Review of That's Mandarin

[amandagmu]

I've taken 1-on-1 classes off and on (mostly on) with That's Mandarin in Dongzhimen for 6 months, so I thought I'd offer up a review / general opinion. Feel free to ask questions as you see fit - I've decided not to return to the school.

I consider myself an upper-intermediate speaker / advanced reader (depending on the vocabulary, low or high advanced with the high being in my research specialty). My listening comprehension varies widely. I tend to understand accents from Shanghai and Taipei much better than those in Beijing, probably due to my lengthy exposure to academic language at ICLP in Taipei. When I came to Beijing that was (and continues to be) my biggest problem in speaking/listening. I've had to make adjustments in vocabulary as well as in how to handle basic situations - “不好意思在这里停车可以吗?" has now become “在这儿停车!"

Anyways, when I arrived in Beijing this time around I decided 1-on-1 was the only thing for me. Since I didn't and don't have time to sit in a classroom M-F 8-12 there really weren't too many other options. Small group classes for those above intermediate level don't exist (in the evenings - if they do please tell me where!) and I needed to gain some confidence in the language surrounding my research topic. I had, after all, taken *more than two years* off from regularly speaking Chinese. :o

So, my general feeling about That's Mandarin is that, for the upper-intermediate and advanced learner, the teaching itself was a bit disappointing. I don't know what I was expecting, but I think I had hoped that the teachers would prepare something to teach to me, or at the very least follow a system. Well, I guess there was a "system", but sometimes it felt like I was throwing my money away while someone corrected my every mistake without thorough explanations. I had four teachers while I was there and a sub one time who I then requested replace one of my other teachers. The method for me was as follows: listen to me speak or read, correct my tones and explain new vocabulary, explain my grammar screw-ups, encourage me to speak. They type everything on a computer and recorded me every single time. That bit is at least helpful in terms of learning new vocabulary. I guess if you're at the intermediate level this makes it worth the effort: more speaking, more vocabulary. What struck me as odd was that sometimes I would give them a newspaper article, essay, or film in advance and yet still no preparation on their part. (When I used to tutor advanced English learners in Taiwan I almost always prepared things like new vocabulary, idioms, and questions to help guide the lesson.)

In terms of teaching quality, three of the five teachers I had were certainly knowledgable, nice, but I found them all to be a bit dry and/or inexperienced with teaching higher levels of students. That is, they were willing to correct every freaking tone mistake I made, but they couldn't always explain clearly how to use a grammar structure that I encountered frequently while reading or explain subtle differences between similar words (e.g. 差别，区别，不同，差异). (At ICLP my teachers almost always could explain these sorts of things.) Maybe some people don't find this to be a valid complaint, but I was really hoping for something more.

With all that said, I can say that I have quite a few friends at the beginner and intermediate levels of Chinese that absolutely adore That's Mandarin. They have their own materials and the "story" method which will get you speaking -- quickly and very often correctly. They're also very flexible with scheduling, very professional to deal with, and excellent facilities. I just wish they knew how to teach people beyond intermediate conversational Chinese.

[pattyj313]

Hi,

I'm looking into enrolling in That's Mandarin as well in this coming Fall, so I'm glad that I stumbled upon your review. Thanks! Which branch did you attend your classes at? I'm looking into the Dongzhimen branch because its neighborhood seems to have a lot of apartment conveniently located around. Their 1:1 classes seem attractive as I think I need a tailor-made course to suit my needs (I can read traditional characters so I'm not a beginner in the reading and written level; however, I do not understand pinyin at all, which places me into an absolute beginners level). However, I also wanted to meet some friends as I'm going there solo, knowing nobody, so I'm inclined to attend their group lessons that are tailored for the beginners. I then discovered this other place called mandarin house, which is also in CBD, but I've been having a hard time finding suitable apartment around it. It is located in DaWang Lu. The consultant (Rachel) spent an 1+ hour on Skype with me on a Saturday to assess my level and answer my questions. If it weren't for the accommodation, I think I'd sign them up in a heartbeat. They offered group courses in all levels, so you may wanna check out their site.

In the off chance that anyone is familiar with DaWang Lu district, it would be very much appreciated if you could drop me a line here and let me know

1) whether it's a safe / convenience district to live in

2) know of any good short-term (3-months) apartment complex. I checked Huamao, the agent told me that they don't offer short-term lease, and its' price is out of my budget anyway.

3) is dongzhimen wai a good district to live in? (Rachel told me that would take around 40 mins commute time to Dawang Lu, but I might just have to suck it up...)

