LTL Mandarin School Singapore

[zhouhaochen]

With mainland China and Taiwan borders still closed LTL Singapore has suddenly become very busy. As we have threads for our Beijing, Shanghai, and Chengde schools, this one is for discussion of LTL Singapore. 

We started LTL Singapore in 2019 before the pandemic, but had to shut things down once Covid closed everything.

Singapore started letting some vaccinated visitors in without quarantine via the VTL (Vaccinated Travel Lane) in October 2022 and then expanded it. They stopped ticket sales for this briefly in Dec/Jan due to Omnicron fears but it is fully open now again. 

Now people from most western countries can enter Singapore with 90 days visa on arrival (extendable usually) without the need to quarantine.

So we are getting pretty busy there at the moment.

 

www.ltl-singapore.com is the website

 

A student video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haoTFBFpo9E

 

LTL Singapore Courses:

We currently teach both face to face 1on1 and online 1on1 programs in Singapore. Singapore is expensive so online 1on1 classes are a great way to stay within the budget. Face to face classes cost a lot more than studying online with one of our China based teachers. Many students choose hybrid programs with some classes face to face and some taught online. It is possible to mix and match between online and face to face (including of course only face to face) classes as the student wants to.

We have group classes on our website too and want to offer them as well, but so far due to the pandemic none are running yet.

 

 

LTL Singapore Homestays:

The homestays are very popular probably and we probably have the best families in Singapore out of all schools. Our homestay families in Singapore usually are from the mainland and moved to Singapore as a family for their children's education. So you have a lot more "traditional" families there then in other cities, that eat together every day and live a very family style lifestyle. In Shanghai and Beijing this is much more fragmented today. Mandarin is spoken at home, but most also speak good English, except sometimes some older family members who moved with them from China and do not speak English.

 

LTL Singapore School:

Due to the pandemic currently and this all just having started again very recently things in Singapore are a lot less structured as they are in our Taipei, Beijing, Shanghai or Beihai schools. We use temporary class rooms and study locations as we are finding out which next turn the pandemic might turn next. Of course all class rooms are nice, air conditioned, quiet and provide a great studying environment.

 

LTL Singapore Social Life:

We do quite a few events together. One fixture is "Monday Hawker Center Dinner" where we try out the best hawker centers in Singapore for food together every Monday. After 2 years of pandemic there seems to be a lot of demand for meeting "in real"  again so while our student community in Singapore is relatively small, the connections between students and teachers are very tight and a lot of new friendships are built.

 

Singapore is a multi lingual country and English and Mandarin, plus several Chinese dialects, Malay and Tamil are all spoken. 80% of the population is Chinese though and Mandarin exists pretty much everywhere. It is much easier to get around with English though, so staying with a Chinese speaking homestay is a very good option for courses in Singapore.

 

Any questions about studying in Singapore or at LTL Singapore, let me know.

[Jan Finster]

 

1336€ for 20 hours 1:1 (67€/hour). 50.000€/year. Is this more than a semester at Harvard? Holy moly, Singapore is expensive!

 

So, I guess students come from:

• Saudi Arabia/Dubai
• Australia
• Switzerland
• China

 

[zhouhaochen]

@Jan Finster One semester usually has 18 weeks a year has 52. At a university you study in groups, and rarely 1on1. So that comparison is a maybe a bit hard to make like this. 

Still, yes Singapore is definitely not cheap. However most big international cities are expensive. A 1on1 English course in London or Japanese in Tokyo will cost you even more.

Bigger groups and smaller cities are always the best way to save money in education. Just that you then will not be studying in Singapore.

 

If you are on a budget, it might not be the right destination though. However at the moment (and potentially for quite a while to come) it is the only option to go to a country to study where Mandarin is widely spoken.

When budget is an issue, the hybrid programs of face to face and online classes are a great option and we are lucky that we can combine our schools in China and Singapore there. Online class progress is also pretty impressive. During the pandemic we have had many students studying online and as long as the teaching quality is good and the program well designed the progress is the same as through face to face classes.

