LTL Mandarin School with Chinese homestays

[zhouhaochen]

hello,

so we have made some changes with our courses, materials and prices from this month onwards.

Any questions, comments, suggestions or ideas just pm me.

1) The first brochure "Welcome to China LtL" is for students who are currently not in China but would like to come here for full time studies and consider a Private Language School as an alternative to BLCU, Bei Da etc. with small groups (maximum 6), free internship placements, airport pick up, housing arrangmenents, free bicycle and SIM card upon arrival etc.

Next Semester starts on the 7th of March 2011, with the week beforehand for orientation.

2) The second brochure "LtL Study while Working" has information for people who already work in Beijing and are interested to study Chinese part time (evenings, weekends etc.) either in a small group or one on one classes.

3) The third brochure (LtL Study in the CBD) has information for students who are already in China, but who would like to study full time for one or two semesters but who want to move towards the working world. It includes:

Free Internship Placement in Beijing, Classes in Chinese CV writing, small groups (maximum 6), based in the CBD (Da Wang Lu, map on www.livethelanguage.cn/map.php) where most companies and the guanxi are.

Any questions or more details you want, just ask here or email me on andy@livethelanguage.cn

Welcome to China LtL.pdf

LtL Study while working.pdf

[zhouhaochen]

or call us on +86 10 5100 1269

PS: put this into another post, somehow I was not allowed to include it with the first one. Also accidentially attached the brochure twice, if anyone has an idea how I can remove one of them, please pm me.

电脑真麻烦

LtL Study in the CBD.pdf

LtL Study in the CBD.pdf

[Scoobyqueen]

I wrote an email to the above address and never got a response....

[Friedrich]

I am coming to Beijing in December and am currently looking at where to study. Live the Language has come up on quite a few forums. Anyone has studied there? Besides the people who work there I mean? Though Zhouhaochen is really open about working there, which I find great, but in the end as he/she said he/she is biased (not in a bad way I mean).

Teachers? Books? School? Methods?

I worked as an intern in Shanghai two years ago, but didnt learn that much there. Want to change this in Beijing this time.

[lanzhoumian]

not sure if its too late for you, but I am studying there at the moment.

So far its been excellent. They take very good care of their students and seem to have a real passion about helping people to learn Chinese, as opposed to just taking their money (I have been to a few other schools before - I wont say any names, but lets just say there are some bad eggs around).

My teacher is really nice and studied teaching Chinese as a foreign language in Harbin (she has an actual Masters degree in it). We are using the New Practical Reader, which I think is used by quite a lot of schools (I have used it before). The atmosphere at the school is very relaxed, which is nice. They have stickers on all their furniture saying what its called in Chinese and Pinyin, which I kind of like, though I know most of them by now (though a lot of schools do that). Its very nicely renovated I have to say.

I am taking one on one classes, so the "teaching method" I think was kind of designed for me (there was an "assessment" at the beginning after which they make suggestions), I like to follow the book, so vocab first, then reading the text and then the grammar exercises.

So, overall I definitely recommend them.

[Friedrich]

thanks lanzhoumian, been studying there now for almost two months and I agree so far the service has been quite impressive. I take group classes (one on one is a bit too expensive for me) and the study environment is pretty good - nice classrooms.

We are using the New Practical Reader. The teacher and my group are a lot of fun, which helps me to motivate myself to go to class every morning, because the stupid Tones are not. I cant do the second one, gives me a headache.

A lot of focus on getting you to speak Chinese outside the classroom with them. I did their home stay for the first month which was excellent for using the stuff we learned in class. I spoke more Chinese with my host parents in the first day than in six months in Shanghai...

So far, I am a pretty happy student. Lets see what the year of the rabbit brings though.

[zhouhaochen]

update on Live the Language Mandarin School Full Time Chinese Courses in Beijing:

Chinese Uni Style:

One Semester (18 weeks) 20h/week small group classes (maximum 6 students) at Live the Language, including full service pack (from airport pick up to your own bicycle). One or two semesters.

Rapid Progress

Holiday Program in Beijing, including home stay, full service pack and immersion services, 2 - 8 weeks.

Plus we do a lot of programs combining studying Chinese with internships and volunteering, for details please email us on info@livethelanguage.cn or check www.livethelanguage.cn

Uni Style.pdf

Rapid Progress.pdf

[zhouhaochen]

For more Information about Mandarin courses and our Chinese Language school, Live the Language Mandarin School now got a new:

Facebook page

www.facebook.com/livethelanguage

with lots of pictures

and Twitter Account

http://twitter.com/livethelanguage

with updates whats going on in Beijing at the moment and a bit of new vocabulary once in a while(as its the 1st of April today's phrase is: 愚人节/yu2ren2jie2/April Fools Day).

