Great school to learn mandarin

I was lucky enough to go to a high school in Seattle that offered Chinese as a foreign language. Because we have a large Asian community, we had a native-speaking Chinese teacher all four years of my high school study. We watched a lot of Chinese dramas, learned about ancient Chinese culture and fables and immersed ourselves in a new way of thinking about the world. It was an eye-opening experience that all the students in Spanish and French class really envied!

So, with inspiration from my high school experience, I decided to pursue Mandarin Chinese in college, with a double major in Chinese and marketing.

Before college, however, I decided to defer my acceptance to university and take a six-month Mandarin program in China the fall before I went into university here in Washington in the spring. Upon that decision and while waiting for my flight to China I wanted to take online classes over the summer after graduating high school. My Chinese teacher in Seattle recommends 1-on-1 classes with a professional. Since I only got to speak occasionally in the classroom, the teacher said that a 1-on-1 program would help me with my individual challenges. Boy, was she right!

I decided to do the Regular Chinese Lessons for Teens course through eChineseLearning. Since I'd already had 4 years of high school level study in Seattle, I qualified for Level 4- basic conversational level. eChineseLearning had a good system in place to assess which level I am at. I liked that they didn't just put me in some random class with a random teacher...they actually could grade my speaking and personalise the course to my needs. What I liked most about these lessons, as I mentioned, is how personalised they are. In a classroom, you just "go with the flow". But in these online classes it's all based on your specific needs. When I told my teacher I'd be moving to Beijing, she taught me all about the Beijing accent and speaking style. It was so specific and attentive!

Now I am in Beijing and in an intensive school. I have decided to extend my lessons with eChineseLearning and supplement my classroom lesson with personalised online lessons. The feedback you get from the 1-on-1 experience is a huge benefit.