 

Singapore is also a pretty amazing city to be by the way.

 

Our students in Singapore are the same as at our other schools from all over the world, Germany, US, Netherlands, UK, Australia, Japan etc.

And yes of course nobody from China. They speak pretty good Mandarin already ?

 

[TaxiAsh]

On 1/30/2022 at 2:32 PM, Jan Finster said:

1336€ for 20 hours 1:1 (67€/hour). 50.000€/year. Is this more than a semester at Harvard? Holy moly, Singapore is expensive!

The semester course looks much cheaper. 

5125.18 euro for 20 hours a week in a group of up to 6 for 18 weeks. (14E / hour)

 

[TaxiAsh]

On 1/30/2022 at 5:39 PM, zhouhaochen said:

Still, yes Singapore is definitely not cheap. However most big international cities are expensive.

 

https://ltl-singapore.com/accommodation/

On the accommodation page it only lists the prices for homestays. 

 

It doesn't list the prices for these. I've emailed a couple of days ago, but not sure if it went through as I did it through the site. I think I need the price for the ensuite or studio because I think in the other cities I am too old to share ?

 

Apartment: Three Types – Enjoy excellent budget choices with our Standard Shared Apartments or for more privacy choose our En-Suite or Studio Apartments.

 

 

[Glyn]

On 1/30/2022 at 11:39 AM, zhouhaochen said:

One semester usually has 18 weeks a year has 52. At a university you study in groups, and rarely 1on1. So that comparison is a maybe a bit hard to make like this. 

A semester in the USA is usually 15 weeks of instruction and a week of final exams. (I am an American university professor.) I don't know where in the world has 18-week semesters, but since you were replying to a post about Harvard University, I felt I should at least make you aware of the length of a semester in the USA.

[TheBigZaboon]

As you are a Hahvahd professor, and object to his gross exaggeration of the length of semesters around the world, perhaps you could correct the sentence he bungled in actually perpetrating this terrible sin, thus killing two academic birds with one unnecessary stone...

 

I,too, feel a closeness and responsibility to Hahvahd as my great uncle Bobby was a plumber there for over 40 years...

 

Thank you in advance.

 

TBZ

[Flickserve]

On 5/13/2022 at 9:49 AM, Glyn said:

I don't know where in the world has 18-week semesters

Are you aware the length of a semester in China is 18 weeks?

[phoneticsem]

The enrichment centres in Singapore generally open from January to November Middle weeks. Quarterly a week holidays and a month holidays for each Semester is usually given to Singapore Schools.

 

The enrichment centres are open during holidays and will be closed during public holidays(regular saturday and sundays these are open). they will close after the exams in November or October last week some times. 18 per semester in that way are correct. Generally 25 classes during first sem, and 25-6/7 = 19/18 for second sem is general norm in enrichment centeres in Singapore

[Glyn]

On 5/12/2022 at 10:13 PM, Flickserve said:

Are you aware the length of a semester in China is 18 weeks?

Obviously not based on my previous comment. ?

 

I've never been in China on one trip long enough to discover that. Most of my trips are two weeks or shorter. Only once was I there for three.

 

Thank you for that information. (Please note that my comment was about the length of a semester in the USA as the post to which I was replying was making a comment about Harvard University.)

On 5/12/2022 at 9:37 PM, TheBigZaboon said:

As you are a Hahvahd professor, and object to his gross exaggeration of the length of semesters around the world, perhaps you could correct the sentence he bungled in actually perpetrating this terrible sin, thus killing two academic birds with one unnecessary stone...

I'm not a Harvard Professor, and I would not accept an appointment to Harvard if offered one. They went off the rails years ago.

