1on1 Private Chinese Course

I came China and took the opportunity to learn the language. I've learned a few languages before but Chinese is different from them. I had two main difficult areas, tones and writing. I think most of foreigners have similar difficulties.
The school staff is kind and ready to help. It's very important in the schocking mements when I realize that mixed two words which sound so similar (for me, for Chinese they are completely different of course). I feel the staff do all what they can, but an old dog can't easily learn new tricks.

I studied in TM for 4 hours every morning for a period of 4 months when I lived in Beijing in 2012. When I moved back to the States, I continued studying via Skype. I have tried a number of study programs in Beijing and over Skype. The teachers in TM are exceptionally smart and creative and fun to work with. The facilities are in a great location and are very welcoming!

I spent 6 weeks at That's Mandarin. It was a very enjoyable 6 weeks. The staff and teachers were very friendly. My level of Chinese increased substantially, mainly in the areas of speaking and listening. The teachers were very patient and explained all my questions in a thorough and professional manner. I would have no hesitation recommendion That's Mandarin to any student wishing to further their Chinese level.

That's Mandarin was everything I had hoped it would be. I took a four-week intensive 1-on-1 program to try and push my verbal skills to the next level.

Thanks to a great group of teachers who were patient, persistent, creative, funny, and energetic, I was able to achieve my goal.

I highly recommend That's Mandarin to anyone who is interested in improving their ability to speak and understand Mandarin.

I came to That's Mandarin to study intensive Chinese. I took 6 hours of private lessons 5 days a week for a month. I also lived with a Chinese family. I have been self-taught, using online resources and books to learn speaking, grammar and characters for 3 1/2 years, up until my lessons at That's Mandarin.

My classes were each two hours long. The teachers all allowed for conversation and review the first hour, which was very helpful and also fun to just get to talk. One class was spoken translation from English to Chinese. This was excellent and my favorite, as it helped me learn my many weaknesses in Chinese grammar and word order. The second class was listening to a recording and repeating it back. This was harder than I thought it would be, but was useful in both listening skills, and in teaching me cultural aspects of modern China as the recordings were about specific topics. My final class was reading in Chinese characters. I learned many new characters and words from this class. I had told my teachers initially that I was not interested in coming to That's Mandarin to learn writing characters as I've been working on that on my own, and wanted to use my time in China to improve my speaking and listening. That’s why I didn't have a writing class.

My family experience was great. The husband and wife had his parents living with them. Their son was in college and I used his room. None of them spoke a word of English, so at breakfast and dinner we conversed in Chinese. They prepared great meals and were excellent hosts. They even had a washing machine so I could wash my clothes in the apartment, but the grandmother offered to do that for me, which was very nice.

The location of the apartment was in a bustling area about 2 miles from the school so the walk was easy. I could have also taken a cab or a three wheeled bike. The school is in a great part of Beijing called Sanlitun, and there are tons of restaurants and businesses around the area. Every day I'd walk home a new way to see more of Beijing.

The only problem with the school was that the plumbing was not very functional. For a long day at the school, like I had, this was a problem and should be addressed in a better way.

I had no problems with the teachers on the teaching. They were very helpful and I cannot recommend this school highly enough. I ran into many fellow students who had tried other schools and said that That's Mandarin was the best.

I chose them because they had private lessons, and when I contacted them initially, and the woman learned I was doing an intensive course, she advised me to do a home stay rather than have an apartment (I was nervous about a home stay). That opened up modern Chinese culture to me, through the food and conversation. It would not have been anywhere near as valuable an experience had I lived in an apartment with an English speaker.

I am currently taking a 2-hour class online once a week with That's Mandarin, via Skype, to continue learning and to not lose what I did learn. I'm making progress and it keeps me motivated in my self-studies. I plan on going back for another intensive month of studying next year in Beijing.

As someone who works in the media industry in China, I wanted to have a better understanding of the work I am doing in the country. In addition, as my career aspirations in the media will have me residing here for a long period time, I want to be able to communicate with my subjects and colleagues through their language more, although their English skills are good.

I found That's Mandarin by chance and I have been very impressed with their professionalism and efforts to improve all aspects of my Chinese skills.

One thing that attracted me to That's Mandarin is their one-on-one classes for those who are working in Beijing. As I have a very busy schedule I do not have the time to be in classes all day. Fortunately, That's Mandarin tailors the classes to what you would like to work on. I wanted to take the Chinese Proficiency Test (HSK), so That's Mandarin worked with me to develop a plan to prepare for it. Thanks to the teachers' encouragement and hard work, I passed the level three HSK exam. Now I am working my way to taking the level four exam.

Classes are very relaxed and the teachers make learning Chinese fun compared with courses at universities in China where teachers may fill your head with vocabulary and not give students the opportunity to participate in the classes. Teachers at That's Mandarin want students to be active because it is the only way for them to improve their Chinese skills.

The work that the staff do at That's Mandarin is great and I believe that anyone who is looking to learn Chinese should give them serious consideration.

Over the course of a few years I have been taking part-time one-on-one classes at That's Mandarin. The teachers have all been obviously well-trained and use the same methods (this link word method that they talk about), and when your Chinese gets to a higher level, they have so many resources in their Mandarin Cafe system, and I love the fact that I can use that to review my notes and test myself rather than just sifting through all my notes. It may seem a little pricey but I think it's worth it just because I improved so much for relatively little study time.

I had individual classes which suited my needs perfectly. I thought it was nice to have three different teachers, each with their individual strengths. The location of the school is very convenient, the building is very comfortable, and they have succeeded in creating a nice atmosphere inside.