[Scoobyqueen]

I can recommend this school. I have experience with a few schools in Beijing and this one is up there amongst the best.

Background to choosing this school: I was in Beijing recently and had booked lessons with my usual school well in advance. Everything was confirmed. However on the day I was leaving they suddenly told me they had forgotten it was a public holiday and suddenly was not able to fulfill their promise. This seems to happen a lot and not just for schools. Companies often are unable to plan well ahead because as you get close to the date something else crops up. Same thing with small hotels. I once tried to book a room two months in advance but was told to call back closer to the date. Anyway I digress.

Live The Language helped me out at short notice and was able to supply a teacher who was brillant. She had graduated in the Chinese language and was able to explain in detail about linguistics including tongue position and length of tones when several equal tones are put together in a sentence. Such technical deatails are appreciated but often not all teachers are able to explain this. We went through my presentation and practised and addressed specific pronunication and tone issues. Very satisfied and impressed customer here.

[zhouhaochen]

A small correction, your teacher (Nancy/付老师）is, like all other Mandarin Instructors at Live the Language Mandarin School, a graduate of "Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language" (对外汉语）, not Chinese Language, Chinese Literature, English etc. as are often used as substitutes for a proper 对外汉语 degree in the Chinese language teaching world.

Live the Language requires all Mandarin Instructors to have graduated with either a Bachelor or Masters degree in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language（对外汉语） at a government university. This is where you learn the things you mentioned, how tongue position works for tones, chinese linguistics, grammar, how Chinese differs to other languages families etc. - and most importantly how to teach these to foreign non-native learners of Chinese, with varying levels of fluency.

Live the Language never accepts any other "certificates", "qualifications" etc. for our mandarin instructors as a substitute for a 对外汉语 degree.

Great that you enjoyed the course and your teacher (going for lunch with her today). See you on your next trip to Beijing and sorry for correcting such a small point, but its important to me ;)

[zhouhaochen]

the Beijinger just published an article about the Live the Language Chengde Full Immersion Program

The online version is here:

http://www.thebeijinger.com/blog/2011/06/15/Learning-Chinese-Why-Not-Live-The-Language

[zhouhaochen]

we are going hiking to the great wall (wild as they say), including an overnight stay there this weekend, if anyone wants to join, just let me know

http://livethelanguage.cn/blog/

Also, we have every second Saturday (starting from the 13th of August) free classes day:

Morning: 1.5h Tai Qi

Before Lunch: 1.5h Pronounciation (chi & zhi, d& t etc.)

After Lunch: 1.5h Chinese Character Writing (Radicals and talking through characters)

All levels welcome, though for the Character Writing Class I think it is most useful up to intermediate level. Pronounciation never stops (for me at least, I cant pronounce the difference between chi and che properly to this day).

All classes are free and open to anyone, independently if you study with us, some other school or not at all, as long as you love Mandarin.

PS: I dont have the exact times yet, sorry, will post later once confirmed.

[Yaya]

Just wanted to know if the number of average students had changed since this was posted? I'm worried about the number of students...

[zhouhaochen]

Just wanted to know if the number of average students had changed since this was posted? I'm worried about the number of students...

the maximum number of students is 6 per group class (never more - we would split the class in that case) and I would say the average is 3-4.

[zhouhaochen]

the times for free classes are

Free Tai Chi Class: 9:00-10:30 AM, Meet by the entrance of Building C at our Sunshine 100 Campus.

Free Pronunciation Class: 11:00-12:30 PM, Held inside our Sunshine 100 Campus.

Free Chinese Character Class: 1:30-3:00 PM, Held inside our Sunshine 100 Campus.

its bi-weekly, everyone welcome.

 

[Humankapital]

Just signed up to ask some questions regarding LtL, as I am currently planning a stay in Beijing next year but I'm still unsure which school will fit my needs best. Hope you can help.

1. What does "Apartments are conveniently located for traveling to the school" mean? How long do I have to expect to commute? "Conveniently" is quite open for interpretation.

2. How does "half board" work in combination with a shared apartment? (like "Where? When? What?")

3. I'm not that much of a party animal/social lion anymore, but still I'd like to go out from time to time without unreasonably long commuting time. The only (nearly) Chinese city I've experienced for a longer time is Hong Kong and there I had a flat which was really far away from places where I could go out in the evening. What's it like, if I choose LtL with shared apartment? (I'll have a closer look at the map anyway, but as I don't know anything about the possible locations of shared apartments, I'd welcome some clarification).

