The Harbin Mandarin School, Harbin

[abcdefg]

@edelweis

would you mind describing your experience at 1on1mandarinworkshop ?

For instance, did you do the 4 hours a day 1 on 1 "class" ?
What were your class hours? (all in the morning or ...)
What was the cost of your program?
Did you have a choice of textbooks?
What was your level? How long did you study with them?
How was the class structured (grammar, conversation, special topics?)
Did you stay at the accommodations provided by that school? If so what can you tell us about that?
Did the teachers or staff speak any English at all?
Any specific good and bad points that could interest us ?

I studied there for about 6 weeks during the summer of 2008 and was well pleased. I will try to answer your questions.

1. For instance, did you do the 4 hours a day 1 on 1 "class" ?
-- Yes.
2. What were your class hours? (all in the morning or ...)
-- I started out taking class from 8 to 12 but later changed to afternoons (1 to 5.)
3. What was the cost of your program?
-- I don't remember exactly, but it was what they listed on their website.
4. Did you have a choice of textbooks?
-- Yes.
5. What was your level? How long did you study with them?
-- Elementary. About 6 weeks.
6. How was the class structured (grammar, conversation, special topics?)
-- We mainly followed the comprehensive textbook (Hanyu Jiaocheng.)
7. Did you stay at the accommodations provided by that school? If so what can you tell us about that?
-- Yes. My apartment was modern and well equipped. As advertised on their website. Five or ten minute walk from the classroom.
8. Did the teachers or staff speak any English at all?
-- My teacher spoke good English.
9. Any specific good and bad points that could interest us ?
-- My teacher was very good. The staff (my teacher's mother) was friendly and helpful.

http://www.1to1mandarinworkshop.com/

[edelweis]

wow thanks that's very interesting

I've new questions now...

Did you contact them directly from overseas to set-up your studies and accommodations? (phone? email?)

Did you have to extend your visa to stay for 6 weeks? (and what kind of visa did you get)

How are the classrooms? (I hear bincai is somewhat noisy, does 1on1mw have closed classrooms?)

How many students did they have besides you?

Did you interact with them? (for class or outside of class)

Were there other teachers besides your teacher?

So you followed the textbook face-to-face with your teacher for 4 hours on end?

was that exhausting?

Were you able to ask questions/advice about outside-the-classroom situations?

Did you do some written work as well?

Did you have homework to do? (if so how much time did that take daily?)

About the accommodations:

According to the website they look pretty good (private bathroom with western style toilet, internet etc).

Were there any bad points?

Do you actually share the kitchen area and kitchen with flatmates or is it a separate flat for each student?

What floor were you on?

About Harbin: what is it like in the summer? Hot? dusty?

E. (thinking about going back to China...)

[abcdefg]

I've new questions now...

Did you contact them directly from overseas to set-up your studies and accommodations? (phone? email?)
Did you have to extend your visa to stay for 6 weeks? (and what kind of visa did you get)

How are the classrooms? (I hear bincai is somewhat noisy, does 1on1mw have closed classrooms?)

How many students did they have besides you?
Did you interact with them? (for class or outside of class)
Were there other teachers besides your teacher?

So you followed the textbook face-to-face with your teacher for 4 hours on end?
was that exhausting?
Were you able to ask questions/advice about outside-the-classroom situations?
Did you do some written work as well?
Did you have homework to do? (if so how much time did that take daily?)

About the accommodations:
According to the website they look pretty good (private bathroom with western style toilet, internet etc).
Were there any bad points?
Do you actually share the kitchen area and kitchen with flatmates or is it a separate flat for each student?
What floor were you on?

About Harbin: what is it like in the summer? Hot? dusty?

You need to try and get some more current information; since my experience is not current (it is based on the summer of 2008.) The school was just in its early start up phase when I attended and it may be significantly different now. Meanwhile, I will do what I can.

1. Did you contact them directly from overseas to set-up your studies and accommodations? (phone? email?)
No. I was already in China. I had gone to Dalian where I planned to attend a summer session at DUT, but that fell through and I just phoned them up and went on to Harbin from Dalian instead.