[TheBigZaboon]

I apologize. I was having an unusually cranky morning. My great uncle Bobby WAS a plumber there for years and years, and I grew up in the shadow of Harvard, across the river in the Allston-Brighton area. And also, many of my early formal Chinese and Japanese courses were taken there in the summer school. But other than that, I have no rights to the name, and no real reason to jump to their defense. I hereby call for a truce, in return for which I'll keep my snide comments to myself.

 

TBZ

[zhouhaochen]

@TaxiAshYes the semester program is definitely cheaper. And as explained above, you cannot compare the cost of a 1on1 course to a university group program where the cost of the teacher is shared by dozens of students together. So while Singapore is expensive, it is not as expensive as was suggested, its simply a very different program.

 

In Singapore we only offer homestay accommodation. Students can book their own accommodation of course and thats easy to do. We can recommend some options.

The best option definitely are the homestays though and almost all our students going to Singapore choose it. I dont know how old you are, but we just had a 63 year old American student move into his homestay yesterday and our oldest student in Singapore so far was 82. Age is not an issue.

 

We reply to all emails within a working day (or at least that is what we aim for...) so if you did not get a reply to an email longer then that, please let me know and I will get that sorted for you.

 

I am not going to get involved into the Harvard discussion above ? however our semesters last 18 weeks at all LTL schools, including Singapore and Taiwan.

[Glyn]

On 5/19/2022 at 11:13 AM, TheBigZaboon said:

I hereby call for a truce, in return for which I'll keep my snide comments to myself.

Deal.

 

(I used to live in Cambridge on Harvard Ave about 5 blocks from the university.)

[TheBigZaboon]

On the stadium side, Western Ave and North Harvard street, but probably before you were born...

 

Kek, kek, kek...

[TaxiAsh]

On 5/23/2022 at 2:59 AM, zhouhaochen said:

In Singapore we only offer homestay accommodation. Students can book their own accommodation of course and thats easy to do. We can recommend some options.

The best option definitely are the homestays though and almost all our students going to Singapore choose it. I dont know how old you are, but we just had a 63 year old American student move into his homestay yesterday and our oldest student in Singapore so far was 82. Age is not an issue.

 

We reply to all emails within a working day (or at least that is what we aim for...) so if you did not get a reply to an email longer then that, please let me know and I will get that sorted for you.

 

I am not going to get involved into the Harvard discussion above ? however our semesters last 18 weeks at all LTL schools, including Singapore and Taiwan.

Ah, I didn't think homestay was available to us oldies ?

I don't think it would suit me though, as I am already teaching online. 

 

I think the email I sent from the site didn't work, so I just posted from my own email, and I've since got an email back from Irene in Beijing who answered all my questions! Thanks!

 

It's a shame you don't yet have accommodation for non-homestay, but it was explained to me that it's still fairly new there. Unfortunately, I can't go to your Taiwan school, as I need to go to a registered uni to get a visa, and it's all too complicating ?

[zhouhaochen]

@TaxiAshI just checked the contact form works. Can you let me know from where exactly you were trying to send a message and it didnt work? If something is broken we need to get it fixed asap.

 

Yes homestay is open for all age ranges, no worries at all. Online teachers are also welcome. Great that Irene already got back to you, she is on a conference until tomorrow, so might be a bit slower in replying today, but by Friday will be messaging at lightening speed again.

Singapore has a lot of restrictions regarding short term accommodation and its easier and cheaper for you to organize it yourself with a hotel than via us. Homestay is where we can organize something very unique and make a big difference that you cant get elsewhere, so we focus on that.

 

For Taiwan, the visa situation should (hopefully...) change pretty soon and people can enter again normally. Its not me deciding so of course I dont know, but it really should happen pretty soon. 

[TaxiAsh]

On 5/26/2022 at 5:54 AM, zhouhaochen said:

I just checked the contact form works. Can you let me know from where exactly you were trying to send a message and it didnt work? If something is broken we need to get it fixed asap.

Thanks for the info in the message.

 

I think it was a little popup box. I can't quite remember.