Ambassador Mandarin

[icebear]

After suggesting Ambassador Mandarin (AM) to a few posters Roddy asked if I would write up a full review. If anyone has questions that aren't addressed here feel free to bring them up and I'll answer those that I can.

http://www.ambassadormandarin.com/

The School: AM is located in the NE corner of the 3rd ring road, near the Sanyuanqiao (三元桥) metro. My impression is that their clientele is primarily professionals taking courses during lunch or after work, or alternatively people taking working-breaks to study Chinese intensively (e.g. at their company's behest). There is also the occasional language student, although usually they are there to take personalized courses with a specific goal in mind (e.g. I met one that was intent on working as a liaison between the Chinese and their country's television industries). Their operation is relatively small - a office with a half dozen private classrooms and maybe slightly more teachers - who often are in the office for their scheduled courses and will leave for on-site tutoring throughout the day. They offer one on one courses, group courses for those that organize a group themselves, and Skype lessons. I'm not certain, but I think their standard rate is slightly more than the average in Beijing if you buy single hours, but discounts may be offered when prepaying for hours in bulk. Supposedly there are also F-visa services but I can't speak to that.

My Studies: I studied with AM for several months, 3 hours (total) a week after work while I was still living in Beijing during 2008; I also spent 2 months with them, 3 hours per day four days per week, during the summer of 2011.

Impressions: The several teachers I've been taught by at AM have always been very professional and encouraging. They really force you to speak constantly during your class time, and expect a lot from you regarding learning new words each day (and will remind you about that word you seem to forget each week!). I'm pretty certain that all have degrees in teaching Chinese as a second language as well as good experience teaching foreigners, and the quality attests to that. Class materials are generally taken from textbooks, which they have a large selection of and will either photocopy or sell new copies to you (at cost). My impression is that most students there are professionals and/or more mature, and almost exclusively engaging in 1 on 1 courses, so it may not be the best social environment if that's a big priority for you (having lived in Beijing before I had my own circles established, so it wasn't a consideration for me). They do have weekly social activities (e.g. Great Wall excursions), which I never participated in so perhaps those meet the socializing need. Obviously I thought enough of my first experience to bring a considerable amount of business back their way a few years later, and was not disappointed.

Recommendations: As mentioned, I think AM's courses may be slightly costlier than finding and hiring a private one-on-one tutor. That said, I think the quality of instruction is consistently high, and they are available to teach on site if that better suits your needs (I think with some limitation on distance, or along Line 10, etc). Overall I'd strongly recommend their 1 on 1 services to those who are in the market for customized courses in Beijing that are ready to put in a lot of hard work - I think they will push you as hard as they can, so if they see a lot of motivation up front you'll get a lot out of it. I would caution against their Skype lessons (at least without a first trial) - not because they are bad in instructional quality, but because the one period that I tried them I consistently had problems with connectivity; in the end they allowed me to transfer that credit to my batch of summer courses, which was a nice accommodation given the circumstances.

[roddy]

Thanks for the write-up. I think we've had a couple of mentions of Ambassador, but nothing substantial. Anyone else studied with them?