I already knew the founder and main teacher because I had studied with him in Kunming. He was a Harbin native and wanted to return home and open a language school there, so he did.

2. Did you have to extend your visa to stay for 6 weeks? (and what kind of visa did you get)
No. I was traveling on a US tourist visa good for one year with multiple 90 day entries.

3. How are the classrooms? (I hear bincai is somewhat noisy, does 1on1mw have closed classrooms?)

Two classrooms. Each has a table, two chairs and a blackboard. They are as pictured on the website. The school itself is an apartment on the 12th floor of a modern high rise building.

4. How many students did they have besides you?
Did you interact with them? (for class or outside of class)
Were there other teachers besides your teacher?

I was the only student. My teacher was the only teacher. His mother was the "staff."

5. So you followed the textbook face-to-face with your teacher for 4 hours on end?
was that exhausting? -- yes
Were you able to ask questions/advice about outside-the-classroom situations? -- yes
Did you do some written work as well? -- yes -- I was trying to improve my written Hanzi.
Did you have homework to do? (if so how much time did that take daily?) -- yes, about 2 hours

6. About the accommodations:
According to the website they look pretty good (private bathroom with western style toilet, internet etc). -- My apartment was fine. It was one of the ones pictured on the website.
Were there any bad points? -- No. It was near restaurants and a shopping mall with movie theater and gym. Short walk to a large square and to the Songhua River.
Do you actually share the kitchen area and kitchen with flatmates or is it a separate flat for each student? -- No flat mates. It isn't a dorm. It's an apartment in a Chinese apartment building. Most of the other tenants were young white collar workers.
What floor were you on? I think it was the 25th floor.

7. About Harbin: what is it like in the summer?
It was hot and dry. They had not had the usual amount of rain that year.

In summer the sun rises very early, about 4 a.m. and doesn't set till almost 9 at night. I found this bothersome and did not adjust well to the change it made in my "bioclock." I felt "jet lagged" and "half out of it" for most of the time I was there due to poor sleeping..

On arrival I had a pretty good idea in mind of how I wanted to focus my study time. I had an initial conference with my teacher explaining my goals and he did his part in helping me accomplish those aims. He stayed flexible as those goals changed some over time.

The school dealt honestly with me and delivered what they said they would. I have no complaints. But, that being said, it was a pretty solitary and isolated experience until I made some local, non-school friends. Harbin people are open and accepting, but socializing still took some time and effort. I would have liked more help with that.

I say again, you need some more current information. Edited February 15, 2016 at 03:41 AM by abcdefg

[edelweis]

Many thanks abcdefg for the detailed reply

This is quite interesting.

I think I will try to go next year. I'll contact the school for updated info.

Thanks again.

[abcdefg]

Re: 121 Tutor schools off the beaten track

How about Harbin? I can highly recommend this school.

It sounds like @pancake has been there. Maybe he has more recent experience and will comment.

[pancake]

I have already sent a PM to edelweis, but for the record my experience of the school is not significantly different from abcdefgh's account (except that the school is now on the 11th floor, natch! :-) ).

I think this school is great if you want 1-on-1 with actual qualified teachers. I have seen some comments here along the line of "if you're paying over 20 kuai an hour for a tutor then you are being taken for a ride" but I actually feel the complete opposite. At a mere 70 kuai per hour, I felt like I was taking THEM for a ride. Keep in mind that my teacher was not just some random university student: he was a 北大-graduate, a fledgling playwright and really passionate about Mandarin.

[abcdefg]

I probably just remembered the wrong floor for the school. 丢三落四。

I'm glad to hear your experience there was positive too.

I'm of the firm opinion that the thing which matters most by far is the quality of the teacher. That's the essential ingredient and the sine qua non. Everything else is gravy.

[kala]

Hi,

I'm considering Mandarin Workshop this summer. Has anyone been there lately? I'm trying to confirm if the school actually exists (even though they reply to my emails) since very little information can be found on the internet.

