Chinese Language Comprehensive Course + Culture Immersion in Yangshuo, China

Went to Omeida with the purpose of learning practical chinese to travel within China and improve general fluency. Over 3 weeks learnt lots of new vocabulary, made some great friends and saw some of the most beautiful views in YangShuo, well worth the time spent!

During the afternoons and nights you can choose to spend time with fellow chinese students or venture out to the English school where you will meet chinese native students learning English. It’s a really immersive experience where you will meet a diverse range of individuals.

School and teachers were excellent. I came to Yangshuo thinking I would spend most of my time exploring and learn Chinese on the side, but the classes were so good I instead spent most of my time studying and had almost no time to explore! Jingjing and Vivian were kind, patient, explained very clearly and tailored the classes to my needs. While I didn't take classes with them, all the other teachers were also warm and friendly when we interacted around school. The people really made my experience there special - should also mention student cafe lady aunty Jing, lunch room lady Lin Na, and other teachers/staff at Omeida Wency, Anya, Rachel and Lucy.

I spent 4 weeks in Yangshou at the Omeida Academy learning Chinese.
What works well. The good.
-The Academy is set up with an English school and a Chinese school. The programs are designed to provide interactions with the students from the other school. The school set up a language partner for me (and anyone who requests it) so 1 hour a day I met with a student from the English Academy we timed 30 minutes where no English was spoken, then 30 minutes where no Chinese was spoken. This provided good practice for my Chinese.
-Many activities planned by the school. Each week there is a Saturday activity when I was there they were 1) a visit to a tea plantation 2) climbing the TV tower mountain in Yangshou (fabulous views from here) 3) river tracing. Each week there was a Wednesday cultural session (1 hour).
There is a weekly English corner activity for the English Academy. Two times there were dinners/barbeques for all the students. You could choose to attend or not attend any or all of these events.
-I lived in the school dormitory and could have chosen to have a roommate (Chinese national) from the English school. That would have provided further practice for my Chinese skills.
- There is a study room/lounge/coffee shop that provides a very active place for interaction.
-The school is close to many small restaurants/street vendors. When I was eating at them often times students from the Chinese academy would see me and join me for the meal. More oppurtunities to practice Chinese. Plus the communication with the local vendors is in Chinese.
-The school is well set up to provide many opportunities to speak Chinese.
-The teachers provided lessons that were generally fun and learning experiences.

The bad:
-There is a lot of turnover of students. Students come for times varying from 1 week to many months. They also have varying abilities in Chinese. This means there not a real opportunity for the teacher to direct the instruction in the long term at you. The class are relatively small typically 3 or 4 students. The last week one class has 2 students in it. In that class the teacher was able to focus the lessons for the 2 students she had.
The school does the best it can with the situation it is in.

Take home. I would recommend coming to Omeida if this was your first exposure to China, if you want to brush up your Chinese (1-3 weeks), or if you are starting at a no Chinese level. The school is set up for you to learn a lot in the time you are here.

For me, I have lived in China for 10 years and for the classroom experience think I would have been better served by one-on-one sessions.

People from all over the world, and of all ages were here. They got along quite well and had a good time together. I give the overall experience a 5/5.

When I arrived at Omeida the staff was very friendly and briefly introduced me to the school and my dormitory. The classes were pretty chill and fun because you learned without pressure. Every wednesday a teacher gave us a presentation about interesting topics related to chinese e.g. How Jiaozi are made. At the weekend the acivities were also very fun and entertaining so you never were bored. The people here are very friendly and you you will make friends really fast.
I can only recommend to stay at Omeida. It was one of the best experiences I made!

Fantastic program, amazing place, excellent teachers, it is the perfect place to learn Chinese, and immerse in the culture. There are options to suit your needs and level, and the teachers are able to adjust accordingly. The location is magical, and it never feels like a school. It is a community that you can be part of, and would want to be part of. The support from the staff is excellent, and while everyone can speak English at the academy, they encourage you to speak Chinese to them, no matter your level, which really helps to practice in a setting you don't feel uncomfortable in. There are also cultural classes, teaching you about aspects of Chinese culture, as well as language partner program, giving you more opportunities to practice Chinese.

It has been said that 'the best fruit is to be found fresh from the tree', and where better to learn to communicate in Chinese than in China itself? And there are few more conducive places to learn, and live, in China than in Yangshuo. The rest of the world is easily forgotten when nestled within its misty peaks. But you will never forget Yangshuo.

Rank beginner or competent speaker, no matter your level, Omeida will chart a course that suits your particular needs
Omeida is a professional organisation with competent teachers and great support staff. A language partner program offers mutual benefit to learners of Chinese, and English. They organise weekly activities with lots of variety so there's something for everyone. It's entirely up to you as to your level of involvement. There's no pressure. As anywhere else things can get busy here. But there is an unhurried and harmonious quality to Yangshuo that's difficult to define, a quality compatible with living a good life.

I live in work in Guilin and I often go to Yangshuo. So, Yangshuo is an ideal place for me to study Chinese. I spent three weeks in Yangshuo during the winter holiday and welcomed the year of the rabbit while studying at Omeida. Overall, I had a great experience! I found the staff to be very welcoming and hospitable. They were very attentive to my needs, not only as a student, but as a guest. In general, everyone was very friendly and personable which fosters a very comfortable environment. More importantly, is the language learning environment at Omeida where you have the opportunity to immediately put to practice what you have learned. As an English teacher in China who has studied on and off for many years, I think I learned the most Chinese within this three-week time period that I have ever learned anywhere else. The two teachers who instructed me were engaging, extremely helpful and highly experienced. I've been teaching for over 10 years, and I was impressed with some of the approaches and methods they used in my classes. Apart from the actual Chinese classes, there were a variety of cultural activities offered as well as just exploring Yangshuo with staff members and students. I went out to dinner on a few occasions with Nissa, who I originally met in Yangshuo and introduced me to Omeida. Also, the school treated us to a very nice dinner at a local restaurant on the eve of the Chinese New Year as well as New Year's Day. This was a very kind gesture! I could go on at length about the positive experiences I had while studying at Omeida, but suffice it say that I had a great experience, and I was a little sad to leave. However, I plan to continue with online classes and return to Yangshuo to study in person as soon as I can.

Good teachers and warm community

Beautiful landscape in Guilin. It was a bit cool when I was there in January. yangshou was a bit quite as it was Chinese new year’s. Apparently in the summer the school can get very busy. Teachers where of high quality and quite dedicated. Cost of apartment and for the classes was quite reasonable.

Administration was very kind and would set up 1 culture day a week and on week would arrange set a weekend trip to going to a local food market.

Omeida is a Chinese school who is knows what it is and are very well meaning