Excellent 1-on-1 instruction, well worth the learning experience

I came to CLI with some basic speaking/listening skills from my family environment, and very basic (HSK 4ish) reading skills. I stayed at CLI for 7 weeks, but if I went back in time, I would have liked to stay a couple weeks longer, as when it came time to leave, I was quite sad to leave the friends I made at CLI and in Guilin and for my classes to come to an end.

Before I came to CLI, I was pretty iffy on the cost, but I now feel like the cost was well worth how much I progressed in Chinese skills, and the general experience. The other option I was considering to learn Chinese before coming to CLI was taking a semester-long course at a Chinese university. However, I couldn't find any suitable scholarships for a college course, since those seemed to have disappeared after Covid and with worsening U.S.-China relations (this may be different for college students). Considering that taking a university course wouldn't be much cheaper, and given that CLI allows you to choose any learning timeframe you want, I ended up choosing CLI.

Looking back, I believe this was the right decision due how effective I found the 20 hours a week of 1-on-1 instruction, which you can't really get anywhere else. As mentioned by other students, the instruction hours are initially split 3:2:1 (comprehensive, speaking, reading+listening), but in reality you can customize lesson time to be however you find most helpful. Personally, at least half of my lessons were simply having discussions with my teachers on any topic I wanted (general life, social issues, politics, history, etc.). My teachers would help me find words I didn't know and structure more complex sentences, to express what I wanted to say. I found my speaking skills improved very rapidly this way, which was my primary goal. The immersive environment also allowed my reading abilities progress much faster than I though they would. By the time I left I was able to read/send texts in Chinese much more easily, navigate commonly used Chinese apps to do things like make online orders, order takeout, and (slowly and painfully) read some Chinese news :).

I think the 1-on-1 instruction is maybe the best way to learn for language-learners who already have a foundation and have a good idea of what skills they want to improve in. My experience was very self-directed, and if this how you like to learn, then CLI's environment is maybe the best place to do so. I personally found many times that the learning materials that my teachers provided weren't super interesting or helpful (most likely due to my particular interests). It was most productive for me to find topics I found interesting to talk about, and have teachers help me read through things I found useful, such as news articles from the Chairman's Bao and reading material within common apps like Wechat, Taobao, etc.

The CLI teachers, interns, and staff are extremely friendly and helpful, and made my stay much easier than I imagined. I didn't realize at first that the teachers and interns could help with getting a phone number, opening a bank account, or even helping you buy things from stores, so getting help on a lot of these things at the beginning really makes adjusting to life in China a lot easier. It also made life much easier that the school's housing provided sheets, towels, hand soap, and even small packets of shampoo/body wash for when you first come. I was very surprised that the cleaning staff even cleaned rooms and changed sheets/towels weekly. The building also had a kitchen for cooking and free washers/dryers. These were all aspects I was worried about, so it was a big relief to not have to figure these out.

One of the best parts of CLI were how well the social activities and trips were catered towards student interests. For example, another student and I expressed our interest in learning traditional Chinese dance towards the beginning of our stay, and I was pleasantly surprised the next week that the interns found a nearby dance school and organized a group lesson for traditional Chinese dance. They also helped us to figure out how to attend dance lessons at this school, which I did so for the remainder of my time at CLI. Another example is that I expressed interest in seeing the Longsheng rice terraces, and it ended up being a school weekend trip a couple weeks later.

Another aspect I really enjoyed about China in general was how convenient many daily life activities turned out to be. Calling a Didi taxi for a short trip was never very expensive (although if I went back in time, I would've learned how to use the shared electric scooters on the sidewalks). Ordering takeout through the Meituan or 饿了么 apps can be cheaper and faster than going out to get food. As a vegetarian, I wished I'd done so sooner to avoid cooking or wasting time trying to find vegetarian food in restaurants. Also, returning things on Taobao turned out to be way easier than I thought, as you can just schedule door-pickup for the item you want to return, so I'd definitely recommend using the opportunity to buy clothes or other things you might need on Taobao :).