It's expensive (8200 yuan for 4 weeks of 1-on-2 teaching, with accommodation) and they require a 1000 yuan pre-payment (as does Bincai, another school in Harbin). I wonder about the quality of the teaching too...although private tutoring is what I'm mainly interested in.

Any info is welcome ^^

PS. yes, I know there are cheaper alternatives but I'd like to go somewhere pretty soon and Mandarin Workshop offers a combined accommodation + tutoring package which makes it convenient.

[HaoZhuYi]

Hi,

I was in 1to1 Mandarin Workshop in May this year and was pretty impressed over all. I signed up for four weeks of study and paid 8200. I always hear people say how much cheaper it is hire a local to talk with you etc, but it was quite a stretch for me to get a month off work, and I didn't want to be spending additional precious time off work in the UK messing around looking for people to teach me when I arrived. As it was, I arrived on a Saturday, and we got down to classes two days later on the Monday.

The school is basically a two-bedroom apartment in a fairly nice and very modern complex of apartment buildings in Daoli, in the western section of the City. If you had to, you could walk to downtown in about an hour, and in fact, I did walk from downtown back to my apartment (also in Daoli) in an hour once just to see what the walk was like. The school will meet you from the airport, which is not to be sniffed at as the ride into town is probably 40 minutes or so.

I was met at the airport on the evening I arrived by the guy who would turn out to be my teacher, and was driven to the apartment where I would live. The 8200 kuai fee includes tuition *and* accomodation. The apartment was a studio (ie bed and living area all in one room, with an en-suite bathroom) in a more down-at-heel building in Daoli, but still fine for my purposes. My studio apartment was on I think the 17th floor of a 25 storey building. The studio building had some of the things that people complain about in other Chinese buildings (trash occasionally left on the corridors, and cigarette stains in the lift), but I was really pretty pleased with it. Any trash left in the corridor in the morning was always picked up by the afternoon, and there were staff there in the building cleaning floors every day too.

One thing I would say is that the bed was a little harder than I am used to, and there were occasional smells from the sink in the bathroom. I have stayed at several places in China before and this sink smell thigns seems to be a feature of all places there. I noticed that the s-bend that we have in America and Europe to prevent smells coming back up through the sink, is not a common feature in China. However, the 'Ayi' (literally 'Auntie') who was attached to the school was extremely helpful in dealing with this. She came out twice when I mentioned it, and fashioned a DIY s-bend, which reduced the smell a lot.

These minor quibbles aside, the apartment was really very good. It had a brand new flat-screen tv, broadband and a brand new fridge/freezer, and a mini-kitchen area (without a hob). They supply bed linen and towels as well. My apartment had a nice view, but might be a bit high if you haf vertigo?

One interesting aspect of the accomodation was that I was not always the only white/European guy in the place. I often met Russian parents with their kids in the elevators. I asked my teacher what the deal was and he said that Russians come to Harbin with sick kids to get them treated by Traditional Chinese Medicine doctors.

That's a random aside. Now for the meat: the classes were really good. I have been studying Chinese on and off for about 4 years. I have been to 1-on-1 Mandarin in Wudaokou, and Taipei Language Institute in Taipei, and thought this was easily the best value for money I have got in language teaching so far. I study quite a bit of hanzi on my own with Anki (a spaced repetition system) so I was adamant on going in to the school that we not do any reading. So every day, me and the teacher just talked for four hours.This was exactly what I wanted. I figured I can study hanzi and go through text books on my own in the UK, but I can't chat with a Chinese person for four hours a day. Some people freak out about not following a book, but I don't, so I have to say that they get full marks for giving me exactly what I want.

One thing I would say is this: because there was no set lesson format for me, I had to come in every day with an idea of some things to talk about and the energy to try and engage in conversation. If you don't have this decided in your head beforehand, then you wouldn't do very well following my method. Having said that, if you're not motivated and enthusiastic about learning, doing one-on-one classes of any sort won't suit you. There's nowhere to hide in one-on-one. (Incidentally Kala, you had said it was 8200 for one-on-two, but I don't think they really do one-on-two classes at this place. It's all one-on-one, ie just you and a teacher in the class) If you like listening to a teacher and relying on your classmates to ask questions, then this method and this school won't work for you. You need to bring a lot of energy to it. However, if you have the energy, you'll get a lot from it. My teacher and I would discuss everything from movies, to history, politics, random anecdotes, social trends etc. It was exactly what I wanted. I can't speak about how they would do textbook teaching, but my experience with just oral Chinese makes me reckon they'd do it very well.

