A good fun learning experience.

I am a “mature” woman who in my later years have been able to take up a long desires wish to learn Mandarin. Omeida in Yangshou was the perfect fit, as I also had long wanted to see the fantastic landscape of the area.
I already had some basic knowledge of characters and I was put in a class (one on one for two weeks and a classmate for the remainder two weeks) where my listening and speaking skills were intensely worked on. Exactly what I needed! Compared to before my visit my listening and speaking skills are much improved.
I also have an interest in the skill of writing/painting the characters, so I did a course learning the intricacies of producing the right strokes to make characters. My teacher had great patience and gave me a very good insight into different styles of writing characters.
My husband also came with me to Omeida. He was a beginner in Mandarin and had an enjoyable one on one class with his teacher in the afternoons. The mornings he spent in a lovely village a short bike ride away learning Tai Chi with a Tai Chi Master.
The school also organises a lot of extracurricular and social activities which immediately gives you an introduction to people and culture.
I would highly recommend this experience to anyone who has an interest in Chinese language, culture and food. Although we are vegan we had no problems with getting lovely food. The fact that the school also provide lunch and dinner makes life simpler.