind of know what they are talking about and sometimes I can recognize full sentences and phrases, I can see the progress I have made.

I came to study Chinese at That’s Mandarin to pick up some of the Chinese that I’d forgotten over the past 6 years and it’s also fun, at this point it’s a hobby for me but maybe in the future I would like to work using my Chinese.

My classes were really fun, we talked a lot in class and listened to recorded conversations, watched videos and read short articles, so I would get to practice all sides of the language. The video classes were probably my favorite type of class; they were certainly the most fun! I’d get to watch the film and then discuss what’s going on and it was very good for learning practical vocabulary, revising old words, new words as well as descriptive vocabulary. The listening classes were also very useful as we’d get into the grammar which is obviously very important.

The teachers are great, they have their plan of what they want to work on but they’re also very flexible; if I told them at the last minute that I wanted to focus on a certain aspect in class they were always willing to do this with me. I really liked the Mandarin Café, the fact that all my notes were online, I can login and find them and they’re always there which is a great feature.

My kids loved this camp! We came from the US to give them some practical experience speaking Mandarin. In the States, they study it but rarely have the chance to use it. My younger son, who detests his Chinese classes in the US, said after his first day at That’s Mandarin Summer Camp “Mom, can we go back tomorrow?” Huge victory for That’s Mandarin – both kids are chattering away to everyone they meet and have stayed interested and enthusiastic for two weeks.

I’ve been studying here for three months now. I like the That’s Mandarin teaching style, it’s a conversational teaching style. I came here actually to learn to speak Chinese & the best way to do that is to speak as much as you can and that’s what I’ve been doing here, everyday, in class with my teachers and I love it! You can personalize your classes, you work with the teacher to personalize it to your language goals and I don’t know if you can do that in any ever school, but this is pretty important to me.

I requested accommodation through the school and I’m staying in a really nice shared apartment with another student, it’s in a really nice neighborhood where I get the opportunity to practice my Chinese with my neighbors.

Everyday I look forward to coming to class, which is quite a surprise for me! Now I’m able to express myself, which is great! Two months ago I thought it was impossible for me to do that but I’m really satisfied with what I’m doing here.

the words and senses you learn on the private lessons are more focused on the student (what he or she needs to know for his conversations). But if you don't review all the words daily it's pretty hard to not forget them. I'm lucky that my teacher is giving me mnemonic to remember the words.

The teacher of professionalism in this course has been exemplary. The teachers are able to guide you smoothly through the curriculum whilst still tailoring each lesson to your personal needs.The accommodation provided by the school was beyond expectations. All the cooking, working and cleaning amenities one could hope for. And the rooms are serviced daily!

My name is Amy and I’m a second year university student. I’m studying Politics and International Relations and I’ve always had an eye on coming to China to work in a governmental role. One of my tutors advised me that to cut through the competition in this sector I would definitely need a good level of Chinese, so 18 months ago I started taking online classes.

Within a few months I felt I had enough day to day vocabulary to make a ‘test’ trip to China, and I surprised myself – I could happily survive and make everyday conversation.

Since then I have been working with my teacher to tailor my classes, reflecting the topics I study at university. The hotter the competition comes for expat jobs in China becomes the harder it will be to find a good one, and I’m determined to stay ahead of the curve.

Although I have a long way to go until I attain perfect fluency, I can happily chatter on to my teacher so that our three weekly classes fly by. My goal for this year is to take a second, extended trip to China to start to scope out employment opportunities, showing off my Chinese abilities at the same time.

- Methodology is very structured and at same time hands-on with daily examples
- Helpful and highly qualified staff (make also the fun part)
- For me, the three hour teaching per week, is very useful lto help me in my daily communication with ayi, colleagues and day to day things (after one year and can talk and understand)

As the lessons are designed according to the needs and questions of the students, there is fast progress in conversational skills. The staff at the school is very nice, helpful and supportive. I always enjoyed coming to the school and i haven't had similar progress learning chinese with any other teacher in a different school or university.