I had the same teacher (a guy) for three weeks and changed for my last week. The school had no problem with that and arranged a different teacher to come (the second was a woman) for the last week. Although my first teacher was really good, I wanted just to try speaking to someone new. The teachers were both very qualified. My first guy was a graduate in Chinese literature from Harbin Normal (ie a university like ENS in France for training teachers) and the second teacher also studied Chinese at Harbin U. They were both enthusiastic and fun and extremely helpful. One time, due to my own error, I disconnected the broadband in my studio. It was a Saturday morning and I was dreading being without internet for the next day and a half. I tentatively called the teacher and Ayi, and they were both over within an hour to help fix it.

As for the classes, my method was to do all four hours a day in the morning. Thus I woke at 7.30, went off to fill up on zhou porridge and spinach and mushroom dumplings (60p a day for breakfast!) and went off to the school. Ayi (this literally means 'Aunt', but she was not related to anyone in the school. She was a woman in her 60s who looked after the apartment if there was a problem, set up the broadband, took payments and even cooked me lunch a couple of times) would come into the classroom on occasion and fill up my teacup with hot water or bring in slice of watermelon to keep energy up during class time.

Four hours a day of one-on-one is intensive stuff though. I went home, and added all the new vocabulary I had taken down that day to Anki (the memory software I use). I then drilled on Anki for an hour or so, and then relaxed. Every other day, I would go for a run along the riverside park near my accomodation. I discovered that the park is called Stalin Park, which is sort of unfortunate as a name, but it was an awesome place to go running, especially in May, when the weather was pretty good. Ooh, a quick word about weather. I chose May on the basis that the weather would be nice, and it was, but even then there were some chilly days. I can't speak about winter, but the school is open all year. I gather winter is pretty rough there, so you may need to be a Chicago native to tough it out.

I went out to eat most evenings. When the weather was fine toward the end of the month, I consumed large amounts of chuanr and beer in roadside restaurants, and I also became a regular at a really good Korean place nearby. Facilities-wise, the accomodation is literally across the road from a good mall with a Century Mart supermarket. I could get biscuits, booze, tea, soap and whatnot there. The fruit in the supermarket was not very good though, but if you go downtown, there's an awesome fruit place near the mosque. Bizarrely, there is also a luxury mall next door to the ordinary mall. This luxury mall has every western luxury brand you can think of in it. It seemed a bit pointless, as it looked empty, but if you want a Balenciaga purse you're well set up there too.

On weekends, I took my teachers advice and visited the sites. One site was Unit 731, a fairly grim former biological weapons research facility left behind by the Japanese. The other weekend, I explored downtown, and the final weekend, I checked out the Buddhist temple. Each weekend I only alloted one day to doing touristy stuff. The other I just crashed in my studio and took it easy.

Overall, this school is definitely worth a look, especially if you don't want to be in Beijing. 8200 kuai works out at just under 800 UK sterling. I still think this is awesome value. I can't remember what I paid at Taipei Language Institute, but I remember paying about 120 kuai or so an hour at 1on1Mandarin in Wudaokou. I did three weeks of three hours a day private 1-on-1 classes there, which worked out at 45 hours in total, which is 5400 kuai in tuition alone for three weeks. And then you have to find a place to stay in Beijing, which is more expensive.

okay, I'll sign off now.

HZY

[abcdefg]

Enjoyed your clear and comprehensive report @HZY. I was there in 2008 and liked it too. Sounds like they are keeping up the good work.

I'm trying to confirm if the school actually exists (even though they reply to my emails) since very little information can be found on the internet.

