An Incredibly Fun and Challenging 3 Weeks

I was at LTL Shanghai for 3 weeks in Sep/Oct, and before I'd even left, I found myself wishing I'd booked a longer stay. I did a Group Class for 4 hours a day and then 1:1 for 2 hours each day on top of that.

The group classes primarily go through a series of textbooks called "Short-Term Spoken Chinese" which consists of two Threshold (green) books, two Elementary (blue) books, and one Pre-Intermediate (purple) book. Apparently, there's also an Intermediate (orange) book, but there wasn't anyone taking courses at those two levels while I was there.

The pace of the class is rather quick. Each day and a half or so, we went through one chapter in the textbook, which covered about 25-30 new words, and around 5-6 new grammar points. However, the number of new words is somewhat misleading, as there are definitely words that get repeated from previous books. If you're someone that has a solid base, or has studied through some of this material on your own, you'll find that they duplicate things, presumably for the sake of repetition and retention (but you also have to wonder why they choose to repeat certain words - like "postage stamp". How often are you gonna be using this word in your daily life?)

During my 3 weeks, I think I had almost every teacher there as an instructor (aside from the famous Winnie, although I did get to chat with her a bit outside of class, and she seems really cool :D). Lois, Wei Wei, Jaime, Jason, Anne, and Ray were all very knowledgeable and enthusiastic, even though it seemed pretty obvious that for many of them, this was probably their 100th time going through the same material. They are very patient, doing their best to accommodate to the various levels of the students in the class (more on this later), add lots of cultural insights and tips, and try to make the lessons as fun and engaging as possible.

While this isn't necessarily something LTL can control, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the other students, who really help make the experience what it is. Since you're spending at least 4 hours a day with your classmates, plus time spent together during activities/meals or living in the same shared flat/homestay, the atmosphere and camaraderie that everyone brings is crucial to helping motivate you to practice your character, enjoy the learning experience and explore the city together. I was fortunate enough to meet many people, both young and old, from all over the world, who helped make my time so fun and productive.

Also, can't forget to mention Alex and Mojca (who was sadly away for the last 2 weeks of my stay), but both she (while she was there) and Alex did a lot to make sure that everyone has what they need and are being supported in whatever way possible. Whether it had to do with the courses themselves or navigating all the new Chinese apps, both were super helpful and responsive the whole time.

I mentioned earlier that the teachers did their best to accommodate the different levels of the students, since every week is a revolving door, one can't be expected to be in a group of students that are all at the same level and are all in a class that is appropriate for that level. However, if I had one critique, it would be that due to where my level was, I was forced (through no one's fault) to choose between a course that was too difficult or one that was too easy. At least for the purposes of the 1:1 course, I've already given the feedback that a more comprehensive placement assessment would be helpful, and that could perhaps better inform what should be covered in the 1:1 and which group class would actually be ideal.

Despite my last point, I absolutely would still recommend the course, as you do learn a lot. I believe I improved my reading by at least a couple of hundred characters in the few weeks I was there, and I learned a lot of foundational grammar and structures that I'd never really encountered or understood before. The only thing I would do differently, if I had to do it all over again, would actually be to go into the level that was "too easy", rather than doing the level that was too hard. The reason being that since the courses are paced rather rapidly anyway, there was a good chance that the lower-level classes would have caught up to where my actual level was during the time I was there.