Many thanks in advance

[lanzhoumian]

I cant comment on Thats Mandarin, never been.

However, I take classes in the Da Wang Lu area at www.livethelanguage.cn The area is certainly safe (Central Business District) and I find it convenient, as I can walk to class. It takes about 20 minutes by bike to get to the Sanlitun Bar Street Area though.

When I started with my school, I staid with a home stay family for the first month, mainly for getting myself to speak more Chinese, which did work very well language wise, but was a bit above my budget for the long term, so I got my own place. If you want somewhere to stay in Beijing for the short term, the school should be able to sort you out. I met a few students at my school who all had their accommodation arranged through Live the Language, some in dormitories others apartments, they have a girl there who seems to just do that.

I considered Mandarin House too when choosing where to go (was at BLCU beforehand), but I had heard some not so good things from a few friends, so decided to go for Live the Language. Its been very good for the teaching so far and has a quite nice and relaxed atmosphere which is quite important to me.

[michaelbenson]

Hi guys

Just wanted to say that I've been studying with the That's Mandarin branch in Dongzhimen this year and really enjoyed my time. The teaching was effective, encouraging and I felt as though it was tailored towards our individual learning paces. I was placed with someone else, who I already knew beforehand, and I found this quite useful, you don't feel the pressure you perhaps might in a one-on-one learning environment and we also learnt at a similar pace but at the same time spurred on one another to try and improve (also giving a good sense of where we should be by certain stages!).

Anyway I'd definitely recommend them! If you want to read a little more I did a more comprehensive review of the That's Mandarin school here: http://thatbenson.com/thats-mandarin-review/

[amandagmu]

Sorry, I should have mentioned in my original post that I studied at the Dongzhimen branch. Excellent, professional facilities and very friendly, helpful staff members. I agree with what michaelbenson says on his blog and the above post, and can only reiterate what I did in my review: I think I would have been more pleased had I started with them at a lower level of the language. At this point I'm reading newspapers and academic books and I wanted to discuss the topics in these as well as subtle differences between certain vocabulary and grammatical structures. Thankfully I recently found a retired teacher through Culture Yard who is a good fit for somebody like me. I still haven't found a decent, affordable (non-IUP) program for advanced learners in Beijing, or a regular group class that's interesting/stimulating, but I do think it's possible to find appropriate teachers and tutors for 1-on-1 teaching either through specific schools, word-of-mouth or thebeijinger.com. Personally, I've been very happy meeting PhD students at Beida for coffee and practice in more formal language, even though they can't help much with specific language questions I may have (hence I am always looking for highly qualified teachers to correct AND explain my mistakes!).

[cjfmsc]

I had a trial lesson with them and was impressed with their teaching method (liked the use of computer, and recording), impressed with their classrooms (far better than some of the others that I have tried) but the price was far too high.

There are equally good schools at far more attractive prices.

[imron]

There are equally good schools at far more attractive prices.

Please feel free to write a review about these equally good schools too.

[ShelbyR]

I thought I'd update this thread as I went to That's Mandarin for a month in March.  I went just to study Chinese, after studying on my own for 3 years.  I took the one on one classes for 6 hours a day, and did the total immersion live with a Chinese family thing.  At 60, it was pretty neat being a "foreign exchange" student.  I was at the Donzhimen branch, and had about a 20 minute walk from the apartment near Ritan Park to the school in near Sanlitun.

 

My level was probably a high elementary as I saw that some of the reading sheets they gave me were HSK 3.  I had 2 hour classes, one in the morning and two in the afternoon, with 5 different teachers.   My classes were speaking/conversation, reading, and listening.  I had asked to not dwell on character writing, as I have been doing that on my own.

 

What became apparent to me was that my grammar and pronunciation were weak.  We concentrated on that, and I studied about 2-3 hours a night to learn the material I'd been taught that day.  On the weekends I did sight seeing on my own.  

 

It was a great program, and I met people between classes (mostly various embassy employees or family).  I tried to avoid socializing with westerners, and between my Chinese "family" not speaking a word of English, and me connecting with some Chinese friends of friends, I managed to avoid the "bubble" and my spoken Chinese improved tremendously.  I've followed up for the past year with a two hour online skype lesson a week to continue to advance my grammar.

 

They didn't ask me to post, but I'm getting ready to go back to China in the next year or so, so have come back onto the boards.

[roddy]

Thanks for the post, and glad you had a good experience - especially the homestay, they can be problematic.