@kayla -- They exist. I exchanged e-mails with the owner last week. We have remained friends.

...although private tutoring is what I'm mainly interested in.

And private tutoring is what you will get. With the bonus of having your lodging taken care of for you.

[kungpao_chicken]

@HaoZhuYi: You brought up a very good point. I am about to head there in 2 weeks to spend the rest of the summer. I am a beginner in mandarin but still wanted to focus on the speaking mostly. I found out its not that hard to learn characters on your own, but speaking is completely different since precise pronunciation is required. I am going to suggest something like 2 hrs in the morning, 2 hrs after lunch type of program, that way i can go out and practice the first half and take a break, then come back and rehash if necessary.

The only reason I know about this place was while trying to find info on BLCU on these forums someone years ago mentioned it as an alternative. After speaking to a former student of both schools I abandoned my search for the perfect low cost learning center in Beijing and decided on this place. While I dont have any first hand experience here myself, I do know to find any sort of comparable teaching in Beijing would have costed 3-4x as much and then the accommodation on top of it. I am missing out on the networking aspect of constantly being in Beijing, but this is working out better anyways, since I can just take a train into the city whenever I need to meet with someone and MW is more than happy to make up the missed teaching time on the other days I'm there. Being away from all that distraction will be more beneficial to my learning, which is why I am coming back. I can take a vacation any other time.

A wise word a former western student from MW told me: 'When you are eventually in Beijing interviewing for a job they will have expected you had gone to a mandarin school there, and impressed & intrigued that you chose Harbin instead'

[gozo2u]

Hey Kungpao! So are you in Harbin now? Did you end up at the 1to1 mandarin workshop?

I just started learning in June... Went 4 hours/day here in the states with a tutor. He was cheap... $8/hour, was from near Shanghai, and I could tell he was intelligent and his mandarin was good... but when it came to grammer, or anything that needed to be explained, he just said, "we never thought about that"... I did learn a lot... learned pinyin and worked through a book, although he wasn't too keen on doing exercises... I also have some great programs from the library, including the whole program for "Communicate in Chinese", which I love!

But... now I would like to be fully submerged and have a teacher who can explain things... and, my work just put out that they will be offering an educational leave... So good timing!

I would be interested in know what you are doing and be thankful for any suggestions...

At this time I am not interested in learning Hànzì...

Thanks

Michael

[kungpao_chicken]

That is a good price for a tutor, i only found pathetic classes here in LA, that maybe if you attended for 10years you would get 1st grade training. Private tutors wanted $50/hr so I said screw that, go back to china!

I am heading for China this Sat, spending a week in Beijing to do some meetings then heading up to Harbin. So I havent been there yet, but I have gotten many glowing recommendations from other expats that went to their program. It was still a hard decision, as Harbin is not the best place to make connections in. To get the same 1on1 training as MW does I was finding prices 3-4x higher in Beijing, without accommodations. MW basically costs $300/week. Most likely you can find a private tutor in Beijing for the same amount, but like you I want to learn. Liu Jun is the guy I want to learn from, and he teaches up there so that's where I'm going.

I am heading there for the summer, thru august, have to go to europe to do some work in sept, then heading back to spend the whole winter. How much time do you have for training? PM me your email and I will be able to give you more detail when I start on what its like. We just missed the international beer festival there. I'm really bummed about that one as its fairly difficult to get a good wheat beer in china.

I think we should do some program swaps ;)

[llamaesque]

I'm considering Harbin to do some intensive Mandarin study for 3-6 months in February 2012. I'm looking at doing 12 weeks at this 1to1 school following the excellent recommendations. I had originally looked at doing a 6 month semester at HIT, mainly due to the very low cost, but I have a feeling that the large classes may not be so beneficial.

For those who've attended this 1to1 school, do you think this type of learning will be beneficial for someone, like me, whose Mandarin is at a very basic level? I learnt at school and have forgotten most of it almost a decade later. I'm keen to get as much out of these 3 months as possible.

Also, is the private accommodation heated? I'll most likely be there in February, and will be coming from 30C+ days in Australia and with zero experience of sub-zero winters.