Thank you for your answer! Maybe I'll come up with some more questions later.

[zhouhaochen]

@Humankapital

let me answer your questions:

1) 80% or our Homestays are within 5 minutes walking distance of our school (the Da Wang Lu area where we are located has quite a lot of major residential developments) and none more than 30 minutes away. We work with our homestay families for years, so they are long-term partners and we would have a pretty good idea even now where you would live even next year.

For a shared apartment, similarly, it will probably possible to walk or it will be no further than 30 minutes away.

However, as you will arrive some time next year only (do you know exactly when yet?), differently to a homestay, I couldnt necessarily tell you right now which shared apartment you will stay in then. For an immersion school like us we have relatively few people stay in shared apartments as the vast majority chooses the homestay option.

It will be a modern apartment, conveniently located, maximum 30 minutes. In rare cases where a student didnt like his/her accommodation we have changed apartments for them in the past, which is possible subject to availability, just talk to us when here.

If we do not deliver on any of our promises, just post on this forum and I am sure we will get virtually slaughtered for it on this thread, which we just simply couldnt afford to happen, so dont worry ;)

2) For a shared apartment, half board means that you get lunch at one of the restaurants close to our school (you get vouchers from us) Monday - Friday. For a homestay it means you get breakfast & lunch or dinner either at your homestay family or at a restaurant.

3) After 10 years in Beijing, in my humble opinion the Japanese Bar next to our school still serves the best beer in Northern China. Its not so much of a party place though, that would more be Sanlitun, which took me 10 minutes to get to by taxi yesterday evening, though it can take longer when the traffic is bad. We have free beer on our school balcony every Friday evening (weather permitting) and people usually go out afterwards so its not a bad place to start a night.

any further questions, feel free to either ask here, pm me or email on andreas@livethelanguage.cn

[Humankapital]

Thank you very much for your answers. I really appreciate your efforts.

1) Right now, homestay is scaring me a bit, to be honest, as my Chinese language skills are practically zero right now. ;) I know that immersion is quite important, yet I've had a bad experience with a homestay in France when I was a total beginner. It really wasn't a pleasant experience during the first weeks. Though it might have been different with another family, as they didn't seem to have regards for me and seemed as if they were quite new to the concept of "homestay"...

However, I can really imagine myself choosing homestay once I've got a certain grip of the language and can at least have the simplest of conversations. Would you suggest the homestay option nonetheless? Is it common that people with no or almost no Chinese language skills choose homestay?

I'm trying some home studying right now and will be taking (beginner) classes at a nearby Confucius Institute from September to January, but right now I feel as if I am tone deaf. Learning Chinese seems to be much slower in the beginning than other languages (my native language is German). No idea how far I'll get with the studying until I visit Beijing (that would most likely be in March or maybe April 2012, staying for 4-5 weeks).

2) How about internet connection regarding the different types of accomodation (computer is never necessary as I'd always bring my own laptop)? I'm not looking for 16 MBit highspeed access, but beeing able to browse the web, keeping some contact with people at home and plan some activities for the weekends by using the internet is important for me.

[zhouhaochen]

@Humankapital

1) I would say there is quite a big difference between how "accepting" Chinese people and some people from some other countries are with regards to someone not speaking their language.

Usually people in China are impressed if you can communicate in Mandarin, but do not expect it. We have several complete beginners staying with home stay families at the moment and its going very well. First most families are by now quite used to often starting off with very little verbal communication and secondly we have a team that helps you if necessary.

We also know "our families" quite well by now, so students always get a briefing from us about the "does and donts". Also quite a few student find that staying with a family, including food etc. everything organised. is actually a quite good way to settle into Beijing.

I have to say though that Chinese families definitely are more on the conservative side. As we have long-term relationships with them, we would not want to put people into most homestays who are planning on heavy partying/bringing people home etc. as this would be culturally not acceptable. So in that case, a shared apartment is definitely better.

But the choice would of course be up to you - it doesnt really matter to us from an organisational point of view, I just personally feel quite strongly that both the language and cultural learning experience is much richer with a homestay family.

2) Free wireless Internet is available at our school and your home, with quite good speed usually (sometimes in the afternoon Beijing's internet can seem to get a bit overloaded, so streaming a movie might not always work then - Email etc. no problem though).

[Humankapital]

Thanks again!

I'd add the wireless internet information somewhere on the website though, as it is a feature which many people are definitely interested in, I guess.

Btw, you're advertisement and (valuable) support information moved LtL on my list "Where to go" right around the top.