Finally, I note there are restaurants nearby but are there any decent bars near the accommodation?

[kungpao_chicken]

hey llamaesque. I just went to this school over the summer. February will be very cold, outside. But this is a modern city so indoors and in your apartment there will be good heaters. I would invest in some gortex outerwear since you have no experience in the cold. It will feel very very cold to you

I recommend this school for people who want to take learning mandarin seriously. Some just want to come hang out in china and learn some phrases so they go to the big cities. In Harbin its not as booming but there are restaurants, bars & liquor stores nearby. The big bar scene is mostly near HIT (Harbin Institute of Tech) and areas not too far from the school. Lucky for you taxis are everywhere and very cheap. The teachers at the school will help you figure out how to get around, its pretty simple. In 12 weeks you will have learned enough to do most basic things in China. The classes are as intensive as you can handle and there are plenty of people to practice on At HIT it will be cheap, but learning in a group atmosphere means you will only get as far as the rest of the class. It may be easier to meet people there but your level of learning wont be as high. Just the obvious facts. Ask for Liu @ 1and1, excellent teacher.

[jzyy]

Hi all,

I studied with 1to1 Mandarin Workshop around the first week of July and I was pretty satisfied with what the school offered, from the apartment to the teaching.

The apartment is pretty much like what HZY described. I’m not very fussy so for me it was a pretty nice place (especially compared to the ‘typical’ Chinese apartments). It was also conveniently located. It usually takes around 10min for me to get to the school from the apartment. Supermarkets, shopping centers (one of which has a gym and the other one is a luxury mall), and a number of restaurants are all within walking distance.

Classes were quite good. I purposely went there for the one-on-one teaching as I found the classes in universities not that productive, especially in the speaking department. I didn’t have a fixed class schedule because I usually didn’t mind changing schedules when my teacher had to teach other students at a certain time. At the end of the day, we still maintained a 20-hour study period per week.

Though I had reference books, our discussions didn’t just cover the 生词. We would also talk about Chinese culture, history, politics, social trends, etc. I would have to say that this is the main reason as to why I’m quite satisfied with the school. Not only did I learn new words or phrases but I understood China a little bit more. And I think understanding the country itself makes learning the language more meaningful.

I had two teachers who had different styles of teaching. I would say that one was a bit more textbook and the other was more spontaneous. I also reviewed some HSK vocabulary so having the ‘textbook’ teacher wasn’t all that bad. Classes with the other teacher were definitely more fun though.

Some might think that the price is pretty steep but if you think about it, accommodation (with internet) plus tuition (for one-on-one) in places like Beijing are way more expensive. Basically accommodation and tuition are covered by their listed prices. I think the prices are pretty reasonable since you certainly get your money’s worth here. Also, their services extend to more than plain teaching. Ayi, who’s basically the school’s manager, is very accommodating. Whatever problems you might have, she will always find a way to help you. She’s also an amazing cook so if you want to sample (healthy) Chinese food, especially 东北 cuisine, you can ask her to cook for you for just a small price. Sometimes I think her dishes are better than the ones in the restaurants coz it’s homemade and not full of additives. For someone who has seen the very bad side of Chinese 服务员 (basically Chinese service), I truly appreciated how nice the teachers and Ayi were.

[abcdefg]

I went there too (2008) and agree with @ kungpao chicken and @ jzyy. Good teaching and good living arrangements in a modern neighborhood. From what I've heard, they have continued to maintain high standards. I was there in the summer and cannot comment on how it would be to live in Harbin in the winter. Harbin is an excellent place to practice "standard" mandarin on the street day to day.

[llamaesque]

Thanks guys, I appreciate it. This has convinced me! I'll get in touch with them to work something out

[Kaixinguo Billy]

Hello guys, excellent informations for me. I'm very close to book one-to-one for eight weeks in summer. I just think that the accomodation part is a little expensive. Has anybody other informations about appartement accomodation in Harbin? Thank you.

[danZEman]

What about Will-Excel TESOL, they seem a lot cheaper than 1to1